Brewing with Juniper Berries question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SenorHops

Active Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
26
Reaction score
0
Location
Pawtucket
I was planning a pale ale recipe and I'd like to add some juniper berries to the boil. I'm probably just going to get dried juniper berries from my homebrew supplier and crush them up and add to the boil. They're sold in 1 oz. packages. Has anyone ever brewed with juniper? How much should I use for a subtle, but noticable flavor addition?
 
Interesting.
Never used, but my two cents would be to use more like aromatics...juniper berries are obviously pungent so I would use sparingly to achieve a "subtler" flavor.
 
Recently, I have been toying around with doing an American Rye stout with juniper berries loosely based off of Sierra Nevada's Juniper Black Ale. So I emailed the brewer - I can't remember the exact number he gave me but I do remember that, when converted, it came out to be .73 oz per 6 gallon batch. He also informed me that they added the berries with a small dry-hop addition, and to thuroughly macerate them before putting them in the beer. Whenever I get around to brewing this I will probably just soak that amount of juniper in a couple ounces of vodka for at least a week.
Hope this helps!
 
I did a juniper pale little over a year ago & used .25 oz dry juniper berries from LHBS in a 2.5 gallon batch. Juniper was present in the final product but not up front. Was a very good batch and I'll do again using those same proportions.
 
I make a batch of Sahti every late winter (see my dropdown for the medal winning recipe.)

The key to getting balanced and not over-powering juniper flavor and aroma comes from boiling the branches in the brewing liquor.
 
I also did a sahti with juniper berries in the mash along with a bunch of juniper branches. I used .65 oz for a 3 gallon batch. The beer had a subtle hint of juniper which I thought was fairly balanced, if you were looking for a subtle flavor I think adding to the mash might work, for a more pronounced flavor I would add the berries towards the end of the boil.
 
Recently, I have been toying around with doing an American Rye stout with juniper berries loosely based off of Sierra Nevada's Juniper Black Ale. So I emailed the brewer - I can't remember the exact number he gave me but I do remember that, when converted, it came out to be .73 oz per 6 gallon batch. He also informed me that they added the berries with a small dry-hop addition, and to thuroughly macerate them before putting them in the beer. Whenever I get around to brewing this I will probably just soak that amount of juniper in a couple ounces of vodka for at least a week.
Hope this helps!


So they go in with the dry hop at the end after being softened? Trying to think of how they'd do this. Surely they don't use vodka?
 
No, they macerate them with sugar - then add them into the 'secondary' fermenter along with a dry hop (presumably after primary fermentation has occurred). The newly introduced sugar from the juniper/sugar will likely spark a small secondary fermentation.
 
I am very interested in using juniper berries as my bittering agent. My girlfriend is allergic to hops so i was going to try this. I have heard .25 oz per gallon of wort. Is this too much? I see alot of adding to the secondary. Would it not work in the boil?
 
Back
Top