Imperial Christmas Porter - Toasted Tannebaum w/ juniper berries and ginger Feedback

[rwing7486]

So I am preparing to brew a new recipe I put together for my holiday beer this year (see below). I have never brewed with juniper berries before and am curious what experience people have with them? I do not want the juniper to dominate the beer so I am thinking maybe only a 0.5oz? Here are the berries I plan on buying from my LHBS.

http://www.homebrewing.org/Juniper-Berries-1oz_p_228.html


Estimated OG: 1.087
EST FG: 1.022
SRM:42
IBU: 52

11lbs - Pale 2 Row (63.8%)
1.5 lbs - Munich 10L (8.7%)
1lbs - Wyermann Smoked Malt (5.8%)
1lbs - American Choclate 350L (5.8%)
0.75lbs - Crystal 40L (4.3%)
0.75lbs - Extra Special Malt 130L (4.3%)
0.75lbs - Flaked Oats (4.3%)
0.5lbs - CarafaIII (2.9%)

WLP007 - Dry English Ale Yeast

1oz Magnum @ 60 minutes
1oz Cascade @ 5 minutes

Add 0.5oz Juniper berries and 1oz grated ginger @ 2 minutes

 

[badlee]

See you got no love on this one.
Did you brew it?
What are your thoughts about the juniper berries?

 

[rwing7486]

See you got no love on this one.
Did you brew it?
What are your thoughts about the juniper berries?

lol yup i went ahead and brewed it. I did make some tweaks to my recipe though.Instead of wlp007 i used wlp028 - edinburgh scottish ale yeast. I also lowered my ginger to 0.5oz and added 2 cinnamon sticks at flameout. The beer came out great, people seemed to enjoy it. Only changes i would make is to bump up the juniper beans to 0.75oz to get more of that "pine" flavor into the beer. The beer as it sits right now has aroma of chocolate, citrus, pine, smoke and spice. It drinks smooth and finishes with a subtle smoke flavor on the back end.

 

[badlee]

That sounds bloody great