Spices during boil or bottling?

MacGruber · 10-10-2010, 04:24 PM

Hey guys,
I'm going to be making my first ever holiday ale soon. I've got a few AG batches under my belt and I'm incredibly happy with my results. I'm basing my holiday ale off of Lil' Sparky's awesome Oatmeal Brown that I made a few changes too.

Basically I've done a little experimenting with my existing batch of brown. I made an infusion of 1 tbsp. Trader Joe's mulling spice (cinnamon, all spice, orange peel, and clove), 2 tbsp. organic honey, 2 tbsp. of bourbon vanilla extract, and some water. I simmered it until it came to a boil and let it cool/ infuse. I then used a strainer to separate the spices from the infusion and added a small bit to the bottom of a glass before pouring in my brown ale. WOW it's amazing. The nose is great - I can smell everything. The taste is out of this world and definitely what I'm looking for in a holiday beer.

Here's my question: I know a lot of people add spices/honey directly to the brew pot and that's what I was considering before this experiment. If I boil the ingredients and let it cool, can I add it directly during bottling? I'm assuming that it will give me the same flavor profile I'm enjoying right now if I use the right ratios. I'm worried about the honey because it's fermentable and I'll have to reduce priming sugar. I may skip the honey and just infuse the water with the spices.

What are your thoughts? Kettle or bottling time? I'm curious!

cvstrat · 10-10-2010, 04:33 PM

I've always added spices at the boil and extracts at bottling. For me it seemed to offer the best distribution method. Dry spices seem to spread out and dissolve better in the boil kettle than they do stirring in at the end. However additives such as bourbon, vanilla extract, apricot extract, etc can easily be stirred into the bottling bucket, and it allows you to add/taste/add/taste until you get it exactly right.

I did a vanilla bourbon porter last year when the beans went into secondary and the bourbon went into the bottling bucket.. I did a pumpkin dunkel where all the spices went into the kettle.

MacGruber · 10-10-2010, 04:38 PM

I also just thought of infusing the priming sugar solution with the spices so that it would mix at bottling time. I don't want a ton of spices hitting anyone in the face; I just want them in the background as an "ahh that's different and interesting" addition. I like the idea of spices during the boil and extract at bottling. That makes sense. Keep the ideas/opinions coming!

mcavers · 10-10-2010, 08:40 PM

Hi MacGruber - I'm going to be making a winter warmer pretty soon too, and I planned to spice it by making an infusion of allspice berries, cinnamon sticks, and orange peel in dark rum, and adding it to the secondary. Seems to me that this would lend a more delicate spicing than boiling them - but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise! Let us know how your brew goes.

MacGruber · 10-11-2010, 03:09 AM

I've been under the assumption that adding anything to the secondary only adds a nose to the brew, not so much flavor. BUT in this case, I'm assuming that racking on top of a spice mix and allowing it to age for 2 weeks will add both flavor and nose to the finished product. I won't be brewing this until about early to mid-November. Keep an eye out for this thread in the future.

Naked_Eskimo · 10-11-2010, 12:45 PM

I believe the spices need to be boiled to some degree to extract the volatile oils from the spices that carry the flavor.

HollisBrewCo · 10-11-2010, 02:14 PM

I just did a holiday ale yesterday with clove, cinnamon, orange peel and ginger root and i added al the spices in a straining bag to the last 5 minutes of the boil and let them steep in there throughout chilling.

AwesomeSquad · 10-30-2010, 08:14 AM

Be careful about adding honey at bottling, you might end up with some delicious grenades.