How to spice my first christmas ale?

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Bullhawk

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Below is my first attempt at a holiday ale, I am looking for some feed back about the recipe especially regarding the spices and adding Frangelico for the hazelnut flavor.

6 gallon batch
6 lbs. pale malt 2 row (44.4 %)
2 lbs. pilsner malt (14.8 %)
2 lbs. Vienna malt (14.8 %)
.5 lb. crystal 40 L (7.4%)
.5 lb. crystal 60L (7.4%)
1 lb. wheat (7.4%)
.5 lb. chocolate (3.7%)
California Ale WLP001

1oz. cascade @ 60 minutes
1 oz. Mt hood @ 15 minutes

Mash at 154* for 60 minutes

Spices will be made in a tincture and added at kegging
2 vanilla beans in 1 cup of vodka for 2 weeks
2 cinnamon sticks in 1 cup of vodka for 2 weeks
1 cup of Frangelico added to the keg for the hazelnut flavor
 
Not sure if you'd want to add 2 cups of vodka to your beer. I'd look up how to create an extract and see how much booze you really need to use. Idk... 2 cups just sounds like a lot liquor to add to the beer. I dont even use a half a cup when using bourbon oak chips.

For the hazelnut id add to taste a little at a time. Idk how potent that stuff is.
 
Two cups of vodka (plus the Frangelica) is A LOT of alcohol. For the vanilla and cinnamon, put them in as small a jar as they need and just cover them with vodka. As they absorb some, you may need to top it off a little. That will give plenty of extract. Also, you may want to check out hazelnut flavoring. By the time you add enough Frangelica to get the hazelnut flavor it may be too much alcohol. Maybe someone with experience using Frangelica can weigh in.
 
I agree with everybody else, I just use enough vodka to cover whatever I'm using. Most of the time I only use like 1-2 oz max, so 2 cups is way too much in my opinion.
 
Add just enough vodka to cover your spices after you cut and scape your beans you will likely only need 1/8th cup to cover them. You can break the sticks to create less to cover or you can put the in a mason jar and lay the jar on its side to use less vodka.
 
Agreed fully on the vodka....but who am I kidding I dumped a pint of rum into one of my recent recopies. I might would look into other sources for the hazelnut, Frangelico is pretty good stuff, but I might would look into cheaper alternatives to be honest... unless Frangelico is actually cheaper than I remember (35-40 a 1/5th)
 
I would ditch the frangelico in favor of a pure hazelnut extract. 1oz will give a very strong hazelnut flavor. For something a little more subtle, start at .25oz at bottling and add more to taste.
 
I much prefer the taste of frangelico to hazelnut extract (which I find rather one-dimentional). I've made several spiced holiday ales, and I find relying on 100% tincture spicing lacks depth. I like to do some conservative flameout spices and adjust with tincture at bottling. Lastly, consider getting a few more spices in the mix for a complex spiced flavor (nutmeg, allspice, ginger).
 
How committed are you to the California Ale yeast? I'd typically like an Abbey Ale or Scotch Ale yeast or something to give it even more complexity,
 

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