Holiday Brown Ale

Procedure:
Mash at 150°F for an hour or until starches are converted. Mash out at 170°F and sparge to kettle volume of 6 gallons. Bring to a boil and add the first hop addition. Boil for 45 minutes and then add 1 Tsp. Irish Moss. Boil 5 more minutes, and then add Challenger Hops. Boil 10 more minutes, and then turn off heat and add Cascade hops. Chill beer to 70°F and pitch yeast. Ferment for 7-10 days until fermentation is completed.

At bottling, make a spiced tea to add to the fermented beer prior to carbonation by following these steps:

Add a quart of water to a saucepan with the Orange Peel and cinnamon.
Slice open the vanilla bean lengthwise, open it up, and scrape the inside of the bean with a knife to get all of the good vanilla flavor. Add this and the bean’s husk to the water.
Peel and chop the fresh ginger. Add this to the water.
Bring the mixture to a boil then remove from heat and steep for 10-15 minutes.
Once it has steeped, filter the liquid out of the remaining spices into a sanitized container (a sanitized French press is ideal for straining solids).

Add the spice tea to the bottling bucket or keg at packaging.