Christmas Ale

[barney]

I am putting this on in the morning, anyone experienced in the use of spices etc I would be grateful for comments . I am looking for subtle hints of spices rather than smash your chops in.

#53 Amber Small Christmas Beer
Specialty Beer
Type: All Grain Date: 25/09/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 l Brewer: Wayne Barnes
Boil Size: 31.88 l Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: My Equipment
End of Boil Volume 22.88 l Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 18.00 l Est Mash Efficiency 74.8 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.50 kg Fawcetts Mild Ale Malt (7.0 EBC) Grain 1 51.0 %
1.50 kg Fawcetts Amber Malt (100.0 EBC) Grain 2 30.6 %
0.90 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 3 18.4 %
65.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 35.3 IBUs
3.00 g Anise, Star (Boil 30.0 mins) Spice 5 -
20.00 g Ginger Root (Boil 12.0 mins) Herb 6 -
2.00 Items Orange Rind and Juice of (Boil 5.0 mins) Flavor 7 -
1.00 Items Lemon Rind and Juice of (Boil 5.0 mins) Flavor 8 -
3.00 Items Clove (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -
1.00 Items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 10 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.049 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.5 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 35.3 IBUs Calories: 427.1 kcal/l
Est Color: 33.9 EBC



Cheers

[pas8280]

Unbelievable you have just stuck 5 K of hops in your freezer and your messing about with 65g of fuggles in a brew what you like
I can't help you with the spices mate unless you want to borrow some of that spicey yeast I seem to have mutated but good luck with the brew pop round when you have finished and help me

[seymour]

...I am looking for subtle hints of spices rather than smash your chops in...

Sounds like you probably already did your own thing, but a couple ways I've kept spices subtle:
Add them to the boil kettle near the end to steep some flavor without overly cooking them in. After flame-out, pour wort through a metal strainer into your fermentor, thus taking the spices back out.
Or: Wait until after primary fermentation is complete. Crush, muddle, and/or toast your spices to liven them up a bit, drop them into a secondary fermentor and rack your beer onto them. Set aside in a cool place for two weeks before priming and transferring to cask/bottles.

[Deebee]

Mate i think the 3g star anise will be overpowering

[barney]

Mate i think the 3g star anise will be overpowering

Hello Deebee, Its in now mate.

I put in one star but it had a couple of fingers broken off. You could well be right though, it smelled like a chinese chippy round our Grove, gorgeous liquorice, aniseed and oranges.

If I did it again I would try half as much for half as long.

Smells fantastic though in the FV so I am remaining hopeful.

[seymour]

Good luck in Paddy's Christmas Beer Competition!
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54428

[greenxpaddy]

It's too late now but the following measures were a little too full on for me

For 36L batch

2tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
rind of 4 oranges
1/2 tsp cloves

So I'd go less by half I think unless you are ageing it

[rootsbrew]

Just wondering when to add the spices?
- treat them like hops and cook 'em up, then strain extract into wort,
- drop 'em in the wort, or
- put them into the settling vessel and rack the beer on top for a couple of weeks?

Intended spices
1 x vanilla pod
2 x cinnamon sticks
2 x zest of orange
2 x zest of lemon
4 x lightly crushed allspice berries
- I will toast the dry spices first then add 500ml water, then grate in the peel and buble for a few moments to get the flavours to mingle before they mix with the beer.

My concerns are that the spice aromas will either be too harsh, if added too late, or they might be too subdued, if added too early. How can I get them to be noticeable but supple? I want the spices to seem integrated into the beer, rather than a separate flavour, just dunked into it.

[greenxpaddy]

Spices need heat to release the essential oils so you need to add when the wort is hot. But not so early that they all evaporate. At 0 mins would be a good point

[rootsbrew]

Spices need heat to release the essential oils so you need to add when the wort is hot. But not so early that they all evaporate.

Yeah, that's why I thought it a good idea to toast them, then sort of mash them for a few mins.

At 0 mins would be a good point

I was worried that by adding them to the main ferment, the lighter aromatics would get lost in the krausen - hence idea of adding when racking, but the beer isn't very warm once fermentation stops, so the aromatics might not diffuse out of the spices... conundrum. Perhaps I'll add a warmed spice solution, once the krausen starts to subside, and wait a little longer before racking (or not rack at all)?

[greenxpaddy]

i don't think you will lose that much in the kreusen as it is a rather small amount of the total volume. the oils do tend to homogenise through the fermenting wort, same as hop oils do.

[rootsbrew]

Thanks Paddy. I'm going to put it on tomorrow.