Recipe Help...

[maverick0524]

I've been reading a fantasy series of novels lately and there is a constant reference being made to an alcohol called Aquavit. In my inability to restrain myself from adding any sort of flavor combinations to my homebrews I began to work on a recipe for an Aquavit Ale. In my search for recipes that explained the spice blend of Aquavit I came across one of those make at home liquor sites. For 1 liter of vodka it states you need the following:

3 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon dill seeds
6 peppercorns
2 whole cloves

Now if you went scale for scale with the one liter of vodka we're looking at 18 1/2 liters. Which brings me to my question. I want to add the above ingredients into the secondary and want the spices to really shine through. But does scaling it so finely sound like too much spice? I mean 55 1/2 tablespoons of coriander? The scale seems pretty high to me. Does it seems the same to anyone else?

 

[maverick0524]

Also, my recipe would consist of 12lbs Two-Row and 5lbs of sugar. So we're looking at an 11% ABV.

 

[rhamilton]

Balance the spice with the alcohol content, not the total volume.

So to spice .4L of ethanol (considering 1L of 80 proof), use the above.

So for a 18.927L batch @ 11%, you have 2.08L of alcohol, which is 5.2x more than the 1L vodka.

Multiply everything by 5.2 to get the spices for your brew. Also note vodka is generally flavorless while you have a malt profile. I don't know how that would effect the final product. IMO since you'll have more malt flavor, I'd probably tone down the spices so it isn't overwhelming.

 

[maverick0524]

I never considered to scale by volume of alcohol. Great idea! Thanks so much!

I dig the idea of scaling it down further still though, as to not make it an overwhelming spice palette. I'll probably go somewhere between 3.5-4x. My first idea was to go 3x so I'm glad I questioned the volume math enough to not say screw it and do it that way anyways.