Holiday Red Suggestion

[Powerturn11]

Hey guys need some advice here is a recipe that I plan on doing Sunday:

-- 8 lbs. English Maris Otter
-- 1 lb. Torrefied Wheat
-- 1.5 lbs Ashburne Mild
-- 0.5 lbs. English Dark Crystal
-- 0.25 lbs. Bairds Carastan Malt
-- 0.25 lbs. Fawcett Pale Chocolate Malt

BOIL ADDITIONS & TIMES
-- 3/4 oz. US Magnum (60 min)
-- 1 oz. Styrian Goldings (Celeia) (10 min)
-- 1 oz. Sweet Orange Peel (0 min)

YEAST
-- LIQUID YEAST : Wyeast 1028
London Ale.

My question is I would like to add a little all spice to this recipie to give it more of a holiday feel. How much is too much? I was thinking 2 tablespoons. Suggestions?

 

[Powerturn11]

Hey guys need some advice here is a recipe that I plan on doing Sunday:

-- 8 lbs. English Maris Otter
-- 1 lb. Torrefied Wheat
-- 1.5 lbs Ashburne Mild
-- 0.5 lbs. English Dark Crystal
-- 0.25 lbs. Bairds Carastan Malt
-- 0.25 lbs. Fawcett Pale Chocolate Malt

BOIL ADDITIONS & TIMES
-- 3/4 oz. US Magnum (60 min)
-- 1 oz. Styrian Goldings (Celeia) (10 min)
-- 1 oz. Sweet Orange Peel (0 min)

YEAST
-- LIQUID YEAST : Wyeast 1028
London Ale.

My question is I would like to add a little all spice to this recipe to give it more of a holiday feel. How much is too much? I was thinking 2 tablespoons. Suggestions?

Anything guys?

 

[feinbera]

Don't have any personal experience with allspice, but I did review a bunch of recipes for a holiday beer I brewed a couple weeks ago (and didn't end up using allspice in).

Stone's homebrew recipe for the 12.12.12 Vertical Epic uses 1/2 tsp at 90 minutes and 6 tsp at flame-out (as well as a crapload of other stuff at 90, 30, and flame-out) in a five-gallon batch. This beer was also a total spice bomb, probably won't be properly drinkable until 12.12.13, so, that's probably a little on the high side.

This Homebrew Talk recipe uses 1 tsp at 3 minutes, in addition to ginger and cinnamon, in a five gallon batch.

A lot of folks recommend making a spice tea, and adding it bit by bit at bottling time, so you can taste as you go (remember, of course, that the carbonation will bring out flavors and aromas, so, you want it a little muted flat to hit the nail on the head).

But if you wanna just say "eh, screw that, it's homebrew, the point is to try things out, not take little baby steps, it doesn't need to come out perfect the first time," two teaspoons doesn't sound like it would be off the charts. Throw that s*!t in, take good notes, you can always tune it next year, that's the route I went...

 

[kingogames]

I've brewed that EXACT beer. In fact, I'm drinking it right now. It's good as is. But if you want to add spices, remember less is more. I wouldn't go more than a tsp of anything like Allspice, even that's probably way too much.

 

[Powerturn11]

Thanks for the replys guys. I was originally going to do 2 tablespoons of allspice but it sounds like teaspoons would be more like it. I really don't like ginger and I believe allspice has a little ginger in it so I better tread lightly.

 

[Powerturn11]

I just tried this beer after 2 weeks in the bottle. This beer turned out fantastic. Didn't add anything to the original recipie.