Brewing a NB - John Palmer Elevenses Brown Ale want some advice on spicing it...

[ElCid79]

I am about to brew a batch of John Palmers Elevenses, its a brown ale with some toasted malt and baked oats.... Being that the holidays are coming up, and it should be in the keg just before Thanksgiving, I am considering adding some Cinnamon and perhaps nutmeg to the boil. I havn't ever added spices to a brown ale, but it sounds to me like it would be yummy. What do you all think? My thought is just to throw 5-8 cinnamon sticks in the last 15 minutes of the boil, and leave them in for the fermentation. Rack them off when I keg it.


Thoughts?

Here is the grain bill.

--2 lbs Maris Otter
--0.75 lbs Briess Caramel 60
--0.75 lbs Weyermann Oak-Smoked Wheat Malt
--0.5 lbs English Brown Malt
--0.33 lbs Flaked Oats (See Brewer's Note, below)
--0.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
FERMENTABLES
--3.15 lbs Northern Brewer Maris Otter malt syrup
HOPS & FLAVORINGS
--0.75 oz German Northern Brewer (60 min)
--Brewer's Note (Optional): John Palmer recommends toasting the oats before mashing - spread the oats into a thin layer on a baking sheet, then place in a 300-350°F oven for 5-15 minutes, or until they smell like cookies. Avoid burning the oats at all costs!
YEAST
--Dry Yeast (default): Safale S-04 Ale Yeast. Optimum temp: 64–75° F

 

[ElCid79]

Anyone?

 

[shawnbou]

I don't know this recipe, but I'm all for adding spices to make something more interesting. Do it!

You could throw some spices in the kettle in the last minute or so of the boil. A couple of cinnamon sticks, a teaspoon of nutmeg or allspice maybe. Ginger and cloves are common fall/holiday spices too, but I'm having trouble imagining those in a brown ale.

You could also make a spice potion by steeping your spices in a few ounces of vodka ... or spice tea with boiling water, but I like the vodka method as you can let it steep for days/weeks. Add the potion/tea to the bottling bucket or keg at packaging time. The advantage of that is you can make the potion ahead of time and add a little bit or a lot depending on how the beer tastes at the end. And you're likely to get more spice aroma this way because you're adding after the fermentation off-gassing.

Remember to use a light hand when adding spices. You can always add more spice if needed; you can't take it out if you add too much.