BierGut
Well-Known Member
I recently had a bottle of Yard's Tavern Spruce and found it to be an exceptional brew. Thought maybe I'd try adding spruce to a winter warmer. Has anyone here ever tried this?
I live in Pennsylvania so there are plenty of coniferous trees around but I think the tips should be harvested in May.Wow, where do you live? If you're in the right place you may find them wild when they are in season. I know I can't, pine is about the only coniferous tree around here.
pine tips may be interesting
I'll be using close to the same ratio, 8oz. for a 5 gallon batch. Do you recall at what point in the boil you added the spruce? I'm thinking that I'd add them with 10-15 min left in the boil.I made a spruce beer this spring with fresh tips. I'm thinking I used 13.4 oz for 12 gallons. It has taken some time to mellow. I couldn't even drink the hydro samples I pulled. Now It actually tastes good. I haven't had one in a while. I'm hoping it continues to get better. I might try this again using a barrel in the spring. I doubt I'd pay 25 for fresh tips though.
Here is a really good thread about using spruce, but basically it recommends a 60 min boil:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/what-i-learned-about-brewing-spruce-269751/
Did you brew this? If you do I'd be interested in a trade. Mines going on 5+ months old and getting better all the time....
I have not. Buying spruce tips at $80 per pound (or whatever it was) seems unreasonable so I'm going to try harvesting my own in the spring, brewing and then aging til the colder months.
Juniper berries are also a pretty popular one. Don't buy spruce or juniper, I don't know if you can find these where you live but here is a website for identifying spruce. Once you identify them you'll see them everywhere and it doesn't take a lot to get flavor. You can make spruce tea to get a good idea of how much flavor you like. Plus spruce tea is nice and refreshing by itself
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