Spices for a winter ale

[BudzAndSudz]

Just enough to cover the cubes. I've never really measured the amount, but I put the cubes in a 1/2pint ball jar and use enough bourbon to just cover them. I should also mention that I brew 10 gallon batches so if you're only doing 5 gallons, only do 1oz of Cubes.

 

[jgroesbeck]

Got it. I'll need to look at halving the spices you mentioned then as well as I'm doing a 6 gallon batch. Probably the largest grain bill I've had for 6 gallons..... Many Thanks.

JG

 

[JoshJoshua]

Just finished my Spiced Pumpkin Ale. Has Vanilla Bean, All Spice, Nutmeg, Fresh Ginger and Cinnamon in it. Mostly all 1/2 tsp for a 5.5 gallon batch.

 

[CoTron]

I'm doing mine with:

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 nutmeg
All added at the end of the boil

And then I have a jar of vodka-extracted spices which I will use to adjust the spices at bottling. It contains about:
3 cups vodka
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp ginger
1/2 oz orange zest

 

[BudzAndSudz]

Got it. I'll need to look at halving the spices you mentioned then as well as I'm doing a 6 gallon batch. Probably the largest grain bill I've had for 6 gallons..... Many Thanks.

JG

It's sort of up to what you're looking for in that department. The beer could handle triple that spice bill and be fine since it's such a bold high gravity beer. But I was really looking for a subtle, gentle spice character so I keep it light.

And yeah, your mashtun is going to get a bit grumpy!

 

[jgroesbeck]

I know it's personal taste as much as anything, but one of the biggest turn offs to me for a spiced beer is when the spices are too overwhelming.

Keep in mind that the potency of the spices is directly related to the OG of the wort (much like AA isomerization). So a big 1.090 Old Ale with some spices will need more than a spiced American Amber.

My favorite christmas ale recipe is based around an English Old Ale (dark, malty, a bit of coffee and chocolate on the back of the palate) but I toss 2oz of medium toast oak cubes into some high quality bourbon for a week with 1/2tsp of cinnamon, a bit of powdered ginger and a small dash of blade mace (I've found nutmeg to be a bit too astringent for beer in general). Let that sit for a week and then add to your secondary, sit for another week and then keg or bottle. It's fantastic.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/28105/christmas-beeracle

If you don't mind me asking, how long do primary for with this recipe? I brewed it this weekend and it's bubbling along nicely

 

[BudzAndSudz]

About 3 weeks. Usually until it hits terminal gravity and then give it another couple days for the yeast to clean up after themselves, crash to 0C for a couple days and then rack to secondary. After two weeks in primary I start soaking the oak cubes, then a week later it's ready to get racked and oaked. I usually just play it by ear though, so you might have to experiment a bit.

 

[jgroesbeck]

About 3 weeks. Usually until it hits terminal gravity and then give it another couple days for the yeast to clean up after themselves, crash to 0C for a couple days and then rack to secondary. After two weeks in primary I start soaking the oak cubes, then a week later it's ready to get racked and oaked. I usually just play it by ear though, so you might have to experiment a bit.

Thanks, Bud. I was planning on leaving it in an extra week with the size of the beer. Brew day went well, for the most part. First time using WLP007 and I'm amazed at how aggresive this strain is. It's been plowing throgh the carboy now for going on 3 solid days without slowing. Thanks again for all the advice.

Cheers,
JG

 

[wizdumb1]

I have made this spiced Christmas ale regularly since the early 90s and it always seems very popular even with people who aren't beer drinkers. This recipe is for a 10 gallon batch:

14 lbs Pale Ale Malt
4 lbs Wheat malt
1 lb Crystal malt 60L - optional
2 lbs dark brown sugar
3/4 cup (about 1 lb) unsulfered molasses
.5 lb British chocolate malt 450SRM
3 oz Cascades (60 minutes in boil) 4.5% alpha acid
spices (see below)

Wyeast American 1056 yeast

added to first of boil in boiling bag:
1 or 2 cups orange juice
8-3in sticks cinnamon
3 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
.5 tsp allspice

Single infusion mash at 152 for 75 minutes.

Post boil gravity 1.061
Final gravity 1.016
ABV: ~6
Color: 18ish SRM a dark copper color
Bitterness: 23 IBU

So would I half everything for a 5 gallon? Odd question if it's the obvious
but I just didn't know if it were as easy as cutting it all in half.

 

[BudzAndSudz]

Yep! It gets more complicated if you're scaling from a commercial size batch to homebrew, but for only 10 gallons you can just cut everything in half and you'll be good to go!

 

[solbes]

May or may not help, but I wanted to post how my 1.044 OG pumpkin ale tasted when racking to keg last night. Sat in primary for a total of 3 weeks, of which the last 4 or 5 days were cold crashing.

The 2.25 tsp of total spice boiled for 10 minutes was just about right I think (1 tsp cinnamon, .25 tsp ginger, .5 tsp nutmeg, .5 tsp whole cloves). I didn't want it in the background, and I didn't want a strong flavor or aroma either. The taste and aroma of both the pumpkin and spice were similar to a lot of the decent commercial pumpkin beers I tried.

Now for a Winter warmer ale type brew, I'd probably go similar or slightly less spices but in a higher gravity brew which should put it in the background more (1.065+).

 

[Kozzer]

May or may not help, but I wanted to post how my 1.044 OG pumpkin ale tasted when racking to keg last night. Sat in primary for a total of 3 weeks, of which the last 4 or 5 days were cold crashing.

The 2.25 tsp of total spice boiled for 10 minutes was just about right I think (1 tsp cinnamon, .25 tsp ginger, .5 tsp nutmeg, .5 tsp whole cloves). I didn't want it in the background, and I didn't want a strong flavor or aroma either. The taste and aroma of both the pumpkin and spice were similar to a lot of the decent commercial pumpkin beers I tried.

Now for a Winter warmer ale type brew, I'd probably go similar or slightly less spices but in a higher gravity brew which should put it in the background more (1.065+).

I just bottled my pumpkin spice ale last night, and while I didn't want to have the spices be overpowering, I did want them to be more in the forefront than they are. It's still a tasty beer, but the spices and pumpkin are really mild. I used 1 tsp total: 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp fresh ginger, 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

I'm definitely glad I erred on the low side, but next time I do a spice beer, I'll probably go to 2 total tsp of spices.

 

[solbes]

Thanks for the feedback on how yours went. You really could brew this 3 times with different levels to find out what works best. In fact not a bad idea, if you had 3 different fermenters. Could easily blend them back together during bottling.

But getting solid feedback from others helps to reduce the brewing iterations.

 

[stewart194]

I posted this a few days ago but I'm not getting many replies. Probably because the holidays are over and it's almost spring. But I found this thread today and am hoping you guys can give me your opinion on this. I took Denny's Vanilla Bourbon Imperial Stout recipe and tried to make it into a "Winter Warmer" with Christmas spices. It turned out pretty well and smells fantastic, but it has a fairly harsh bitter aftertaste to it that I'm trying to pinpoint. I went light on the spices (I think), but am wondering if it isn't being caused by using dried spices...or maybe from using dried orange peel.

I also added all of these things to a jar of bourbon for 3 weeks before adding it at kegging time. (After straining all of the solids out)

Here is what I used...

375 ml of Maker's Mark Bourbon
2 Vanilla Beans
1 Cinnamon Stick
1/2 oz Valencia Sweet Orange Peel (Dried)
1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon All Spice
1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger

Any idea what the culprit might be? It turned out to be a 9% beer and has a lot of promise. It's also only been in the keg for 3 weeks, so maybe it will mellow out. And it hasn't carbed up that much yet, but that's probably because of it's high ABV.

After reading this thread it doesn't seem like I used too many spices, and it doesn't seem that dried spices are my problem either. Could only using a 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg cause this? The only person who did reply to my original thread had the same problem, and he thinks it might be caused by the All Spice.

Thanks in advance!

bryancorbett2 -
How did your beer turn out?

 

[danorocks17]

I make an xmas ale every year that, at it's base, is a strong brown. for spices I use the zest of 4 oranges (organic if you can get them), 1/2 oz of ginger, two or three sticks of cinnamon that are roughly 4 inches long, and a pound of honey. Everyone really likes the flavor or this beer. It's spicy but not over the top. I make it in 5.5 gal batches.

Edit. Sorry forgot to add that I've found the best flavor is to add all of those ingredients with 15 min left in the boil.

 

[stewart194]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe adding them to the boil is the way to go. Either way I think I'll take out the Nutmeg and All Spice also just to be safe.

 

[bryancorbett2]

bryancorbett2 -
How did your beer turn out?

My beer turned out (I don't want to say surprisingly) but surprisingly great. I used 5 cloves and my only change would be to use 1 less clove. The aroma was awesome and the flavor was really good too. Like I said maybe just 1 clove too many. But it was not bad.

I will see if I can dig anything up on your beer. I am a rookie using spices as you probably noticed. I have only used spices in two beers so far. And I have never used bourbon to add the spices like that.
I hope you figure out the culprit!

Good luck!

 

[bryancorbett2]

I liked adding the spices during the boil just because I felt like for my first time I couldn't ruin or infect the beer. I know there are so many ways to do it. I am happy with this process. I added with 7 minutes left in the boil and the spices definitely came through.

 

[solbes]

Stewart,

In regards to your question above, I don't think it's the nutmeg. I bet it's the ginger. I added 1/4 tsp based on recommendations in other threads, but I think for my pumpkin next year I will add 1/8 tsp or omit it all together. I dug the cinnamon and clove flavor especially. Nutmet seemed in line as well. But the Ginger took awhile to mellow out IMO.

 

[stewart194]

Thanks for the replies! That is the problem with this though, is that I can't pick out which one is causing the bitterness. I let a few friends sample it the other day and they both agreed that it smells great...it's just way too harsh flavor wise. I've also never soaked spices in bourbon before this. I've used dried orange peel in my Wit, but that was added during the boil.

BudzAndSudz who posted in this thread, said that he thinks the Nutmeg is too astringent for beer and uses Mace instead. solbes, you think it might be the ginger...and another guy who did reply to my original post thinks it could be the Allspice! Haha.

It's really hard to say, but I think I'll add everything to the boil next time. Swap the nutmeg out for mace, and eliminate the ginger and allspice all together. I'll cut the bourbon in half and add it to the keg by itself. And I think I'm going to bottle the rest of my current keg and try a bottle each month to see if and when it ever mellows out.

I'll definitely report back!

 

[solbes]

Yeah I guess I did a late addition to the boil, 5 or 10 minutes can't remember. So not sure if that affected things. But what I found up front and too center in my beer was the ginger. No new info there really, just re-iterating.

It's going to be really subjective though from person to person, so maybe you will have to decide which flavors you like and disllike. Maybe make a tea of sorts from the spices and take sips to determine which ones you like and don't like if you aren't sure.

 

[stewart194]

That's a really good idea. Thanks! I'll try each spice individually in some warm water and see if I can pick it out.