Holiday spiced ale

[Britinusa]

I am going to try a holiday spiced ale for the first time, here is my recipe.

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Holiday/Winter Special Spiced Beer
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.040
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 5.01%
IBU (tinseth): 19.68
SRM (morey): 14.04

FERMENTABLES:
8 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (72.7%)
2 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (18.2%)
1 lb - American - Special Roast (9.1%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 40 min, IBU: 11.64
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 8.03

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temp: 165 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 13.2 qt, mash
2) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Time: 10 min, Amount: 20 qt
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.2 qt/lb

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 tsp - cinnamon, Time: 15 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
0.5 tsp - nutmeg, Time: 10 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil

YEAST:
White Labs - British Ale Yeast WLP005
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 70.5%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 65 - 70 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.35 (M cells / ml / deg P)

Any pointers on how this will turn out?

 

[Shred]

2 lbs of crystal with very little hop bitterness to balance might leave it a bit sweet. If that's what you're going for it looks okay to me. What is your target mash temp?

 

[Britinusa]

I do prefer a little more sweet than bitter, my mash temp im thinking 155f

 

[Shred]

155 is going to leave even more residual sweetness. With my upcoming winter ale I'm shooting for a solid balance. My FG is estimated at 1.018 so to offset the sweetness I'm hopping to 33.7 IBUs. Based on the calculators I've seen this puts me at the exact ratio desired by the BJCP for an American Brown Ale.

It's all a matter of personal taste. I'm a hop head so I aim for higher bitterness in most of my brews.