Winter Spiced Ale

[Haldedrums]

Anyone have a good spiced ale recipe that I use? Looking for something to make for the holidays.

Thanks!

 

[Skyforger]

I have a Gingerbread brown ale I make for the holidays. It's quite popular, and can be ready in a reasonable timeframe (4-6 weeks). It's got a great malt character, bready with a bit of rich caramel, but is still fairly light and drinkable. And the spice is perfect for some holiday cheer.

The malt bill is more complicated than I would think wise nowadays, but has worked so well I'm reluctant to change it.

For 5 gallons:

6# Golden Promise
2# Mild Malt
1/2# Victory
1/2# Brown malt
1/4# Pale chocolate malt
1/4# crystal 60
1/3# crystal 40

Mash high-ish. Bitter to 10-15 IBU's. Add spices at flameout:

1 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp ginger; 1/4 tsp allspice; 1/4 tsp cloves.

Ferment in the low 60's with WLP002 (or Wyeast 1968, same thing).

I usually take twice again those spices, cover them with a few ounces of vodka, keep it in a jar. By the time it's ready to bottle/keg, you can use that to up the spice flavor if desired.

Could probably make an extract version, if necessary, by replacing the base malts with malt extract and maybe adding a brush of melanoidin malt to compensate for the mild malt. But I really like the purity and mild sweetness of the Golden Promise, so this wouldn't be ideal naturally.

 

[Haldedrums]

Thanks! This is a great looking recipe. Will definitely try and give you some feedback. Do you add spice to secondary, or just in the keg at kegging time? I have never used slices like this, so not sure which is the best option.

Thanks again for sharing your recipe!
MH

 

[Skyforger]

I added the spice tincture in the bottling bucket before, just started kegging this year. I suspect adding it in the keg would be the best option, as you could shake it in and taste test it most easily that way.

Use a light hand! It doesn't take much.