modifying an American Pale Ale kit to a Christmas Ale

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biggrizzly

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

OK... It's in the primary now!! OG = 1.051

6.6lbs Briess Golden Light LME
1lb. crushed caramel malt
2oz. Cascade bittering hops - 1oz added at start of boil the other half at 30min. in
1.5oz Willamette aroma hops added at 5min to the end
1 Package of Nottingham dry Ale Yeast
2lbs honey 1lb added with second can of LME 1 lb added 10 min. from the end with the molasses.
6oz. Molasses
Orange Zest from 5 oranges (40z grated orange zest)
1.5 oz. sliced ginger - thin slices about 2 inches by 1 inch
1tsp ground cinnamon
3 cinnamon sticks broke in half
10 All Spice Balls
1 Tsp Ground Nutmeg

I hydrated the dry yeast about 20-30 min before the end and it was nicely ready to pitch by the time I needed it.

When I tested the OG I tasted the sample and it tasted awesome out of the pot, so it has to be good by Christmas!!

Also - The trub smelled so good I wanted to taste it too!!!
 
Sounds interesting - might be pretty hoppy for a spiced ale. In any event, it'll be your own creation and a fun experiment!
 
I don't know the recipe for that beer since it doesn't include the timing for the hops additions, but you'd want to just remove any of the additions later on in the boil, and only keep the ones at the beginning. And, I'm guessing you'd probably want to cut the amount of that one by maybe 1/3-1/2 of what it is now.

*doh* didn't see there was a second page...

Well, I hope it turns out OK. I think the hops additions you'd make for an APA are definitely not what you'd want from a typical holiday spiced ale.
 
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