When do I add spices to spice up a holiday brew?

I just brewed my first oatmeal stout (the Brewer's Best kit), and decided I'd try to add a little "holiday" flair. At my local brewing supply store, I found a recipe for a holiday ale, so I followed the spicing directions used in that, but I wonder if there's a better way.

Here are the ingredients I used:

  • 1 orange, with whole cloves stuck into the skin
  • cinnamon sticks
  • peeled ginger root

Here's what I did:

During the last 15 minutes of boiling the wort, I put all of the above in an extra grain bag I had laying around and added them to the wort. I boiled for 15 minutes before pulling the spices out.

I'm wondering if that's enough time to get the flavors from the spices. I didn't add anything to the primary fermenter. Should I additional spices when I rack it off to the secondary?

What other spices or flavors work well with holiday beers?

Topic procedure stout spices holiday homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

I used fresh cut basil (a whole bouquet with flowers) at the end of the boil. I expected the hot flavor of the basil to come though (like eating a basil leaf). Instead I got a wonderful Christmasy flavor like the anchor steam Christmas beer.

1
answered at

I generally add spices at the last 5 mins of the boil for ground spices. I'd say 15 mins is fine for most whole spices.

Did you add a whole, unpeeled orange into your wort?

1
answered at

I'm making one right now with cinnamon sticks, nutmeg shavings, peppercorns, orange zest, and vanilla bean. I actually didn't add any to the boil. Instead I'm making a spice extract (a jar with some vodka and all of the spices thrown in) and I will add at bottling time to about a quarter of my batch. I've heard from some people that adding spices during the boil actually cooks off a lot of the good flavor compounds.

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