Holiday Mild-ish bubbling away!

[GinAndCoffee]

Alright, so my holiday mild is in the fermenter and bubbling away. This is what I did:

4 # light DME
1/2 # Carapils
1/2 # Crystal 60
1.25 oz fuggles (60 mins)
.25 oz fuggles (20 mins)
Munton's dry ale yeast
1 clove (30 mins)
some fresh orange peel (2 mins)
5 bags Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie tea (2 mins)

I knew I had to go light on the seasonings, and somebody suggested that I just do boiling hops so I did that. I tasted it and it was a bit bitter... we'll see how it does after fermentation stops.

The tea, btw, has dried orange peel, vanilla and roasted barley.

 

[Oldsock]

Beers often taste extra bitter before fermentation because there are still bits of hop suspended in the wort. It will be interesting to hear how the spiced tea works out, good luck.

 

[GinAndCoffee]

Just took a hydrometer reading - 1.010 (down from 1.038). And, a taste...

oh.
my.
god is this beer good.

a little bit malty, a little bit hoppy, a little orange, a little caramel, the tiniest bit of vanilla, an AWESOME finish, i'm even getting something from the roasted barley that was in the tea!

wow.

That said, being a mild(-ish), this is definately going to require reduced carbonation.

 

[GinAndCoffee]

Also, this is my first time doing a first boil w/ late extract addition. I think it made a heckuva difference.