winter ale, rough draft...

im on my crappy comp and i dont have beer tools on this one, so i havent finalized the ingredients really. but this is what i came up with reading a few recipes and grain descriptions. i want a well balanced beer, no flowery or citrusy hops. im probably going to shoot for 1.06 OG and 25-30 IBU once i get on beer tools later tonight.

12 lb munich(possibly vienna)
1 lb crystal 80 (or 60)
1 lb roasted barley

now for the hops, i wasnt sure what to go with. i have challenger at my house, but i feel that might be too much. if i were to use the challenger i would go .5 @ 60 and .5 @ 10.
although thinking about brewers gold.

yeast i would go for american ale.

ofcourse, i would use cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.
ground, .5 tsp of all 3 @ 5 min.

i would put whole cloves and cinnamon in the secondary for the last 4 days before bottling.

tell me what you think!

nothing? its either perfect (i know thats not true) or you guys are just being shy!

Not sure about the cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg part - but I made the a beer with just 10 pounds of Munich and hit better than .060, I think you're going to have too much Munich personally. I was going for about the same IBUs as you but I used Nuggets for the bitter and Hallertau for the flavor and aroma and the beer turned out fantastic.

I'm not familiar with those other hops you're using, so I don't know what to comment about that - sorry.

yeah i just got home and have been messing around on beer tools...i'm leaning towards too much munich as well. im trying to figure out how to get a deep red color, not brown. hmmm

This might help you with the "red"...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/want-brew-red-beer-there-catch-88315/

I'm sort of trying to do the same thing.

My beer I made with the Lt Munich was not nearly "brown" or "red" it was very yellow almost orange, and my god it was good - hops hit you up front but didn't overwhelm it and left it malty and sweet in the finish. And it was strong too, but not so strong that you tasted alcohol or had it taste "hot" in your mouth. That was one great beer, when I get a keg empty and it gets a bit colder I'm going to make it again and tone the hops down just a little bit.

Okay. Spices, I got nothing. When I want spiced ale, I put it in a pot and mull it. So the spices are your funeral.

Your grist has waaaaaaay too much roasted barley in it. You won't get a brown beer, that's for sure, but neither will you get red - it'll be black as the ace of spades! Cut it back to less than a quarter-pound, if you must use it at all. I think you'll be all right with a couple of ounces, given that lots of color will come from the Crystal.

This is going to be a hard grist to balance. Munich Malt is rich in melanoidins that shove "MALT!" at the drinker's senses, emphasizing biscuits and bread. Then you add that much Crystal into the mix, which will provide flavors of strong caramel, burnt sugar and hints of dark fruit. So there's lots of malt and sweet there, almost like a cake or, better yet, a sweet dessert bread or a muffin.

You've got to be clever about bittering a wort like that. You musn't just start tossing hops in there. For example, the classic "C" American hops and spiced ales go together like fish and bicycles. Your choice of Challenger is well made, in my book. Challenger is spicy, with hints of straw and grass. Traditionally, Challenger is a "copper hop" to be finished with Fuggles or Goldings, but Challenger is quite capable of good flavor and aroma additions in its own right.

Now, as for how much Challenger to add, you probably should hover around between 0.75:1 and 1:1 (BU:GU ratio) for this one, to counter your muffin. ProMash tells me your grist will provide ~1.068, so you'll need between 45 and 68 IBU.

If you insist on spicing the beer, omit flavor and aroma hops additions, which will only confuse the palate by muddling all those flavors. Give each ingredient a chance to shine. Again, you'll probably need quite a lot of spice to overcome the malt-hammer. But you can do that to taste in the bright tank.

Good luck!

Bob

alright, new and improved....kind of.

6 lb 2 row
5 lb munich 10L
4 oz crystal 80

1 oz challenger @60

OG 1.054
SRM 12.4
IBU 27.2


.25 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove @5

2 sticks of whole cinnamon, tsp whole cloves for 3 days in secondary.

I would make the final decision on the spices added to secondary upon tasting. Maybe you will not want to add anymore at all.

Edit: Why 6-row?

big supper said:

I would make the final decision on the spices added to secondary upon tasting. Maybe you will not want to add anymore at all.

Edit: Why 6-row?

Click to expand...

i honestly dont know why i picked it first-i think because i read it worked well with adjuncts, and for some reason i thought it would help with spices.:cross: now i know it has nothing to do with them haha.

so do you think using 6 lbs of 2 row and only 5 lbs of munich (as opposed to all munich for base) will help it not be AS malty?

Yes. Decreasing the Munich will help immensely.

Cheers!

Bob

alright, well this is what i am just about to order from AHS

7 lb 2 row
5 lb munich
4 oz crystal 90

1 oz challenger @ 60 (have a pound in the freezer)

hopefully it will be a balanced, deep rep color with hints of the spice (more smell than taste)

speak now or forever hold your peace!

done and done, i'll post up pics of the brew-and this time i wont shatter my hydrometer in my mouth

this brew went well! it was a tid bit nipply outside at 31 degrees but it was a lot of fun as usual...took about 6 hrs.
i didnt forget the whirloc this time, and i added the spices at 5 min left and it smelled amazing it has a great deep red color, just what i was looking for. my OG was .062, i was looking for .06 with 75% efficiency.
i tasted the sample and the hops were a little strong and i could taste the spices more than i anticipated, but i imagine that will mellow out a bit over time. after ten days in the primary, 10 in secondary and 3 weeks bottled it will be xmas eve! i hope everything goes well until then!!:rockin:

here's a pic of how clear this beer came out, i bottled it today. pretty proud of myself. tasted great actually, with the smallest hints of the spices-i would describe it as a malty full bodied beer with a slight aftertaste of the spices.

santy claws
Author: Kevin
Category: 21 - Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer
Subcategory: B - Winter Specialty Spiced Beer

Kettle Volume: 6.44 gal (S.G.: 1.044)
Boil Duration: 1 hr
Evaporation: 1.75 gal
Water Volume Added: 0.0 gal
Final Volume: 4.5 gal (S.G.: 1.063)
Efficiency: 87.85%
Attenuation: 76.2%
Evap/Hour: 1.75 gal

Ingredients:
1 oz Challenger (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
4.0 lb Munich 10L Malt
5.0 lb 2-Row Brewers Malt
3.0 oz Crystal Malt 90°L
1.0 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale
0.25 tsp Cinnamon (ground) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
.25 tsp Nutmeg (ground) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
.25 tsp Cloves (whole) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min

Original Gravity: 1.063
Terminal Gravity: 1.015
Color: 12.4 °SRM
Alcohol: 6.31%
Bitterness: 33.3
Guideline
1.026 - 1.120
0.995 - 1.035
1.0 - 50.0
2.5% - 14.5%
0.0 - 100.0
Analysis:
Apparent
Original Extract: 15.42 °P
Attenuation: 76.2%
Terminal Extract: 3.82 °P
% Alcohol: 6.31% ABV
Real
15.42 °P
60.9%
6.03 °P
4.94% ABW
Weight

this sounds like a great beer, i have never made a winter ale or tasted another home brew winter, I am looking to brew something like a Long Trail Hibernator, no question this is most likly better than any commercial beer, but if you had to compare to you have what it might taste like?

Since I have been homebrewing ( about 4 months ) it seems the best beer I drink is the ones we make,