Spruce Tips are Popping...Do I Dare???

spam said:

I made a spruce beer last year. I THOUGHT it would make a good IPA and I THOUGHT it would pair nicely with the hops ,I also THOUGHT that the pine flavor would be something I wanted in a beer. Well turns out I THOUGHT WRONG! !! It was just plain nasty,tasted like pine-sol cleaner. Everybody that tried it said the same......Good luck,and I hope you have better results!

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I did a maibock a couple years ago, and the fir tips worked beautifully! Citrus and "fruity" flavors. The only problem was that judges who expected the fir tips to taste kinda like Pine-Sol kept saying they didn't taste them, but that maybe I fermented too warm.

All that to say, maybe try a maltier style?

Definitely taste the spruce tips before using. They should have a light citrusy flavor and NO piney flavors. The tips will be so young that they are feathery to the touch. If they have gotten stiff and prickly, they aren't suited for brewing any longer.

Picking stage is critical to get spruce tips with the fruity and sweet flavors rather than grassy (to early) or pine-sol-like (too late) aromas.

Too early:


Just right:


too late:

I might try a spruce beer this spring. If I need to pick before I'm ready to brew, can I store them in the freezer or will this harm the tips?

Hey, a fellow Edmontonian! I don't remember what type of spruce you have in your area, but I'd say that you should definitely taste the tips and maybe make a tea with some tips before committing to a whole batch of beer. It may be tough to find spruce tips that are not super "piney" or resinous. I am not fond of white or black spruce.

They store fine in the freezer, especially when vacuum-packed. I just pulled out some 2-year old spruce tips and they had not lost any aroma.

I did a spruce pale ale with some rye in it last year, and it turned out pretty good. It needed a lot of conditioning, though. I would recommend going easy on finishing hops if you want the pine to be strongly expressed. You'd think the pine and the citrus would blend well, but I find that they just fight each other for dominance.

(I should add that two-thirds of the people who tried it disliked it. One third loved it and kept asking for more. My father-in-law liked it, not because it tasted good, but because drinking it made him feel like a Viking.)

About that time of year again.
Going for for a Scottish 60/- with spruce tips added at flameout. Mine are a bit on the piney side so I think they'll work well w this style.
Ive also done an English bitter w spruce but that took 6 mo to mellow out...then it was great!
Anyone else gonna try it this year?

SirHC_ said:

About that time of year again.
Going for for a Scottish 60/- with spruce tips added at flameout. Mine are a bit on the piney side so I think they'll work well w this style.
Ive also done an English bitter w spruce but that took 6 mo to mellow out...then it was great!
Anyone else gonna try it this year?

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I'd have to hunt down a spruce these days. Used to have a blue spruce a few decades ago.

I have one fermenting right now. Pretty much a basic pale ale recipe with German base malts (Pilsner, Vienna) and some Carahell and Victory. Bittered with Centennial and an ounce of fresh tips per gallon boiled for the whole 60 minutes.

The instinct is to use spruce tips like a flavor or late addition, but several experienced brewers of this style recommended a full boil to get adequate extract from them. So that’s what I went with.

I usually put spruce tips (Sitka Spruce) in at 5 minutes and 0 minutes for whirlpooling, generally 500 grams per addition for a 5-gal batch. I once used spruce tips in the mash (they contain a fair bit of carbohydrates) and then added my usual additions, but I definitely overdid it and the spruce flavor took ages to mellow to a reasonable level.

Almost time to go pick some Sitka Spruce tips up here in AK.

McKnuckle said:

I have one fermenting right now. Pretty much a basic pale ale recipe with German base malts (Pilsner, Vienna) and some Carahell and Victory. Bittered with Centennial and an ounce of fresh tips per gallon boiled for the whole 60 minutes.

The instinct is to use spruce tips like a flavor or late addition, but several experienced brewers of this style recommended a full boil to get adequate extract from them. So that’s what I went with.

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And what flavors come from the "adequate extract"?
I'm more looking for citrusy aro.a than resinous flavor... I'm wondering how timing affects extraction of different aspects of the spruce tips...?
Citrusy aroma vs resinous aroma/flavor...

From what I read, they may not add very much flavor with a short extraction time.

The spruce tips themselves, and not necessarily the timing of their addition, are responsible for the flavor characteristics. If you pick them early so they are still soft like a paint brush, they are citrusy and not very resinous. If you wait til they are a bit stiff, it's arguably too late, and they will have a harsher piney taste.

Just eat them and you'll be able to judge. They're quite good actually.

I've done a few iterations of spruce tips goodness, everything from beer (5 gallons of English bitter with 4 oz at flameout) and soda ( have to convince the kids and wife that foraging is good for them too) to spruce tips shortbread cookies.
What I haven't done is an experiment w tips added at different times to determine specific contributions... Maybe this year is the time...if I can find enough spruce tips for three 1 gallon batches.
I used to have access to 2 dozen big beautiful spruce trees, but then I moved and have switched to scavenger mode. As it is, I typically end up w a mix of tips of the "perfectly timed" and "later than ideal but still pretty good" timing. So I inevitably end up with a bit of resin in the flavor.