Spruce Tips!

Ever wanted to try using spruce tips in your recipe? Visit my cousin's website for info, recipies, and to buy fresh spruce tips!

Goose Island brewery in Chicago recently brewed a batch with some fresh tips from spruceontap.com

[ame]http://youtu.be/TybTGbDNG38[/ame]

http://spruceontap.com/aboutus.sc

And yes, that is my goofy ass cousin and his wife halfway through the video, they are living the dream my friends!

A couple years ago I bought a keg of Alaska Winter Ale with spruce tips, really nice! Thanks for sharing, I might just have to try doing a spruce tip ale.

Thanks for the info & link. I'll have to give this a try.

Awesome! I've been looking for a place to order spuce tips for a while, just placed my order.

Is it that time of year???????

Isn't that a spring thing?

I had a spruce beer @ Urban Chestnut this spring. It blew my mind. It was like my mouth was walking through an evergreen forrest.

cheezydemon3 said:

Is it that time of year???????

Isn't that a spring thing?

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It appears from the video that this was brewed in the spring, the tips were vacuum packed though.

Vaccum packed on site of harvest non the less!

I was able to get a shipment last week for the family discount of gratis, NICE! I will post my brew day in a few weeks.

I brewed up my spruce beer recipe a few weeks ago. I pulled a sample from the fermenter and man is it GOOD! Really looking forward to this one being carbed and ready to drink. My simple recipe:

11lbs Pale
1/2lb C40

1 oz Columbus 60 min
.8oz Columbus 30 min

8oz spruce tips 15 min
8oz spruce tips flame out steep 10 min

This is about double the amount of spruce reccomended on the website, but I like things bold!

I think it would be fun to try a Black Spruce IPA... thats my next recipe!

COLObrewer said:

It appears from the video that this was brewed in the spring, the tips were vacuum packed though.

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The spruce tips are harvested in the spring, but we vacuum pack them on site in the forest right after they are harvested, then they are frozen. They remain frozen until they are shipped to the customer (shipped in bubble wrap with ice packs). This allows them a safe shelf life of over a year. We primarily want to make sure they are available for winter and seasonal beers this time of year.

Just thought I would mention we are offering a 15% discount to HomeBrewTalk forum members. If you are interested in getting some spruce tips through www.spruceontap.com just enter hbtspruce into the coupon code and get your discount. There are a lot of recipe suggestions on there too. Cheers, and happy fermenting! Spruce On Tap

Interesting. Spruce is abundant here and I've thought about trying to brew something that some dirt poor S.O.B. that settled out here would have made.
I've been thinking about what fermentables, but the spruce instead of hops is an interesting idea.

When you were coming up with the amount of spruce to use, did you make a spruce tea to compare to hop bitterness?

Sounds good. I would like to taste some spruce beer. Sounds like it could be pretty good.

It makes a nice tea as well, and it's a good way to get people out of the house for a walk in the forest

Or I could pick them in my yard!
Actually the Spruce at my house is all kind of big. It would be a nice little adventure with my daughter to go pick some in the woods from some younger spruce trees.

CBXBob said:

A couple years ago I bought a keg of Alaska Winter Ale with spruce tips, really nice! Thanks for sharing, I might just have to try doing a spruce tip ale.

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Had this beer at the GABF and it really blew my mind a bit. Going to have to try and brew a clone now that I know I can get the spruce tips!

Maybe I've had the wrong spruce beer... Short's Spruce Pilsner. That thing was NASTY.

Anyone else have any commercial examples of good beers with spruce?

What effect would dry "hopping" with spruce tips have? Anyone tried this? Or are they better utilized in the boil?

TheZymurgist said:

What effect would dry "hopping" with spruce tips have? Anyone tried this? Or are they better utilized in the boil?

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I think they could be good for any hop usage.
Bittering, flavor or aroma.

I will have to experiment.
Maybe I'll wait till spring when I can get some myself, or maybe I won't be able to wait and I'll have to order some.

Pretty cool that they are available for people without access to them fresh to try.

I'm thinking that dry hopping with them might be the ticket. Awesome aroma.

Spruce beer would be good with grouse.

TheZymurgist said:

What effect would dry "hopping" with spruce tips have? Anyone tried this? Or are they better utilized in the boil?

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A spruce nips/hop schedule that I used that turned out great was:
2oz spruce nips and 1oz cluster @ 60 min
2oz spruce nips and 0.5oz hallertauer @ 10min
2oz spruce nips @ flame out
4oz dry hop 10 days.

Not over powering spruce like the shorts brewing if anyone has had that, nice mellow flavor and aroma. Great hit with everyone. Could still only drink a pint or two at a time though due to tasting like a tree lol.

To answer 45_70sharps:
When you were coming up with the amount of spruce to use, did you make a spruce tea to compare to hop bitterness? - We have made teas and there is certainly a bitterness. I have not been able to determine a scale for the amount of bitterness to compare to unfortunately. That is all part of the experiment at this time.
Or I could pick them in my yard! - Definitely! If you wait until spring when the new growth is soft and tender you will not get all the tannins and strong pine flavor / pitch with it. They are the most mellow and flavorful when young and tender. The age of the tree does not seem to affect flavor, but the age of the growth itself will.
Spruce beer would be good with grouse. - I have never had grouse - spruce trade? ;-)

To answer JordanThomas:
Anyone else have any commercial examples of good beers with spruce? - The best one I can recommend is the Alaskan Winter Ale. They did a great job making a sessionable beer that highlights spruce but does not blow the pallet.

To answer TheZymurgist:
What effect would dry "hopping" with spruce tips have? Anyone tried this? Or are they better utilized in the boil? - We have tried this with not as much success as hops. It seems that the pine is a little tougher than hops, so you dont get to the oils as much. We typically add them in the last 15 of the boil, but our next experiment will be to bruise the spruce tips and then drop hop with them. Will let you know how it goes!

bluez28zr2 said:

A spruce nips/hop schedule that I used that turned out great was:
2oz spruce nips and 1oz cluster @ 60 min
2oz spruce nips and 0.5oz hallertauer @ 10min
2oz spruce nips @ flame out
4oz dry hop 10 days.

Not over powering spruce like the shorts brewing if anyone has had that, nice mellow flavor and aroma. Great hit with everyone. Could still only drink a pint or two at a time though due to tasting like a tree lol.

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I assume this was for a 5 gallon batch? What kind of grain bill did you use / what was the base beer? I am always looking for more recipes to add to the collection.