Christmas Spice Questions

[stewart194]

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.

Thanks!

 

[brewbush]

I did a winter spiced ale and I notice the same thing as you. Personally I think it's the allspice. At least that is what I am going to try to reduce next time I do mine.

 

[stewart194]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I will try that also. What is All Spice? Maybe using fresh ingredients would help also.

And a 1/4 teaspoon of these dried ingredients for a 5 gallon batch just doesn't seem like much at all to me. And I've heard that dried orange peel also contains the white part. Maybe using fresh orange zest, just the orange part, might be another thing to try. Then again, I use the dried stuff in my Wit beer and it turns out fine. I don't know.

 

[stewart194]

So I Googled All Spice and it's apparently it's own berry. I thought it was just a mixture of a few different spices. And thinking back on the dried orange peel I use in my Wit, I throw that in towards the end of the boil. I've never used it in raw form like this. I'm sure that might make a big difference and maybe a 1/2 ounce is way too much.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

 

[Broham1]

It will mellow. Give it time. Mine started out harsh, too. A few more weeks and it was like candy.


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[stewart194]

It will mellow. Give it time. Mine started out harsh, too. A few more weeks and it was like candy.

Thanks for the reply! It's only been in the keg 3 weeks, so I'll try to be patient and see what happens.