biggrizzly

Recipes 

I'm ready to brew my second batch tomorrow. I bought a Brewer's Best American Pale Ale kit several weeks ago to be my first batch but decided on a wheat instead. Now I have this APA kit here and would like to augment it with some seasonal spices. I'm thinking about adding a pound of honey, cinnamon, ginger and orange peel.

Can this be done? and what do you think the results will be? Any suggestions for additional adjuncts?

usfmikeb

Recipes 

Can you post the recipe ingredients? You might need to add some darker grains to kick up the maltiness, and different hops might be needed. For spice, there are all kinds of options.

__________________
Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

biggrizzly

Recipes 

6.6lbs Briess Golden Light LME
1lb. crushed caramel malt
2oz. Cascade bittering hops
1.5oz Willamette aroma hops
1 Package od Nottingham dry Ale Yeast

I'd like to add this:
1lb honey around 30 minutes into the boil

The rest of this 45 min. into the boil.
orange peels
cinnamon
grated ginger

usfmikeb

Recipes 

Yeah, you aren't going to want to do that much bittering hop. I'm not home, but will post back later with some suggestions. I'd also recommend checking the recipe forum, you'll likely find some ideas.

__________________
Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

usfmikeb

Recipes 

So, one of the things you need to think about is what you like in a spiced beer. Here are some notes on what I would do, but this is based on what I like in a spiced beer.

I would probably add a couple ounces of chocolate malt to this, as well as some wheat. I like my spiced beers to be a bit bigger beer, so I'd probably add 2 pounds of honey. For spices, I'd probably put in a decent sized chunk of ginger, 2 crushed cinnamon sticks, 8 crushed allspice balls, and a quarter of a nutmeg shaved. For hops, I wouldn't go for higher than 30 IBUs, as I want to showcase the spices.

So that's what I would do, but this is your second batch. With that in mind, I'm thinking that you might not have extra brewing ingredients on hand. In that case, here's what I would do to change your recipe. Again, this is to my taste, and yours might vary.

In addition to the pound of honey, I'd add about 4-6 ounces of molasses, which will increase the final sweetness of the beer, as well as give a darker profile. I'd only do one ounce of cascade for 60 minutes, do the willamette for 10 minutes, and add the second ounce of cascade at knockout. Spices are really at whatever you want. However, I wouldn't put them in at 45 minutes, do it at about 5 minutes left. Also, don't recommend grating the ginger, I'd slice it really thin or make sticks out of it.

Something to keep in mind about spices is that you can add more to the carboy after fermentation is complete. Also, whole cloves impart a lot of flavor, use them sparingly.

Good luck!

__________________
Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

biggrizzly

Recipes 

Thanks for the advice. You have given me some great ideas. BTW, could I substitute ground spices for chopped whole spices. For example: Allspice, Nutmeg and Cinnamon? I have whole ginger but no access to the others in their natural whole state at this time.

usfmikeb

Recipes 

Yes, you can use the ground stuff. Whole ones taste a bit better, but it'll give you something to improve upon next time! BTW, cheapest place to buy whole spices is at an indian grocery store...

__________________
Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

usfmikeb

Recipes 

Good luck, glad I could help out. Post back later to let me know what you did, and how it turned out!

__________________
Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

biggrizzly

Recipes 

Will do. Just gathering spices now.

biggrizzly

Recipes 

What do you mean by "knockout" - You said to add the second half of cascade at knockout?

Nevermind... I did a search and found out. Thanks