Recipe Critique - first holiday Brew

A while back I brewed Jamil's American amber ale from BCS.. It is really good. I want to make a holiday beer and hoped to just adapt/add-on to this recipe. Here is my adaptation below. I have added some malt to increase the ABV from 5.5 to about 7%. I plan to add cinnamon, nutmeg, and hazelnut probably at end of boil. Still working on that aspect but wanted to get this board's view on my base recipe. Thanks



Holiday Amber Ale (SantaKloz 2.0)
By Brewing Classic Styles
Method: Partial Mash Style: Holiday/Winter Special Spiced Beer
Boil Time: 60 min Batch Size: 5.5 gallons Boil Size: 7 gallons Efficiency: 70%
Original Gravity:1.071Final Gravity:1.017ABV (standard):7.08%IBU (tinseth):30.97SRM (morey):24.29
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
7.5 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Amber 35 10 62%
1.5 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Munich 35 8 12.4%
1 lb Caramel / Crystal 40L 34 40 8.3%
1 lb Caramel / Crystal 120L 33 120 8.3%
0.6 lb Victory 34 28 5%
0.5 lb Special B 34 115 4.1%
Hops
Amount Variety Time AA Type Use
0.6 oz horizon 55 min 13 Pellet Boil
0.3 oz cascade 10 min 6 Pellet Boil
0.3 oz Centennial 12 min 9 Pellet Boil
0.3 oz Cascade 0 min 6 Pellet Aroma
0.2 oz Centennial 0 min 9 Pellet Aroma
Yeast
White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001
Attenuation (avg): 76.5% Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temperature: 68°F - 73°F Starter: No
Notes
Plan to add:

Cinnamon (ground or sticks)
Nutmeg
Hazelnut
Ginger (sm amount)

Hazelnut is an interesting addition. Are you using extract or the actual nut? I only ask because people have mentioned issues with additional proteins and oils being extracted from the nut. Also you might consider toning down the hops a tad if you want the spices to come through more, but that is all personal choice.

Teromous said:

Also you might consider toning down the hops a tad if you want the spices to come through more, but that is all personal choice.

Click to expand...

Agreed, no real need for flavor/aroma hops, you're getting all of that from the spices/specialty grains.
I'd tone down the crystal a bit, maybe half as much of each color (especially considering there's already some in the amber extract), but I like the idea of munich, victory, and special B in there. Looks pretty good.

Thanks for the input! I'm not sure about the hazelnut, just sounded good. I guess, based on what your saying, I'll either go with extract or just omit the spice altogether. I have altered the recipe, dropped some of the crystal and toned down the hops too. I went from a IBU of 30 to now, around 25, hopefully that's enough to handle the sweetness of the beer but allow the spices to come through. Thoughts on my new recipe?


Holiday Amber Ale (SantaKloz 2.0)
Added By: kgbrew
Method: Partial Mash
Style: Holiday/Winter Special Spiced Beer
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency: 70%
Source: Brewing Classic Styles
Original Gravity: 1.069 Final Gravity: 1.016 ABV (standard): 6.94% IBU (tinseth): 26.09 SRM (morey): 22.4
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
7.5 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Amber 35 10 63.8%
1.5 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Munich 35 8 12.8%
0.75 lb Caramel / Crystal 40L 34 40 6.4%
0.75 lb Caramel / Crystal 120L 33 120 6.4%
0.75 lb Victory 34 28 6.4%
0.5 lb Special B 34 115 4.3%
Hops
Amount Variety Time AA Type Use
0.5 oz horizon 55 min 13 Pellet Boil
0.5 oz cascade 15 min 6 Pellet Boil
Yeast
White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001
Attenuation (avg):
76.5%
Flocculation:
Medium
Optimum Temperature:
68°F - 73°F
Starter:
No
Notes
Plan to add:

Cinnamon (ground or sticks)
Nutmeg
Hazelnut
Ginger (sm amount)

There's an article in the most recent BYO on using nuts in beer...you may want to check that out.

I like the idea of the ginger as well...I was researching Pumpking clones recently, and the general consensus seemed to be that candied ginger was an important component in the spice blend of that beer...