Winter Spiced Beers - Adapted Kit

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mrmeaker

Winter Spiced Beers - Adapted Kit

Post by mrmeaker » Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:44 pm

Hi Guys,

With my ill gotten gains from the Wilkos sale I’ve got an idea for some speciality beer for Christmas by modifying one of the Wilkos Real Ale kits I got. My idea is this, split the cans to 2 10l batches and make one Gingerbeard inspired batch, and one Winter Spiced Ale batch.

Gingerbeard Type:
My current thinking is to boil up the 1.5l of water you would need for the half kit with 200g of grated ginger and the juice of 1 lemon for 5mins (as to kill nasties, but not cook it too much) then let it steep for 15mins. Then strain that into the half kit and make as "normal". After a week I’ll probably have a sample and “dry-hop” with more ginger or lemon depending on what it tastes like.

Winter Spiced Ale:
Similarly, boil up the 1.5l of water, this time with 1 Cinnamon Stick, 1 Nutmeg seed, 2 Cloves, and the zest of 1 Orange. I was also going to include approx 250g of golden syrup I’ve got hanging about the house. Again boil for 5 mins to get rid of any nasties, and then steep for 15mins before straining into the FV to make up the 10l batch as normal. Not sure how I would adjust the taste after a later sample with this, but I’ll play it by ear.

What do people think? Will this work, or do I need to adjust spices / techniques (i.e. bung it all in the FV and don't strain it)? I’m not going to be getting this going until the start of Sept when I have FV’s free, but am interested in any opinions.

Cheers

RobWalker

Re: Winter Spiced Beers - Adapted Kit

Post by RobWalker » Tue Aug 19, 2014 11:18 am

Don't use lemon, just use the rind, the flavour carries right through - lemon will ruin head retention. Same with the orange.

I'm not sure on quantities but the gingerbread type sounds great. What kit are you starting with? I would probably want both beers quite malty so you may want to look at adding some DME, but it's up to you. ginger and lemon in a pale beer would really be more of a summer thing, so you could maybe get a more cosy flavour in there by adding some amber malt (biscuit flavour) or caramelize some of the wort.

For your winter spiced ale, I would personally "dry hop" the spices - try to use fresh if you have them as they taste better. Probably knock the clove down to 1 clove too, it's super potent in beer! Either way, looks good.

mrmeaker

Re: Winter Spiced Beers - Adapted Kit

Post by mrmeaker » Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:55 pm

Thanks for that, didn't know about juice effecting head retention, rind it is. :D

I'm using the Wilkos Real Ale Kit as it appears to be very similar to Wherry therefore a malty dark beer (which I agree is what I need). Although I haven't tried it before, but as it was in the sale I haven't lost too much if it goes belly up.

I was only planning to boil the spices to get rid of any unwanted bugs, what's the best way of doing that without boiling? I've heard of people soaking things in vodka???

RobWalker

Re: Winter Spiced Beers - Adapted Kit

Post by RobWalker » Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:44 pm

I think that'll work with spices but can't say for sure. I would hit them with boiling water, you could dissolve some into your priming sugar if you like.

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