Gingerbread Nut Brown Ale

It has been decided. The next batch is brewed and fermenting. The final decision on style? A Gingerbread Cookie Nut Brown Ale. The plan is for a beer that is low in bitterness with a good malt flavor. This is going to turn out to be a great Christmas gift.

In researching for this recipe, I bought How to Brew by John Palmer. It's a very good book to have on hand. He explains everything very well and at the end of the book there is a breakdown of recipes. I used this as a basis for my recipe. One thing that he covers is how to use IBU's and gravity to describe and develop your beers. IBU stands for International Bitterness Unit and is a good indication of the bitterness level of a beer. Wanting the malts to come out more than that hops, I figured this to 22 IBU's, which is on the lower side. For the recipe, I wanted to use some darker malts and used some of the recommendations from the book.

Recipe is as follows:

Malts:
-6.6 lbs LME Amber extract
-8 oz Chocolate Malts
-8 oz Brown Malts
-8 oz Crystal malts 60 L

Hops:
-Bittering (60 min): 0.5 oz Nugget pellet hops
-Aroma (15 min): 0.75 oz Willamette hops

Spices: (added at the last 5 minutes of boil)
-1/4 cup brown sugar (added last 10 minutes of boil)
-2 tbsp ginger powder
-1 tbsp each cinnamon and nutmeg powder
-3/4 tbsp clove powder

Yeast:
-Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast

Procedure:
1 - Clean! Make sure all of your equipment has been cleaned and sterilized. Also, this is a good time to start the yeast. Since I used Wyeast this time, it come as a smack pack. Follow the instructions on how to get the yeast started and set aside till it's time to pitch.

2 - Bring 3 gallons of water up to 150-170 °F. Place the grains into a muslin bag and steep for 30 minutes. Remove and discard.

3 - Bring pot to a boil and stir in the malt extract. It would be a good idea to move the pot from the burner to prevent scorching. After the extracts are completely dissolved, return to a boil. Add the Nugget hops and start a timer for 60 minutes. Be sure to stir often to prevent a boil over (I set a timer for 5 minutes and stir at each interval). When there is 15 minutes remaining, add the Willamette hops. Add the brown sugar at 10 minute and then the spices at 5 minutes.

4 - Cool the wort using your preferred method. As seen in previous entries, I like to use ice straight into the wort. It will cool rapidly and add to the top water to bring the final volume to 5 gallons. Be sure the temperature drops below 80°F.

5 - Transfer the wort to the fermenter. I use the racking method which involves siphoning the boil from point A to point B. Once the transfer is complete, top of the fermenter to the 5 gallon mark. Aerate the wort by stirring vigorously or by shaking the bucket. Pitch the yeast and seal the fermenter. Attach the bubbler and set in a safe place to begin the fermentation process. Bottle after two weeks.