Begin Brewing!

Some time ago, I picked up a recipe for a Christmas ale called Bad Santa.  Thinking I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to brew it, only to find that I did not have at least one of them - Munich Malt.  Since I'd already crushed some of the grains and mostly wanted to brew this to confirm that the Brewie+ is once again functional after recent repairs, I made some substitutions.  Given that I was no longer following the original recipe, I decided to rename it so as not to dishonor the original recipe's creator if this batch doesn't turn out. Ingredients 6 pounds Swaen Pilsner Malt 2 pounds Briess Pale Ale Malt 10 ounces Honey Malt 7 ounces Vienna Malt 1 ounce Aromatic Malt 4 ounces Crystal/Caramel 10L Malt 4 ounces Caramunich I Malt 0.3 ounces English Black Malt 7 ounces Maple Syrup (post-boil, pre-chill addition) 1 ounce German Northern Brewer hops @ 4.8% AA (60 min.) 1 packet Safale S-04 English Ale yeast 1/8 tsp. Brewtan B (mash wate...

Last year, I brewed a Christmas Ale extract kit from the good folks at Label Peelers. It made a really good Christmas Ale, especially after I dialed down the hops. This time, I want something more Belgian-like. I'm aiming for a nice malty base with a hint of chocolate. I'll use Magnum hops to bitter it, but Bramling Cross hops for flavor and aroma. Bramling Cross can impart fruity, citrus, blackcurrant, loganberry, gooseberry, and lemon notes to a beer - which I think will blend nicely with the spice mix. I'm planning to use almost the same spice mix as the Label Peelers kit from last year, but doubling the amount of cinnamon stick used to punch that up and dialing back the ginger by half. I'm also adding some nutmeg. Since I have a packet of Wyeast 3522 Ardennes yeast on hand, I'll use that for fermentation. This yeast is known to produce a balance of fruity esters and spicy phenols which will hopefully go well with the beer. Being a fan of Belgian style bee...