Best way to use Juniper Berries

[temptnmonkey]

I made a Juniper Pale Ale yesterday and added an oz of Juniper Berries for the last 5 mins. Added them whole. After tasting the hydrometer sample, the Juniper taste seemed underwhelming, borderline non present.

Is it typical to add whole Juniper berries instead of crushed?

I have another 1oz that I can use to "dry hop" with to give off a little extra punch.

Anyway, I'm just curious what you guys normally do with Juniper berries.

 

[djfriesen]

I have heard of using them crushed, but I have no personal experience. Seems like a juniper tea might work. Or dry hopping with crushed berries in a tea ball or grain bag.

 

[brewingmeister]

When making my jumper ale I whack them with something heavy to bruise the hell out of them in the bag they came in, or at least mash them with my hands through the bag a little. Adding them whole and at 5 minutes is probably why they are so faint. I've never dry hopped with them so i can't help you there. Usually I start adding them at about 20 minutes to go in the boil.

-cheers

 

[TzeentchPlayer]

I've never made it past this guy when it comes to using juniper in my brews.

Although I'm a big fan of gin. Maybe I'll try this for my next brew.