first batch

[ForrestWoods]

after years of helping my dad brew he finally passed his setup to me. i plan on brewing a brown ale and im thinking of adding some nutmeg and vanilla at priming any comments or suggestions for this? thanks!



Grains: 2 oz 60L Crystal Malt
2 oz Chocolate Malt
1 oz Black Malt
1-2 oz Biscuit Malt

Extracts: 6 lbs Light DME


Hops: 6.5 HBUs Target Hops (Bittering) 1 oz of Fuggles Hops
1/2 oz East Kent Goldings (Flavor)


Yeast: British Ale Yeast

 

[Calder]

I would add the vanilla and nutmeg to secondary (or primary after main fermentation is done). Soak in some alcohol for a couple of days to sanitize, and add it all to the fermenter.

I don't do browns, but it seems light on crystal. I would up that to 8 ozs. Not sure what the biscuit will do since you are just steeping. It will add some starches which will not clear, but with a brown, it will not be noticeable.

 

[ForrestWoods]

I heard adding the vanilla at prime maximized the flavor but I wasn't sure about the nutmeg so thank you for the insight. I will definitely up the crystal and also in some research heard the biscuit would add some complexity, it's a Newcastle clone but I wanted a little something too it. How about sanitizing the nutmeg in some crown royal to add some flavor?

 

[ForrestWoods]

Any thoughts on how much nutmeg I should be using?

 

[ForrestWoods]

I'm headed to the LHBS today to gather my ingredients, any more comments/suggestions for this recipe?

 

[heferly]

haven't used either in a beer, but i know you have to be really careful with the amounts (especially the nutmeg)

buy the ingredients, then do some more searching/reaching out to get some answers before you rack onto the spices

good luck!

 

[mhermetz]

good recipe...It's actually really close to mine in the Post your Pint thread.

I used roasted barley rather than black malt though (I assume it's black patent?). Same hops too except EKG and Fuggles were both at 60min. Should be a good beer!

I would be very cautious with the nutmeg. You'd be surprised how little you need to impart even the smallest of flavours. If you never used it before in a brown ale I'd also suggest buying a brown ale and adding a pinch of nutmeg to it. That way you can see if you even like the flavour it provides.

If you do that just record how much Nutmeg you added to the pint. From there you should be able to have a basic ratio of spice to beer. That should allow you to scale it up to your brew.

If I were a betting man though I'm thinking no more than 1 tsp.

 

[ForrestWoods]

Thank you for your insight and hope my first batch even closely resembles yours! Unfortunately my brew day is getting pushed back a few weeks but I'm really looking forward to it and can't wait to get started! Cheers!