Extract - Spiced Winter Ale

Recluse · 12-08-2011, 02:29 PM

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Nottingham
Batch Size (Gallons): 2.5
Original Gravity: 1.059
Final Gravity: 1.013
IBU: 39
Boiling Time (Minutes): 45
Color: 12
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10@60 F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): In Progress
Tasting Notes: Not tasting very good when racking from Primary to Secondary.... see below

2.5 gal batch
3 lb Amber DME
0.25 lb Molasses
0.25 lb Crystal 40 Steeped

0.5 oz Cascade (5.4% AA) @45 min
0.5 oz Amarillo (7.5% AA) @ 30 min
0.5 oz Amarillo (7.5% AA) @ 5 min

0.5 oz Fresh Ginger @ 10 min
3 cinnamon sticks @ 10 min
0.5 tsp nutmeg @ 10 min
0.5 oz Sweet Orange peel @ 10 min
3 whole cloves @ 10 min
1/4 Whirlfloc tab @ 10 min

Maybe premature to call this a RECIPE...mods feel free to move to another section..

Pitched a pack of Notty and NOTHING happened for 48 hr. Pitched a new pack and it took off within 6 hours. Primary for 10 days.

Just racked to secondary... smelled and tasted a little er... ROTTEN, and not quite as malty as I had hoped. Maybe overdid it with the ginger and orange? Or maybe the bad pack of yeast donated some bad flavors? Or maybe the molasses?.

Hoping it will change/mellow in secondary and that the bad smell/taste is just the spices being too forward...or maybe it is just BAD

and will spend the holiday gurgling down the drain....

Justibone · 12-09-2011, 12:40 PM

This is a recipe. I think it's in the perfect forum.

I guess that the advice in general is not to boil molasses, but just to add it in the last 10 minutes. A search for "ginger snap beer" and a few other threads will expound on that. I don't know if the sulfur smell will settle down or not, but I wish you the best!

As for lack of maltiness, you can expect that when you add very fermentable adjuncts like (light) molasses. I don't think that the molasses should have overwhelmed the DME and the crystal, though... maybe it was too hoppy, and that's what's covering up the malt? Skip the Cascade next time, maybe? Also, maybe Citra instead of Amarillo?

I hear that cloves can be a bit overwhelming. Most people say to back off on the cloves.. you can always add more later in a spice-tea, but you can't get them out once they are in there.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Nottingham yeast are known for bad smells and potentially bad tastes if you don't keep your fermentation temps in the mid-to-low 60's, so that could be a problem as well.

Recluse · 12-09-2011, 02:36 PM

Thanks for the info. Wish I had read the Molasses warnings. It was 'unsulphured' molasses, though. Tasting a flat hydro sample is often not the BEST indication of how the beer will turn out, but usually if THAT tastes good, the beer is great

The putrid smell/taste (not really sulfur though that was certainly present) was something I haven't ever encountered. HOPE it mellows out,

I've never had a problem with Nottingham even at higher temps, but this one was between 59 and 62 degrees the whole time. Thinking more about the packet of 'dead yeast' causing off flavors. I also worried about the cloves AND the nutmeg, but they didn't seem so overwhelming. The ginger and the orange peel, though...maybe a bit. I looked up a bunch of Spiced Holiday type ales and kind of mixed and matched to get an idea of quantities, so maybe some things were high and some low. The Molasses was kind of a last minute idea to darken things up. In retrospect, should have just used more crystal.

Well, it is sitting in secondary now. Will give it another taste in a week or so and see if it got any better.

The Hop profile is pretty much where I wanted it, though maybe the Amarillo was overkill considering the considerable citrus from the orange peel.

Will update the thread after secondary.

Justibone · 12-10-2011, 02:22 PM

Good luck!

Recluse · 01-09-2012, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Recluse

Will update the thread after secondary.

Finally got around to bottling this guy after a rather longer secondary than I had planned. MOST of the bad flavors had mellowed out if not COMPLETELY disappeared. Not quite the blend of spices (ginger and orange predominating over cinnamon and clove) I was hoping for but still drinkable based on the flat hydrometer sample

. Will see how it tastes after bottle conditioning.