Good amount of spices?

[lrbijl]

I tried the recipe forum, but didnt really get a response.. So I'll make a separate thread for this!

I'm trying to make a christmassy, gingerbread-ish ale. These are my ingredients:

1 Coopers Dark Ale Kit (yes, I base my beer of a kit..)
2 pounds dark dme
2 pounds brewing sugar
2 pounds brown sugar
1/2 pound of carafa 1

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
2 Cloves
1 tsp orange zest



My is to steep the grains in hot water for half an hour, then get the dme and sugars boiling along with the wort from the fresh grains and add the spices and boil it all for roughly ten minutes. Then at flameout I'll add the kit.

here are my questions:

1) This is my first time using specialty grains. is 1/2 enough for some flavor? should i use more?
2) This is also my first time using spices. Do I have enough/too much/wrong types?
3) Should I make a bittering hop tea? I have cascade and pilgrim lying around.


You guys are truly awesome for helping out us newbies!

 

[JonK331]

I would definitely add some hops in there. Even if you want to do a short boil, add enough to get at least 30 IBU. I'd also add some nutmeg but that's just me.

 

[JLem]

1) The amount of steeping grains really depends on what you are doing. 1/2 a pound of Carafa I is probably sufficient, depending on what you wanted to do. As far as the type - Carafa I is basically a pale roasted malt - something like chocolate malt. You'll get some roastiness and some color, but no real caramel/sweetness. This is fine if this is what you are looking for.

2) I think your spices look good. THough I'm not sure about the whole cloves - I would be careful since cloves can take over pretty quick. I've used 1/4 tsp of ground cloves in a 3.5 gallon batch and I think it was enough. I do not know how that translates into whole cloves. Also, err on the low side since you can always add more later.

3) Why do you want to make a hop tea?

 

[lrbijl]

First: the allspice is supposed to taste like cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Next:

1) I didnt really have that much of a plan, but my brewing store doesnt carry a wide selection, and since i wanted a little more than just dme I went with the only roasted malt they had. Experimenting a little, which makes me want it at least a tad noticable.

2) The whole cloves are pretty small.. like the top part of an orange.. the little hard piece you can pull out.

3) For some more bittering, I know im not supposed to have aroma/flavor hops. Im just not too familiar with the spice style, so I thought it was worth considering.



Oh, and i have ground white pepper too, unsure if that fits, but it is an ingredient in gingerbread

 

[JonK331]

First: the allspice is supposed to taste like cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Next:

1) I didnt really have that much of a plan, but my brewing store doesnt carry a wide selection, and since i wanted a little more than just dme I went with the only roasted malt they had. Experimenting a little, which makes me want it at least a tad noticable.

2) The whole cloves are pretty small.. like the top part of an orange.. the little hard piece you can pull out.

3) For some more bittering, I know im not supposed to have aroma/flavor hops. Im just not too familiar with the spice style, so I thought it was worth considering.



Oh, and i have ground white pepper too, unsure if that fits, but it is an ingredient in gingerbread

first: Allspice is a spice in itself, not a combination. It is very peppery so be careful, almost like a spicy black peppercorn.

2) Cloves are very powerful despite being small. I used a total of five of them in a five gallon batch of cider and it was too much.

3) Why not boil the hops with your wort? If you want to do a shorter boil that's fine but use something like beer calculus to figure out how much to add to get your desired IBUs ( I'd go at least 30 as I said before). No need to mess with a hop tea.

 

[lrbijl]

I know it is, but its called Allspice because it tastes like it consists of the other three, right?

2) So one or two would do? Crush them or whole?

3) As I said, the kit is pre hopped, so maybe I should boil the kit well, to get rid of some aroma/flavoring hops, and then add some bittering hops instead?

 

[JLem]

If the kit comes pre-hopped, I see no need to add a hop tea. If you want to add more bitterness, just add the hops at the beginning of the boil.

A few more things I thought of:

Why the 4 pounds of additional sugar? (what is brewing sugar?) That seems excessive to me and will really dry and thin out the beer. If you want to add more fermentables, I would probably add no more than a pound total.

I don't think the 1 tsp of orange zest will come through at all - this is probably a fraction of an ounce. If it were me, I'd start with a whole ounce of the zest, which will probably be the zest from an entire orange (or more).

 

[lrbijl]

The sugar was for an increased alcohol content, as DME costs 10 dollars per pound up here..

Great with the orange! An orange and a half it will be

 

[JLem]

The sugar was for an increased alcohol content, as DME costs 10 dollars per pound up here..

Great with the orange! An orange and a half it will be

I can appreciate the cost savings, but this approach will not make very good beer. Leave out most of the sugars.

 

[lrbijl]

Alright..
I just got back from the grocery store, and found some interesting cereal.
I know, cereal..
The ingredients are wheat, rye, barley and oat.
It says they are only treated by slightly heating and then flaking it.
Could steeping this with the roasted malt add some body?