Holiday Ale Recipe - Help!

Hello, me and my roommates are nubes but we want to try to make a Holiday Ale. We've got a Russian Imperial Stout in secondary and that is the first thing we've brewed so we are new to this. I have tried to do some research on Holiday Ale recipes and this is a combination of a lot of them but it is based upon the Brew Ha Ha recipe from Brew Monkeys.http://www.brew-monkey.com/recipes/html/HolidayBrewHaHa.htm

Here is the tentative recipe I am asking for advice on:

Malt -
Not sure what I should do for the malts, the Brew Ha Ha recipes says:
3 lb Amber Dry Extract
3 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
1 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
Hops -
2 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) (45 MIN)
I read something that said I should avoid putting in hops anytime after 30 min because they will overpower the spice, should I take this advice?

Spices
.5 tsp Allspice
.5 tsp Ginger (fresh or dried?)
.5 tsp Cardamon
.5 oz Coriander
.25 tsp Cloves
3 tbsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1 lb Orange Blossom Honey (Not sure if I should add some zested peel as well)
I also want to add vanilla, the Brew Ha Ha recipe says 4 tbsp vanilla but I don't know if that means beans, I do not think I will be able to find beans where I am (College Park, MD), can I use vanilla extract? If so how much should I use.

Yeast-
Not sure what kind to get. Just used a packet last time.

Plan B is to get the Brewer's Best kit for Holiday Ale and just add the spices.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If it were me, I'd pick out 3 or 4 of those spices and only use those. 9 different kinds of spices (including the vanilla & orange zest) is way too much -- they'll fight with each other & you won't get distinctive spicing from this. If you use Ginger, I'd say use fresh ginger & use at least a Tbsp (lotta water weight in there).

Also, some of your additions seem way too large, particularly the cinnamon (3 Tbsps). For all of them, add somewhat less than you think you need in the boil, then taste before moving it to secondary or bottling or kegging. You can always add a bit more later. Once there's too much spices, though, you're stuck. Friends brewed a holiday beer last year that was undrinkable because it was so spiced up.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

I would back down on the spices, ~2 tsp total near the end of the boil is a fine place to start. if it needs more you can always add some crushed spices to the secondary, or make a spice tea to add at bottling. I actually like the spice tea approach, but adding at the end of the boil is much easier.

I agree with avoiding mixing spices and hops in a beer that you want to really taste the spices.

You can certainly add vanilla extract to taste (it sounds like that recipe was using extract). I like beans, and they are pretty easy to find at most gourmet shops, spice houses, and Whole Foods.

Hope that helps, and welcome to the board.

Okay cool this is helping, here is a revised recipe:

Malt-
3 lb Amber Dry Extract
3 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
1 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L

Hops-
2 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) (45 MIN)

Spices- (Just realized in not sure when during my boil i should add these things, should I put them in the sack with the grains or just dump them in?)
.5 tsp Allspice
.25 tsp Nutmeg
1.25 tbsp Cinnamon
1 lb Orange Blossom Honey
Vanilla (Still unsure how much, I will be using vanilla extract if some can give a recommendation.)

Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much.

1.25 Tbsp of cinnamon is still a huge amount that will likely dominate all other flavors. one of the things I commonly do for cinnamon is use whole stick cinnamon -- you can get it in the spice section of any supermarket. One or two 3" sticks would be great.

The Allspice, Nutmeg, Cinnamon combo is great -- close to the classic pumpkin pie combination. Should be good.

Okay, I have cinnamon sticks so I will do that instead of using powder. That is weird that the Brew Ha Ha recipe called for 3 tbsp but I suppose it was a typo.

The only lingering question I have now is when should I add my spices.

Last 5 minutes of the boil works great. Then be sure to taste before secondary, bottling, or kegging. If the spices are a little low, make a tea with more (1 cup water + extra spices) or a vodka immersion (couple shots + spices immersed) and add to the fermented beer.