Winter Ale Recipe Critique

[histo320]

So I am looking to brew a Spiced Winter Ale for the winter before I make my Vanilla Stout.

I am going off of NB's Winter Spiced Ale Recipe but I want to tweak it. I am wanting to I am wanting to get a bit more of a kick out of this recipe and get it a bit closer to a Winter Warmer.

NB's Recipe:
OG: 1.047
9 LBS English Golden Promise
1 LB English Crystal (Medium)
.75 oz US Goldings @60
.5 oz Mulling Spices @ 0
Wyeast Scottish Ale

I was thinking about adding 2lbs of Maris Otter or 2 Row, .5 Special B, and increasing hops to 1 oz @60 to counter the increase in malt.

I also have Victory and Biscuit malt on hand. I do not have Maris Otter but I think the LHBS has it. If not, can I just sub 2 Row or am I way off on the additions to this recipe.

Would it be a problem if I just added DME at the boil instead of changing the grain bill?

 

[rocketsan]

So I am looking to brew a Spiced Winter Ale for the winter before I make my Vanilla Stout.

Care to share your vanilla stout recipe?

 

[histo320]

Care to share your vanilla stout recipe?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/none-more-black-vanilla-stout-96969/

 

[rocketsan]

Thanks

 

[cherbhy]

I just brewed a spiced winter ale using this recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/holly-christmas-ale-145580/ . It uses 13 lbs 2 row, 8oz uk crystal 65, 8 oz special B, 4 ounces red wheat, 3.2 oz choco malt, and a lb honey. My OG came in at 1.070, but the target for the recipe is higher. So, if you wanted to make a bigger beer with more malt, this recipe might be a good place to start.

I've found that the spiced recipes vary in terms of when/how to spice. In the case of the latter, the OP recommends make a tea at the time of bottling with cinnamon stick, orange peel, the priming sugar, vanilla bean, and ginger root, then adding the mixture back to the bottling bucket.

If you want to go the Scottish route there's an interesting recipe on BYO for a spiced strong scotch ale that recommends steeping dried cherries in the first runnings of your mash and then adding them to the boil. The recipe is called bad Santa and it uses carahell and Munich malt I believe. Spicing occurs in the secondary for this one. Here's a link: http://byo.com/english-scottish-strong-ale/item/2277-bad-santa .

Hope this helps.