Splitting an RIP batch to make a spiced winter beer.

[homebrewperson]

Hey guys.

Ive just brewed about 12L of a Russian imperial stout. I had a sip and thought maybe half could be made into a beer for christmas.

It is sitting around 10.3%abv, 54 IBU and loaded with dark and chocolate malts, desipte the FG of 1.025 it will need alot more time for the sweetness to come through and mellow.
I also added some bourben soaked wood chips at the last stretch of the primary.

Now I've transfered it into 2 secondary 6L demijohns with the intention of bulk aging for about 3-4 months.

Currently I'm thinking about boiling some cloves, cinnamon bark, vannilla beans and orange peel into a tea then adding to one of the demijons.

Any advice on going about this or things to consider from those who have tried it before? Would it be a decent idea to dry hop for a short time as well seeing as there are very little hop aroma left given the RIP style.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[joshuahardie]

If it was me i would leave it well alone,

Only useful advice I have is use half the amount of spices you think you need. you can always add more later.

It would be hard to overdose on the orange peel, but very easy to overdo those other spices.

 

[mr_wibble]

Amen to what joshuahardie says, especially on the clove.

I guess you can taste the tea first too, could also put hops into that tea if you wanted to increase bitterness.

 

[manticle]

Pour off a sample in multiples of 100 mL. Dose carefully with spices until you have roughly the level and balance you want. Multiply over the whole batch you want to spice.

Time will also be a factor (how long the spices are in contact with the beer) so either age your sample in a closed bottle in the fridge for a week and assess or just find your total level and wind it down a touch, adding more later if you think it needs it. Hard to get out, easy to add.

I'm not huge on spiced beers (vanilla, cacao and citrus zest I don't really consider spices and have happily added those to some beers). I have tasted many that have been overspiced and are muddled. Often they need time to settle as well