Help with a Holiday Ale

So what I'm trying to make is a very malty, sweet, deep red holiday ale. Something that I can sit down on a chilly evening next to the fire and warm myself with. I've done a bit of fiddling with QBrew to put something together, but would like any input you have. I'm not sure the proper amounts of spices for this. I'd like them to be subtle but noticeable, not too over the top.

All Grain
Yeast: WLP004 or 005? (any others that might work better?)
Batch Size: 5.5gal
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV: 6.0%
SRM: 17
IBU: 12


10.0lb American 2-Row
1.5lb Crystal 60L
1.0lb Crystal 120L
1.0lb Belgian Candy (or maybe honey, haven't decided)

0.5oz EKGoldings (60min)
0.5oz EKGoldings (20min)

Spices added at flame out:
1/4tsp Cinnamon
1/4tsp Cloves
1/4tsp Nutmeg
.25oz Orange peel


Thanks,
Terje

Here are the spices and ammounts that went into my Xmas Ale... tasted it today and surprisingly not over the top. Very nice subtle yet noticeable flavor. I used about the same ammount of malt as you are planning to use too.


1 tsp Ginger @ 3 min.
1 tsp All-Spice @ 3 min.
2 tsp Cinnamon @ 3 min.

did you check the PM i sent you?

Didnt recieve one

I haven't gotten one either.

Thanks for the input on the spices. I hadn't thought of Allspice. What's the color like on your beer? I'd really like this not to come out brown.

In the fermentor it looks almost black, but when it was being pumped through the HERMS, it looked red. I am not sure of the actual SRM, Id have to look that up!
When it was boiling it smelled very strong, very spicey... but tasting it going into the secondary, as I said, it is very well balanced.

Here is a pic of the wort...

Very excellent. I'll be buying ingredients today or tomorrow and brewing on Monday (Columbus Day is a wonderful thing!)

Thanks
Terje

PS the PM showed up in my box this morning. Thank you for the recipe!

Brewed this today. I made a few changes from the original recipe.

Subbed 1/2# of Belgian Aromatic (~100L) for the Crystal 120. Did this because my LHBS was unhappy with the color of the 120 they had (closer to 200L).
Changed the Belgian Candy out for about 1# of molasses.
Spices became:
Cinnamon- 5 sticks (10 min)
Ginger - 1/2 tsp (10 min)
Allspice - 1 tsp (10 min)
Nutmeg - 1 tsp (10 min)
Cloves - small handful (maybe 15) whole cloves (10 min)
Sweet Orange - 1/2 oz

I ended up boiling for closer to 90 minutes because I ended up with more runoff than my pot could handle at once. I mixed the molasses (one 12fl oz jar) with the extra wort and added it slowly as there was room in the pot. Ended up with 5.5 gallons from maybe 8 gallons of runnings. The extra time for the spices was do to a screw up on my part. Put the chiller coil in a bit late so I may end up a bit more spicy than I hoped.

This stuff smells and tastes almost like gingerbread cookies and is a beautiful deep red (no brown! ). OG was right on at 1.062. Can't wait for this to finish up! Should be a great fireside winter warmer.

Thanks again,

Terje

Pol - my color came out just a bit darker than yours in the picture but still red. You're right that it looks black in the fermenter!

Good luck with the brew, let me know how it tastes!

Just got around to racking this to secondary tonight. It probably doesn't need it, but I'm feeling too lazy to bottle tonight and need to free up the primary for a brew day tomorrow. It's down to 1.016 tonight (haven't taken consecutive readings) but it has been slowly chugging away in the primary for the last week.

The sample tastes kinda like slightly over cooked gingerbread cookies. The molasses is a little over powering at first, but the spices balance it well enough. There is a bit of a bitter aftertaste that is what makes me think of over dark (almost burnt) cookies. It's also nicely warming in the mouth and tummy, but not "hot". All-in-all I'm happy with this beer. Hopefully with some carbonation this will be a great beer.

Terje

Congrats, mine has been in the keg for a few weeks, cant wait to tap it for Thanksgiving!