Seeds of Paradise

I'm getting ready to brew a Hoegaarden clone which calls for Paradise Seeds in the last 15 minutes. Do I need to crush them first, or just throw them in whole.

Tks

My guess would be lightly cracked, a la zip-top bag and rolling pin. I honestly have no experience with this, so I'll defer to other, perhaps more knowledgeable, brewers.

I have the same question but the one answer here isn't exactly oozing with confidence. Do you crush the paradise seeds or toss them in whole? I'm brewing a saison if that matters any.

BTW, has anyone tasted the paradise seeds? Is it just me or does it taste like I just squirted a shot of cologne in my mouth?

earlytimes said:

Do you crush the paradise seeds or toss them in whole?

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Definitely not whole. To crush or to mill? I had similar problem wihth coriander. Afrer searching the interenet archives I see that most specialist advise to mill them into dust (and thats what I do), only a few suggest that they should be just gently crushed.

Plus: I think 15 minutes might be too long: 5, max 10 minuts of boiling is more than enough.

Crush, I use the bottom of a beer bottle in a bowl.
Remember less is more, this is strong stuff and you don't want it to overpower the beer.
1/8th at 15 to 5 minutes is great for me. Longer in the boil, the more it gets infused.

In searching I found a few other posts that recommended 1/8 tsp also. Does anyone know about how many grains that is? I measured more by how many grains i added. Because I'm almost positive I think I may have ruined my beer. I think I put A LOT in now. It's still in primary fermenter for a few days so I don't know what it will really taste like yet. I'm just wondering what i should expect with that first taste. I used a mortar and pestle to grind them up more then you could with a rolling pin and plastic bag, but definitely not a powder.
If anyone knows how many grains that is thank you.

C. S. Budzi

Always crush...just like cooking. My guess is that a teaspoon of uncrushed will get you a 1/4 or less of crushed/powder. They have these magic-bullet like micro crushers specifically for grinding seeds, etc. They should be on amazon but I have only seen them in restaurants. Fantastic item, done in 2 seconds!

I made a couple batches of wheat beer with them. I used 2 grams of lightly crushed for a 5 gallon batch. It gave the beer a nice little spicy note.

Just under 2 g is what I put in. I put it in a roggenbier. Transferring to secondary tonight so I will know what it taste like in a couple hours.
I feel more at ease now. Thanks guys was really worried I ruined that batch.

C.S. Budzi