Christmas Aleify a Cooper's Real Ale?

[cosmondo]

Hi,

I've got a Cooper's Real Ale kit & 1kg of amber spray malt I was going to put int it.

However, does anyone think I can Christmasify it, by generally just chucking in some cloves, cinnemon & ginger?

I wonder if I should put the spices in tights, like a muslin bag - but cheaper.

I'm sure people have done this & I'm sure people post this every year, but I've used the search button & not really found what I'm after.

Any tips most welcome, as I want to get it on this week - when my FV becomes vacant.

There's a beer called "Santa's Swally", thought that was quite funny.

[Gordonmull]

I used to make a spiced tea with 1" cinnamon stick, 4 cloves and 4 cardomom pods. I boiled it for 5 mins in 1L water and added to normal tea. Same principal should apply here. I'm sure someone more experienced will be around to correct me if I'm wrong but I'd scale up the spice quantity and add the boiled spices of your choice to the fv instead of some of the water and it should leave good flavour, I'd have thought.

One thing I know for sure I'm right on though. Use whole spices, not powdered, because powdered lose a lot of their flavour and aroma sitting around exposed to lots of air in a warehouse.