recipie ideas

I'm thinking about my next batch with the extracts and yeast I have on hand. I'm trying to come up with something that will give a 'gingerbread man' feel to the beer. This is some prelim thoughts. I would appreciate any comments/suggestions.

4 lbs John Bull hopped amber lme
2-4 lbs light dme
2 lbs honey
1 - 3 oz ginger root
1/2 - 1 oz crystal malt
2 oz gypsum
Saflager S-23 Lager Yeast

Hops, to add or not? If added thinking of this...
boiing - 1/2 oz saaz
flavor - 1/2 - 1 oz (tettnanger or crystal)
aroma - 1/2 - 1 oz (tettnanger or crystal)

To get the "gingerman" flavor you'll need to add some of these spices: allspice, cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spices, etc.

It should mellow out about 4-6 months after you bottle.

ok... here's a revision.
malt same
honey same
3 oz ginger root
1/2 - 1 oz crystal malt
2 oz gypsum
4 tsp ground cinn.
cloves -- amount ?
1/2 saaz (boiling)
1/2 cyrstal (flavor)
1/2 tettnanger (aroma)

Actually, cloves is one of those spices that are really overpowering.

You can buy "pumpkin pie spices" already mixed that has a better balance of the flavors.

You may need to reconsider using only 1 oz of grated ginger. Ginger gives beer a REALLY bad bite and need months to mellow.

The best use of ginger that I have found is in mead. Most notably in the Papazian book - Barkshack Ginger Mead. Excellent.

if going with the pumpkin spice, how much should I use of that. Any u have any recommendinos on 1/2 or 1 oz of crystal malt? Was planning on 40L crystal, and I'm going for a nice caremel 'cookie' taste with it. I'm gonna be brewing up a batch of trad. mead from his book in a few days. Pretty much on recipie other then with liquid mead yeast. I never had mead so I wanna see what the base tastes like before experimenting. And from what i hear about aging it, gonna be a while Hehe. I can be patient... really I can
-John

2 tsp.

I'd leave the crystal malt out and add 2 oz malto-dextrine.

For the caramel flavor you could use about a cup or molasses.

For mead, take about 3 TBS of honey and put it in a (measured) cup of warm water and stir until dissolved. Your mead will taste a bit like that unless you add other flavors.

I still have a couple bottles of mead from 10 years ago...I don't know what I'm waiting for either?!? Don't try to overdo the alcohol. Keep it down to 6-7% and it will taste better.

Good luck.

Thanks. I was gonna pick up some crystal malt at store today then decide weather to use it or not, but I forgot. Grrr... so I'm gonna use molasses. Didn't get any malto-dextrine, so just cuttin that area all together. All malto-dextrine does is pretty much color right? They were out of crystal hops, so decided to use tettnangern for both flavor and aroma. And the guy at store recommended trappist yeast for this, so I picked up a packet of that too.

Malto-Dextrin is white like corn sugar.

It is NOT fermentable, but gives your brew a better mouth-feel, body, or thickness to it (not watered down).

Gotcha. Well, hopefully the amber malt i'm adding will help some dextrin in there to give it a bit of 'umph'

Ok, I got next batch brewing now. I'll post some shots later. This was final recipie

3.53lbs john bull amber hopped lme
4 lbs light dme
2 lbs honey
1 c. molasses
1 1/4 oz ginger
2 tsp gypsum
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 oz saaz boiling hops
1/2 oz tet. hops (flavor)
1/2 oz tet. hops (aroma)

It's boiling away now. 'bout 30 minutes left on the boil.