View source for Batch 4

I want to try to come up with something nice for the winter.  Probably a little sweeter, a little rich, and with a little more kick than my other beers so far.  Here's the idea for my winter ale:

* 1 can (3.3 lbs) amber malt extract
* 1 can (3.3 lbs) dark malt extract
* 1 oz Kent Golding hops pellets
* 1 oz Fuggle hops pellets
* 1/2 tsp irish moss
* yeast and trub from batch 3 (barley wine)
* 1.5 oz mulling spices
* 1 cup dark brown sugar
* 1 lbs. Cara Red malted barley
* 5 oz priming sugar

Brought ~3.5 gallons of water to 160F, removed from heat and soaked the grain for 35 minutes.  Left to cool for 40 minutes.  Returned to heat, brought to 180F, removed from heat, added malt extract.  Returned to heat, brought to ~190, added fuggle hops and started 1 hour timer.  At 30 minutes, added irish moss.  At 15 minutes, added kent golding hops.  At 10 minutes, added mulling spices.  At 5 minutes, added brown sugar.  Cooled to ~82F, added to trub from batch 3 (Barley wine), and topped off to 5 gallons with cold water, final temp ~73F.  IG: 1.060 @ 73F, 1.061 @ 68F (Potential 8% ABV).  Racked to secondary after 6 days, despite continuing fermentation.

Two weeks later, I've added 5oz of priming sugar and bottled.  FG=1.022.  That puts the abv at around 5.3%, which is a little lower than I was hoping.  It's already drinkable, but will want a couple of weeks to finish fermenting and getting bubbles.  It's sweet, has a ton of spiced flavor up front, and an ale flavored finish.  Not quite as strong as I was hoping, but the flavor is very nice.  I'm going to say a minimum of 2 weeks, and probably more like 3-4 for it to be ready.  The color is also a lovely dark red.  Perfect for a spiced winter ale, but it's going to be a little late.  Possibly start my winter ale around Halloween next year.

Having opened a bottle at two weeks, that residual sweetness is gone, so it's now a strongly spiced ale.  Very strong spiced flavor that blends into a good ale flavor.  It's a very nice clear red.  Nicer to look at than drink, but it's not bad.  Probably not something I'll repeat without a good bit of modification to the recipe.

I'm pretty much running this one on my own, including bottling.  That's a lot of work.