Please Critique My Xmas Stout

Beer Recipes
1

5 gallon batch…

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
15 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 78.9 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.6 %
8.0 oz Black Malt - 2-Row (Briess) (500.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.6 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 7.9 %
0.11 oz Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -
1 lbs Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 6 5.3 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.6 %
1.0 pkg Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [124.21 ml] Yeast 10 -
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 5.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 13.9 IBUs

i’ll also be throwing in a 1/2 teaspoon each of nutmeg and allspice at 5min.  when i rack to the primary, i’ll be keeping the cinnamon stick with it.  after two weeks i’ll secondary and taste, adding spice if i need to, most likely a tincture of cinnamon stick soaked in bourbon over those two weeks.  i wouldn’t be throwing in another stick at that point, just the liquid, i know cinnamon is strong.  then let it sit for about four months, bottle and wait for xmas!

2

I don’t have a lot of experience with spiced beers but as for the base recipe I have two thoughts:

  1. I don’t care for the combination of American citrus hops with strongly roasty beers. Particularly with the spices I doesn’t seem like a good combo.  You’d probably be ok with cascade as a 60 min addition but I would lose the 30 min addition.

  2. Roasted grains tend to contribute a lot of unfermentable sugars and adding lactose will further increase the body and sweetness.  Using the 1084 yeast, I would be careful to mash low to prevent a cloyingly sweet super chewy beer.  With a more attenuative yeast it might not be such a big concern.