PhelanKA7

Recipes 

Anyone here have any experience spicing their beers with premixed garam masala? I spice my Belgians up pretty big with a lot of the spices that are in Garam Masala (coriander, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, etc) but have never spiced an IPA or anything very hoppy at all.

I figured I'd ask here before I went experimenting with such a strong spice on something I've never done before and save myself a wasted grain bill.

Thanks!

Borg

Recipes 

I made a couple 10 gal batches of a very neutral pale ale this past summer (2-row, carapils, cascades) to experimented with tinctures (I wanted flavorful beers on the quick for a festival). One utilized a masala vodka tincture that I added at kegging/bottling. The tincture was made by soaking the whole spices used in masala in vodka for two weeks. It turned out quite tasty and will definitely do it again. However, a couple notes I had were that the masala flavor dissipated more than expected over the two weeks it was in the keg (I'm going to muddle the spices and add in secondary to let the alcohol in the beer extract the flavor over a month period of time). Also, I feel a lager is better suited for this kind of flavor (it would allow that hint of masala to come through a bit more - i made the PA around 30ibus and even then I felt the hops overpowered the masala). Thus, if I were you making an IPA of this type, I'd keep it on the lower end of an IPA's IBU profile and perhaps add some masala in the boil as well as in secondary.

NOTE: I made a thai curry beer in much this same way, but in addition to a thai tincture, I threw a hop bag with the spices and herbs that had soaked in the vodka in the keg as well. It had a stronger, more pronounced flavor, and I learned lemon grass is a great beer ingredient!

high5apparatus

Recipes 

SWMBO requested an american wheat for the summer months, and I wanted to give it just a touch of spice and I was thinking of garam masala. After looking around I decided on 1 teaspoon into the boil, but I haven't made it yet. Did you go through with this and what are your thoughts or suggestions?

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Manta Brewing
Bottled: Amarillo Pounding IPA, 5 Hoppiness Wheat IPA, Vanilla Cream Ale, Bourbon Honey Ale, English IPA, Apfelwein Cider, Garam Masala Wheat, Shotgun Shandy (sweet tea & lemonade), Red Rye'Der Pale Ale
Fermentation: Bourbon Aged Apfelwein Cider, Chili Beer
Pipeline: Citra Pounding XIPA, Bourbon Honey Ale, English IPA, Vanilla Cream Ale
http://hopville.com/brewer/high5apparatus

PhelanKA7

Recipes 

No I haven't unfortunately. I've put it on the back burner until probably this summer or early fall. I am going with two different saisons, a black wheat wine, my house beer (Belgian Wit), and a couple English bitters until I get to the Garam Masala IPA. I will update this thread whenever I get around to it though.

Sorry!

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http://beerismypassion.com

high5apparatus

Recipes 

I am chilling the wort of my garam masala wheat right now. I used 1 teaspoon of garam masala poweder at 5 minutes to go in the boil. The wort tastes amazing, and the smell is fantastic. In a 5.8 gallon batch, one teaspoon seems to go a very long way.

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Manta Brewing
Bottled: Amarillo Pounding IPA, 5 Hoppiness Wheat IPA, Vanilla Cream Ale, Bourbon Honey Ale, English IPA, Apfelwein Cider, Garam Masala Wheat, Shotgun Shandy (sweet tea & lemonade), Red Rye'Der Pale Ale
Fermentation: Bourbon Aged Apfelwein Cider, Chili Beer
Pipeline: Citra Pounding XIPA, Bourbon Honey Ale, English IPA, Vanilla Cream Ale
http://hopville.com/brewer/high5apparatus