Recipe Help For Spruce Beer

HELLO i WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS A RECIPE FOR SPRUCE BEER? I have three big spruce trees in my yard and come spring i could cut the new tips. but i don't know how much i would need

There is a simple one in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian:

6.6 lbs dark lme
4 oz new growth of spruce trees
2 oz Vanguard or Hallertauer hops (boiling)
American Ale Yeast

The directions say to add everything up front and boil for 60 minutes.

I was thinking about brewing this in the spring myself so lets compare notes!

Come on, you have to try some late additions, right??

I saw a recipe for Spruce Ale in Buhner's book.. something like for each gallon of water, boil 2-3 ounces of fresh spruce boughs for 60 minutes. Remove from heat & remove spruce. Add 1 lb of molasses and stir until it dissolves. Cool to pitching temp, add yeast.

With grains, there is a spruce beer recipe in the November BYO magazine, replicating a craft spruce beer from Fort George Brewing. It is based upon Pilsner malt as the base grain and using 1oz/gal spruce tips at 60 mins of boil, another 1oz/gal spruce tips at flame-out, and about half-oz/gal for 'dry-hopping'.

Two different approaches, but both seem to say a total of 2-3 oz of spruce per gallon for the batch. Sounds tasty! Will have to try that in the new year.
--LexusChris

I have been considering this for a long time. I think I would go with a 60 min and a flame out addition.

From BYO

Fort George Brewing Spruce Budd Ale
Brew Type: Extract
Style: Specialty Beer
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Volume: 6.00 gal Boil Time: 60 min


Taste Notes
Like a walk in the forest.

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
5 lbs 2.2 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 65.1 %
2 lbs 12.0 oz Pilsen Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.0 SRM) Grain 34.9 %
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
5.00 oz Spruce Tips (Boil 0.0 min) Misc
5.00 oz Spruce Tips (Boil 60.0 min) Misc
5.00 oz Spruce Tips (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs Pacific Ale (White Labs #WLP041) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.048 SG (1.030-1.110 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.015 SG (1.006-1.024 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM (5.0-50.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 0.0 IBU (5.0-70.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 0.0 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.3 % (2.5-12.0 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 6.3 %
Actual Calories: 268 cal/pint



Carbonation and Storage Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar Carbonation Volumes: 2.4 (1.8-3.0 vols)
Estimated Priming Weight: 3.8 oz Temperature at Bottling: 60.0 F
Primer Used: - Age for: 4.0 Weeks
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F


Notes
Steep specialty grains in 2gal @ 150F for 30 mins.

Can substitute WLP041 (Pacific Ale) with Wyeast 1332 (Northwest Ale)

Add me to the list of up to try this one. By spring I should be set up enough to give it a shot. Anyone else in?

Chuck_Swillery said:

Add me to the list of up to try this one. By spring I should be set up enough to give it a shot. Anyone else in?

Click to expand...

I used spruce tips last spring in a "barley wine" (not sure what else to call it). I like it enough that I am going to try a blonde/golden ale with spruce tips this year. I'll bitter with some hops (not sure what yet - but maybe some Crystal or Mt. Hood or Liberty - though something American might be nice too) and some spruce and then add some late spruce additions. The flavor of fresh spruce tips is quite nice and not really what you would expect - I'd say more fruity than piney.

I just noticed the new Spruce buds just starting to appear today. I bet they will be ready to brew with in the coming weeks. I want to try the BYO recipe, but I am concerned about adding the spruce tips in secondary fermentation. How would I pasteurize them to avoid contamination without losing the flavor? Has anyone tried dry-"sprucing"? What works well?

Thanks!

Those sprouts are going to be covered in wild yeast. You couldn't pay me enough to put that in my beer. I'd suggest soaking them in vodka for a week, and then dumping the whole thing in for the dry hop. Vodka should extract some nice flavors and kill the yeasties, and not add too much hooch to your brew, overall.

Could you shred the sprig and boil it for 15-20 in as little water as possible and add all of that to the secondary?

Thanks for the thread. I just picked five lbs of Colorado Blue Spruce tips yesterday and am going to brew up a batch Monday. I am smoking some CO malt, so everything in the beer will be local. My spruce tips smell like a freshly cut lemon, with a hint of pine. I think cherry would taste good to smoke the malt. Any thoughts?

Cherry or apple wood both are good choices. Stay away from alder, mesquite, and cedar in my opinion.

Thanks Chuck. I went with apple. Bottling today!