I've been wanting to make a spiced holiday beer for a while. I settled on this recipe and closely followed the ingredients in the recipe. Though, I probably added too few hops at the 15 boil, and I didn't add any at 5 minutes. We don't have a digital scale (Christmas gift hint?) so we can't accurately measure the hops, and I'd always rather add too few hops than too much.
Everything took longer than expected. Popped the yeast package a day (or more?) before making the starter. Made the yeast starter two days ahead of pitching. Let the brew sit more than overnight to cool.
The OG was 1.056 - lower than we predicted. Perhaps because we didn't squeeze out all of the liquid from the grains? We need a better system for this.
It's ~5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy. It is fermenting at ~60 degrees in the first floor closet. Not the ideal temperature - Mark says some of the fruitiness might not come through due to the cold. Three days later and they are still pretty active.
