Juniper

[Jloewe]

Going to do a brew soon with a gift card at one of those brew your own joints. So I was watching TV and admiring some gin thinking how much I’d love to sip a gin and tonic but don’t want to have a bottle of hard liquor sitting around not being used. Anyhow then it hit me…. Juniper in beer! Looking either IPA or Belgian Wit. Something that if I brew it now won’t be so summery I let it collect dust as I opt for a sweet stout in the cold New England winter. But light enough as I’m trying to lose a couple pounds and won’t be drinking much so when the weather warms up the beer is appropriate for spring.

Advice on usage?

 

[DuncB]

I've seen several commercial recipes for Juniper IPA.

You don't need very much lightly crushed Juniper berry in the last few minutes of the boil.
You'll find recipes online for sure.

 

[brewSJ]

Something with Kviek yeast? Juniper branches are part many of the old farmhouse ales, probably they would go well together. I'm thinking base it off your favorite pale ale recipe, but replace the flavor and aroma additions with juniper.

 

[TheMadKing]

I recently did a tropical stout with juniper and used .25 oz in the last 5 mins of the boil. The flavor was barely detectable at first but is quite prominent now, so it will definitely increase with time.

I would recommend not doing an ipa, but something more like a schwartzbier. Juniper is very complimentary to roast malt flavors and it does add considerable bitterness. I think it would get lost in an IPA or be much too bitter.

The bitterness profile is fairly harsh and earthy and woodsy. It's not smooth or fruity like you get from hops, so I think the two would clash.

 

[Christoff]

I did a Norwegian "farmhouse ale" as a solstace beer last year and used juniper in the secondary. I quite enjoyed it. There were several recipes online that I combined to cater to my tastes, but it was basically a pale ale, with kviek yeast, very light on the hops, and then the juniper berry for a week or so in secondary. There aren't have juniper trees near me so I had to stick with just the berry. I think I used a bit too much juniper though. It got a little too fruity but I am not sure that's an accurate way to describe it. It was still good, but would have been better a little less. The pale ale and juniper worked as an any time beer for us so far. I can look up the amount of juniper if you want. I think this was one of the main pages I based my beer off of. Brewing a Norwegian farmhouse ale | Larsblog

 

[DuncB]

I think Duncans brewery made a juniper IPA here in NZ and it was good.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I’ve brewed a braggot with a lot of juniper berries, it was a derivative of a Polish wedding piwo, which is actually a slightly fermented sweet beverage served shortly after it’s made. I wanted something to package and share but followed as much of the recipe at least for ingredients and part of the process. Crushed half a pound of juniper berries then boiled them in about a half gallon of filtered water. Sticky messy resin in the sauce pan I had used. But it was interesting and got third place in a club competition. Restaurant supply store is great on the price of juniper berries if you need more than .5 oz.

 

[pvtpublic]

I've done a few sahti's. I haven't dialed it in yet, but anything I've done hasn't shown up much in my beers. I harvested some branches and used 2oz in the strike water. I boiled it for 20 min, added it to the MT, then brought to strike temp and mashed in with the branches still in. I've seen mentionings of using branches with green berries instead of blue. I've only used branches with blue ones, so I could see some merit to that claim. If you want to get some more info, then check out Lars' blog at Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Nordic Beer - Brewing Nordic.
This is an awesome resource for tye Scandinavian farmhouses that everyone has been mentioning.

However, if that's not where you're interest lies, try making and using your own extract. So, take a small Mason jar and add a few juniper berries. Then grab a bottle of vodka, take a shot, then add a couple shots to the Mason jar. Let it sit for a few weeks.
When both the extract and your beer is ready, grab a few glasses and fill them, making sure they are all even. Also make sure you don't have to drive the rest of the night, and have someone else taste with you. Take a dropper and add a few drops to the first glass, a little more to the next, etc. Once you get to the dosage you find just right and have your helper taste it to confirm, in case your palate is fatigued. Calculate that dosage to your batch size and dial it back 10%. Add a little at a time as needed.

BTW, I think it would work in IPA and witbier. You'd just have to tinker with it and the hop selections.

 

[Jloewe]

All this Kviek talk I might put my juniper on hold and do something a little simpler with my gift card. I had a flood in my basement and im pretty sure it killed the deep freezer that was my fermentation chamber…. So might be a lot of Kviek for a while once I get everything cleaned up. Although no reason we can do it all. Buy a bunch of juniper and make some sauerbraten too