Holiday Ale help please

[SEndorf]

Never made one. Found a nice simple recipe with orange peel and cinnamon.
89% 2 row (20 lbs.)
6.6% Crystal 60 (1.5 lbs.)
4.4% Chocolate malt (1 lb.)
10.80 G. batch.

Boil 5 min:
2.5 oz. orange peel
0.50 oz. cinnamon stick

Two questions:
Any recommended changes? Not sure about the chocolate malt competing with the flavors.

What do you think if the orange / cinnamon amounts? I want to taste it, but not overpowering.

 

[Lefou]

A commercial version I tend to like is Sam Adams Winter Lager.
It's a moderately spiced beer that borders on an Octoberfest marzen or lighter bock, American style. If you'd like, you could sub out the two row with a Vienna/Munich mix to get some extra color and maltiness and still have a moderately high diastatic level for an efficient mash. Another option would be to add flaked wheat with a higher mash temp for a bit of body.
You might choose to boil your peels and cinnamon, but another option would steeping in boiled, sterilized water then adding the mix into the fermenter before bottling. I'd be worried boiling and primary fermentation would drive off some of the essence, but that's me.

 

[CodeSection]

Never made one. Found a nice simple recipe with orange peel and cinnamon.
89% 2 row (20 lbs.)
6.6% Crystal 60 (1.5 lbs.)
4.4% Chocolate malt (1 lb.)
10.80 G. batch.

Boil 5 min:
2.5 oz. orange peel
0.50 oz. cinnamon stick

Two questions:
Any recommended changes? Not sure about the chocolate malt competing with the flavors.

What do you think if the orange / cinnamon amounts? I want to taste it, but not overpowering.

Sweet or bitter orange peel? FWIW, I make a 10 gallon batch Christmas Ale that uses ginger, vanilla, sweet orange and cinnamon. I mix it all and put it in my priming solution and then in a French Press for about 20 minutes before adding it to my bottling bucket.

Last year I used 2 tbsp of sweet orange peel which equals one ounce. This year I will increase it to 3 tbsp (1 1/2 oz). Last year I used 2 cinnamon sticks. This year I plan on using 2.5 tsp of powder cinnamon. 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon is equal to 1, 3" stick of cinnamon. I would increase the amount of cinnamon you are using otherwise I doubt you will even taste it.

I think you might be disappointed with the results when adding the spices within the last five minutes of boil. I would suggest to add them after fermentation has completed. @mongoose33, has a neat way of doing it... post #212 https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/spike-conical-observations-and-best-practices.645440/page-6

You could also force the spices through the racking port rather than through the lid's gas port.

Or, if bottling, use a French Press and add it to your bottling bucket....

 

[SEndorf]

I'll use your suggestions and bump up the flavoring.
According to the package, 1/2 oz. cinnamon sticks are about 5. I'll crush them.

 

[SEndorf]

UPDATE:

I'm waiting for additional accoutrements for my new Spike conical. One of the add-ons I purchased was a yeast brink from Norcal. This recipe will be my maiden voyage with this new conical. I plan on pushing these spices up the conical after fermentation is complete. No oxygen ingress! Very versatile tool.

 

[CodeSection]

UPDATE:

I'm waiting for additional accoutrements for my new Spike conical. One of the add-ons I purchased was a yeast brink from Norcal. This recipe will be my maiden voyage with this new conical. I plan on pushing these spices up the conical after fermentation is complete. No oxygen ingress! Very versatile tool.

I saw that last year and was worried about the canning jar pressure limits. Though, in the video he was only pushing 8 psi which is below the 15 psi rating I believe. I looked at their site and it appears they are offering a sight glass version that can withstand higher pressures. The downside to the sight glass is the volume.

Please post how it works and perhaps make a quick video if you can. In order for it to work with my setup, since I do not have leg extensions, I would need another 90 degree elbow pointing down from the 2" valve that hangs over the counter edge.

Or, perhaps I could use a 2-3 feet 1/2" ID hose with a 1.5" TC on each end that attaches to the racking port and then to the yeast brink or small keg. The advantage with the yeast brink is that you can see whats going on.

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[SEndorf]

I ordered the leg extensions (among other things) that accommodate the jar.
The PSI required to push the hops (spices) is so low I wasn't concerned about the canning jar.
I'll post my experience, but the sight glass version seems like overkill. I hope I'm NOT wrong. (edited)

 

[SEndorf]

Worked perfectly. The Holiday Ale is a big hit !
The only thing I'd do differently is use powdered cinnamon rather than the sticks. Four TBSP should do fine on a 10G batch.

 

[CodeSection]

Worked perfectly. The Holiday Ale is a big hit !
The only thing I'd do differently is use powdered cinnamon rather than the sticks. Four TBSP should do fine on a 10G batch.

Very, very nice!

Four TBSP is equal to 12 tsps.....are you sure? 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon is equal to 1, 3" stick of cinnamon. Ground means powder..

3 tsps = 1 tbsp
4 tbsp = 12 tsps
24 1/2 tsps = 24, 3" cinnamon sticks

I would start out with maybe 2.5 tsps of ground cinnamon on the next batch. I suspect you experienced the same affect of using cinnamon sticks that I have...crushing still did not produce the results I was looking for. Ground cinnamon will be totally different ....a little will go a long way.

 

[Dave Sarber]

^^^ I always do my spice infusions in vodka, after primary.

 

[SEndorf]

That's a good point. Thank you for posting !
The Cinnamon in this batch is extremely faint. Like an aftertaste.
I suspect like you, the sticks did not impart the desired flavoring.
POWDERED Cinnamon would be more potent. I'd rail it back to maybe 3 TSP next time.

 

[WestMichBrewer]

^^^ I always do my spice infusions in vodka, after primary.

I used some Captain with my pumpkin spice ale and it worked well...figured it was a natural carrier since it was already a bit spiced.

 

[SEndorf]

Hmm.. Hadn't thought of that. I wonder if I could add some Fireball.