Holidale Recipe Critique

[Spectre216]

I posted a recipe for an amber here a little bit ago, and slowly tried to turn it into a spiced beer for the holidays. It definitely isn't an amber anymore, but still wanted to run it by you guys and get your opinion. Does this sound good as a holiday ale or would I be better going with the amber (or a completely different recipe) I posted earlier and just adding spices to it? Didn't really want to go with something as heavy as a stout and tried to shoot for more of a brown ale with a higher gravity. Shooting for a 5 gallon recipe.

12lbs Munich Malt
4lbs Munich 20L
1lb Victory Malt
8oz Crystal 40L
8oz Crystal 60L
8oz Crystal 80L

2oz Cascade @60 (28.4 IBU)

1tsp Cinnamon @5
1tsp Ginger @5
1tsp Allspice @5
1tsp Nutmeg @5
2tsp Vanilla Extract @5

Ferment with Nottingham at 59-60 for a clean profile

According to brewtarget (and my previous efficiency recordings) this should land me at about 7% abv which should give the nice warm feeling attributed to holiday beers. Anyone got any suggestions on how to improve this?

 

[somerandomguy]

I have never used munich malt as my only base malt, so not quite sure what to expect from that? Have you (or anyone else here) had success with that?

Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a lot of grain to end up at 7% in a 5 gallon batch. I threw your grain bill into BeerSmith and with my setup and 72% total efficiency its coming in at OG 1.096 and ~10%ABV.

I haven't played around with spices all that much, but what you have looks like a good place to start to me.

I think for the hops I would probably go with something more along the lines of goldings, liberty, willamette, etc… for this type of brown ale, with mostly bittering additions and maybe one small late addition to let the spices shine through.

All that being said, I don't have much experience with this type of spiced/holiday type beer, so maybe take what I have said with a grain of salt and hopefully someone with a little more experience than me can chime in as well.

Cheers

 

[Spectre216]

I have never used munich malt as my only base malt, so not quite sure what to expect from that? Have you (or anyone else here) had success with that?

Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a lot of grain to end up at 7% in a 5 gallon batch. I threw your grain bill into BeerSmith and with my setup and 72% total efficiency its coming in at OG 1.096 and ~10%ABV.

I haven't played around with spices all that much, but what you have looks like a good place to start to me.

I think for the hops I would probably go with something more along the lines of goldings, liberty, willamette, etc… for this type of brown ale, with mostly bittering additions and maybe one small late addition to let the spices shine through.

All that being said, I don't have much experience with this type of spiced/holiday type beer, so maybe take what I have said with a grain of salt and hopefully someone with a little more experience than me can chime in as well.

Cheers

I've been lingering around 63% for my efficiency, so this would only land me around 7% (unless it ferments drier than brewtarget predicts). I've been working on it and seems to have turned into a pit more of a porter than a brown ale. No i've never used all munich as a base malt, but I have seen it done before so I though I'd try it. Switched back over to 2-Row after I read that Munich might not have enough diastic power for everything.

Here is the overhauled recipe.

9lbs 2-Row (45%)
6lbs Munich 20L (30%)
1.5lbs Crystal 60L (8%)
1lb Crystal 40L (5%)
8oz Crystal 80L (2%)
1lb Honey Malt (5%)
8oz Chocolate Malt (2%)
8oz Special B (2%)

2oz Willamette @ 60 (23 IBU)
1oz Fuggles @ 15 (5 IBUS)

Spices @ 5
2tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Ginger
1tsp Nutmeg
.5tsp All-Spice
2tbsp Vanilla extract

I'm still debating on the yeast. Though maybe i'd give Windsor a try since it is supposed to leave a sweeter beer than Nottingham.

 

[somerandomguy]

Sounds good to me. If your looking for something sweeter I would probably mash around 154-55, and maybe try S-04 instead of Windsor. I did this recently on a porter and it turned out pretty good. I had a bad experience with Windsor once so I tend to go with 04 more often. With the mash temp above and S04 it brought me to FG of 1.015.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[JR_Brewer]

Here's my 2 cents...

The thing that catches my eye about your recipe is that 25% of your grain bill is made up of specialty malts, including 6 different malts, 3 of which are just crystal. The experienced brewers I've known, or whose recipes I've read, rarely make it that complicated. Each malt needs to have a purpose.

I brewed up Jamil Zainasheff's Wee Heavy, and your description reminded me of this beer. It's definitely a good beer, and it's tried and true. Here's a link.

So my recommendation would be use the 2-row and munich as your base, and then use 3 or 4 of the specialty grains. I'd definitely keep the chocolate malt and a dark crystal. Then pick 1 or 2 others depending on what you are looking for.

 

[Spectre216]

Here's my 2 cents...

The thing that catches my eye about your recipe is that 25% of your grain bill is made up of specialty malts, including 6 different malts, 3 of which are just crystal. The experienced brewers I've known, or whose recipes I've read, rarely make it that complicated. Each malt needs to have a purpose.

I brewed up Jamil Zainasheff's Wee Heavy, and your description reminded me of this beer. It's definitely a good beer, and it's tried and true. Here's a link.

So my recommendation would be use the 2-row and munich as your base, and then use 3 or 4 of the specialty grains. I'd definitely keep the chocolate malt and a dark crystal. Then pick 1 or 2 others depending on what you are looking for.

Ok, so maybe something more like this
9lbs 2-Row
6lbs Munich 20L
2lbs Crystal 60L
1lb Honey Malt
8oz Chocolate Malt

Would maybe a bit of a very dark crystal be a good idea to add that almost raisany flavor?

 

[JR_Brewer]

That looks much better.

Would maybe a bit of a very dark crystal be a good idea to add that almost raisany flavor?

Yes! I really like having some dark crystal in the mix for that raisany flavor. I've successfully used crysal 90 and 120 for the job.

 

[Spectre216]

Cool, maybe i'll throw in about 8oz of Cryastal 120 to get the job done. Thanks for the help