Cinnamon in the mash

My memory sucks.

I swear I've heard someone notable mentioning that he always added a little cinnamon to his mash. Something about it being a good antioxidant that improves the quality/stability of the finished beer, without actually contributing cinnamon flavor to the beer. I know some people will use coriander in the mash for certain styles and it also has antioxidant properties, but from what I remember coriander's flavor WILL carry over into the finished beer, whereas cinnamon will not (when added in the mash, as opposed to the boil.)

Now I want to say it was Papazian who said all this, but the only mentions of cinnamon in TCJOHB are in reference to using it in the boil as a flavoring spice. Maybe he said it in a podcast or magazine interview or something. My searches on the forums here have had similar results--all the hits seem to relate to using it as a flavoring spice.

Little help, please?

Charlie P. swears by it. I wouldn't know...never used it for that purpose.

I can't see how it wouldn't flavor the beer. I guess depending on style of beer and amount of cinnamon

Tonedef131 said:

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr09-28-06.mp3

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Thanks! I'm pretty sure that's where I heard it.

jerryodom said:

I can't see how it wouldn't flavor the beer. I guess depending on style of beer and amount of cinnamon

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I see what you're saying, but from my recollection, someone once made that direct comparison between coriander and cinnamon, saying that cinnamon wouldn't flavor the beer if added only during the mash, but coriander would.

OK, somehow it didn't show up in any of my searches, but this very recent thread tipped me off that I also read about using cinnamon in the July/August issue of Zymurgy.

So I went to my magazine rack and grabbed that issue. In the Dear Professor column, the Professor says he always uses a teaspoon of cinnamon in the mash, and he has never smelled or tasted a hint of cinnamon in the finished beer. He goes on to say that coriander does lend it's flavor to the finished beer when it is added in the mash.

There is even a follow-up quote from the reader who originally prompted the discussion. He said that there was a cinnamon flavor/aroma at pitching time, but it went away during fermentation just as the Professor said it would.

Learn something new every day. Brewing this weekend so I'll toss a teaspoon in and see what happens.

On the aforementioned podcast (9/28/2006 episode of Basic Brewing Radio) Charlie starts talking about oxidation/hot side aeration around 17:05 into the episode. He starts talking about the use of cinnamon around 19:08.

I just heard that podcast, has anyone tried it yet?

I've been adding a teaspoon or so of cinnamon to the mash for years now. I can't say how much effect it has had as I never had any issues beforehand.