Christmas Ale - Special B %

Hi All

It's winter here in South Africa, so I thought it would be a good time to brew a small test batch of a Spicy Xmas Beer.

I'm looking to get flavours of plum and clove. I know that Special B can give you plum flavours, but i havent found much info on how much to use. I'll add either All Spice or cloves late in the boil and possibly dry hop.

This is what I've come up with so far? Anybody got any input on the grain %.
Especially the Special B %

Plum & Clove Xmas Ale
Baltic Porter

Batch Size (fermenter): 4.50 l Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment (4.5L)
End of Boil Volume 5.51 l Brewhouse Efficiency: 63.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.00 l Est Mash Efficiency 74.2 %

Ingredients

3.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
1.43 kg Pale Malt (5.0 EBC) Grain 2 77.9 %
0.15 kg Munich Malt (22.0 EBC) Grain 3 8.3 %
0.15 kg Special B Malt (354.6 EBC) Grain 4 8.2 %
0.10 kg Biscuit Malt (45.3 EBC) Grain 5 5.6 %
12.25 g Fuggles [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 29.1 IBUs
0.20 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -
5.00 g Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 8 -
2.00 g All Spice (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -
0.4 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 10 -

I might rather use safale T58 - belgian yeast

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.076 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.0 %
Bitterness: 29.1 IBUs
Est Color: 45.8 EBC

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I find Special-B to be a strong flavor that can easily dominate a profile. I like to keep it at 2%-5% of the grain bill.

I just did a recipe which is very similar to yours (without the spices) and it came out really well. It was my first time using T-58, and I headed warnings and kept the fermentation temp in the very low 60's. Beer came out tasty, with a spicy Belgian character and a nice malty sweetness!

Mine recipe was:
Pale Malt 82%
Biscuit Malt 8%
Caramunich 8%
Special B 2%
Pearl Hops @ 60 for 18 IBU
Styrian Goldings @ 15 for 4 IBU
T-58 Belgian yeast @ 62-F for 6 days, then free raise to 66 in the next week.

I think cinnamon & allspice would go great with it! Good luck!
--LexusChris

Thanks for the input!

I do want quite a strong raisin / plum falvour from the special B.

how much did you get from your 2% ?
Have you tried 5% how did that work out?

I tend to use Special B, Cararoma & Crystal 120L malts for that same sort of rich malty sweetness... and usually around that 2% mark. I find it too strong above that... However, if you really like that character.. I could see going up to 5%.

Check around on some other folks recipes.. maybe there is somebody else who has tried more Special B and liked it.

I have used 5% Crystal-120 on my English mild, and it is a pleasant toffee like addition to that brew.

Afraid I don't have much else to offer ya... take your best guess and give it a whirl!

--LexusChris

Thanks - I ended up brewing a small 4.5 Litre batch last night.

I dropped Special B to 7 % and added some Perle at 15 mins to give a little extra spice.

Added my cinnamon and all spice at 2 mins and steeped for 10 mins.

I think i also push up the munich to 12 %.

It had a nice spicy raisin kind of taste.

Will give some more feedback in a few weeks.