Appreciate your feedback on my Holiday Ale recipe

Trying to put together my Holiday Ale recipe based on a bunch of "best of's" so to speak from these forums. What do you guys think? I want a nice, spicy warmer that's not too overwhelming for SWMBO or other "sidewalk" beer fans. Any suggestions here? My fermentation steps didn't get copied here but planning for 7 days primary, then 21 days secondary. Bottles will then be able to sit for a full month to age before Holiday season.

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BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Timber Cove Holiday Ale
Brewer: Timber Cove Brewing
Asst Brewer:
Style: Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.90 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 14.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 47.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 11.11 %
1.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 11.11 %
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Clear [Boil for 15 min] Extract 11.11 %
3.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 38.89 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (55 min) Hops 18.7 IBU
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (10 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (10 min) (Aroma Hop-Hops -
0.50 tsp Gelatin (Secondary 5.0 hours) Misc
1.00 tsp All-Spice (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Cinnamon (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Partial Mash
Total Grain Weight: 6.00 lb
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Partial Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min PM Add 8.70 qt of water at 167.6 F 155.0 F

 

Personally I think your hops are going to be too overwhelming for the "sidewalk" folks and will likely overhwhelm the spices. To accent the spices and malt for the holiday season i would go with a single bittering addition of a more neutral hop like magnum or even willamette. Your yeast is spot on though. With a 1.053 OG your IBU will be leaning heavily towards bitter....I would knock it back to 25-30 IBU.

However, if the beer was for me, I love chinook and centennial..but for the average pallete I think the hops should be subdued with the spice.

 

Just made one this weekend...and ironically, as Permo just suggested, went with Willamette. Think it'll mesh nicely with the spices, rather than overwhelm. Also purposely stayed away from the very fruity/citrusy/flowery hops like cascade/amarillo. Chinook might be too much. I shot for ~33IBUs...wanted it to be more on the malty end of the scale than the hoppy end.

I'd also go with S-05 than S-04.

 

hrm.. ive been looking for a spicey beer to do for the holidays.

i think im gonna try this one and tweak it around a bit.

instead of using the 1lbs of dme and the candy sugar, im going to grab 6.6 pale lme, and for the hops ill be switching to the willamette or fuggles and adding some whole cloves for spicing.

thanks for posting this

 

Be careful with the cloves...its very easy to overpower with just a small amount. Especially baring in mind that there are cloves already in the all-spice powder.

 

Thanks all for the feedback. I got the Chinook and Centennial ideas from the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale which I believe uses those. I will cut the Aroma hops back a bit. Also, my IBUs are high because I had my DME additions late (30 mins for each of them). If I put them in the full 60 min boil that will reduce the IBUs.

So you guys think the S-04 is a good choice? The yeast was my biggest question mark, really. I was also wondering about subbing some biscuit malt in for part of the pale. I wondered if that might help accentuate some of the spices. Not sold on that, though.