Pumpkin Ale lacking spices, can I add them?

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italynstallyn44

italynstallyn44

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I brewed and bottled a batch of Pumpkin Ale late last year from a AHS kit. The spices never really seemed to show up in the beer, just a lot of pumpkin flavor. Is there anything I can do at this point to add some spices/flavor to the bottled batch? Is it possible to drop in a pinch of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice after opening a bottle and then drink?
 
I'd test that out on a few bottles first. Unless you have a very precise way of measuring that extract you could wind up overdoing it pretty easily.
 
Steep some spices in vodka for a couple of days, strain through a coffee filter and add to taste. I like to use a measured sample and then scale it up to the whole batch.
 
italynstallyn44 said:
I brewed and bottled a batch of Pumpkin Ale late last year from a AHS kit. The spices never really seemed to show up in the beer, just a lot of pumpkin flavor. Is there anything I can do at this point to add some spices/flavor to the bottled batch? Is it possible to drop in a pinch of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice after opening a bottle and then drink?
Click to expand...

did you ever do anything for this? I'm looking to do the same thing. I brewed the AHS pumpkin ale and it lacks the spice flavor. I'm thinking about boiling some water and adding some spices to steep, then add the water to the beer (I keg) a little at a time. Anyone think this will work?
 
rockfish42 said:
Steep some spices in vodka for a couple of days, strain through a coffee filter and add to taste. I like to use a measured sample and then scale it up to the whole batch.
Click to expand...

this is the answer. vodka because it's neutral. ethanol both extracts the flavors from the spices while leaving the solid materials behind, plus it sanitizes the thing that's having it's flavor extracted.
 
So I would add a cup of vodka, heat to 165 degrees or so, and steep the spices like I would specialty grains? I wouldn't throw the spices into the vodka, just put them in a bag and soak them for a couple days?

Thanks for the help.

edit: just thought, maybe I don't heat the vodka?
 
Just for reference, I tried adding some cinnamon extract to a pint that i poured and it tasted "off". Not sure if it was just the taste of the cinnamon extract or that it was missing all the other spices in a pumpkin ale spice pack. I ended up just drinking it as is.
 

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