Improving flavor

My holiday spice ale is ready to be moved from primary to secondary. However, during the tasting the Cascade hop bitterness is shining through at the end while the malts and spices are somewhat subdued. I am planning on concocting a spice tea and adding that to the secondary to bring out more spice flavor and aroma. But, how do I slightly subdue the hop bitterness or will this occur during conditioning?

Probably will mellow out during conditioning.

What was the recipe?

(fellow newb...interested, because I have a holiday spice ale in bottles conditioning)

Patrick

Holiday Spice Ale

Target OG: 1.067
Target FG: 1.018
Estimated IBUs: 30.3
SRM: 20
ABV: 6.5%
Boil time: 60 min
Boil volume: 2 gallons
Batch volume: 5 gallons

Grains:
Crystal Malt 80L 1/2 lb
Biscuit malt 1/2 lb
Chocolate malt 1/4 lb
Aromatic malt 1/4 lb

Fermentables:
Cooper’s Light LME 6.6 lb
Carlson’s Amber DME 1/2 lb
Carlson’s Dark DME 1/4 lb
Long Island Locust honey 1 lb (added at 180 degrees post-flameout)

Hops:
Cascade (7.5%): 1.75 oz - 60 min
Cascade (7.5%): 0.5 oz – 5 min

Spices:
Cinnamon sticks (crushed) – 2 sticks (10 min)
Fresh ginger root (grated or sliced) – 1.0 oz (10 min)
Nutmeg (freshly ground) – 1 tsp (at flameout, steep for 10-15 min before chilling wort)
Allspice (freshly ground) – 1 tsp (at flameout, steep for 10-15 min before chilling wort)

Additional:
Irish moss 1 tsp - 15 min

Yeast:
Safale US-05*

Your recipe is very similar to mine...however, I used Willamette and Cascade.

However, since the Cascade was so high AA....I only dropped them at 5 min. I used Willamette for my 60 and 30 min additions.

Did you calculate your IBUs? I will for you..looks like around 50 IBU! Will be pretty strong.

Mine by contrast will be around 25-30 IBU.

http://members.cox.net/boxelderbrewers/tools/IBU.html


Patrick

If you look at recipe above, the IBU's were calculated at 30.3. How did you get your figure for my recipe?

The Cascade will begin to mute considerably after just a few weeks in the bottle. I'd be very careful with the spices, they will take longer to dissipate than the hops will.

Frankly, you may have over-hopped this one, anyway. I'd have treated a spice beer like a wheat, using just a bittering hop addition and even that under 20IBUs, so that the spices would be the star of the show. But don't worry too much - cascade fades really quickly (check out what happens to IPAs or Fresh Hopped beers within a few months of kegging).

Thanks all. I was beginning to worry.

KenDawg19 said:

If you look at recipe above, the IBU's were calculated at 30.3. How did you get your figure for my recipe?

Click to expand...

oops.

I was off on my guess on OG. I didn't read very well sorry.

I recalculated...and got 35.

You should be fine. No worries.

Sorry.


Patrick