Cranberry and Spruce Tip IPA?

[rodwha]

SWMBO decided she wanted me to brew her this beer. She has ordered 1/4 lb of spruce tips. Anyone familiar with using either of these ingredients?

 

[bobeer]

I've used dried cranberries and juniper clippings before. They were in different beers but I'd assume you could use them the same way I did in the same beer and swap the juniper for spruce tips.

For the cranberries I took a half gallon of first runnings and steeped them for the duration of the boil. Then I used a potato smasher and smooshed all the steeped berries then added it to the whirlpool and fermented with them still in there.

For the juniper I did almost the same thing. I played around beforehand and boiled a branch and didn't like the twiggy bitterness it added. The steep worked well to extract the fresh pine flavor I was going for. Since spruce tips don't have a branch in it I'd assume you could boil them at the end of the boil if you like the flavor it adds but I'd boil a little test batch in some water just to make sure.

 

[tochsner]

I make a Kentucky Common with spruce tips and cranberries. I get the fresh spruce tips from spruceontap.com. I put about a 1/2 pound in at flame out and let it steep for 20 minutes. I get a lot of spruce character but this is not a hoppy beer. Depending on the hops you use in an IPA you might find it hard to pick out the spruce. Maybe consider a beer that is not so hoppy. Maybe a pale ale?
As for the cranberries, I put a 49 ounce can of cranberry puree in a secondary fermenter and rack the beer on top about a week into fermentation. I give it about two weeks on the puree for the refermentation then cold crash and package.

-Tony
Micro Homebrew

 

[rodwha]

SWMBO is an excellent cook. I told her this is her area to research, but figured I should get advice from people who have brewed with it. Together I figure it will turn out nicely, though likely need some improving.

I’m curious why steeping prior to smashing and whirlpooling?

This beer will be heavily hopped using mostly Columbus with Simcoe. Being so hop forward it may be best to either reduce it to a pale ale or just use it in another beer?

 

[tochsner]

I don't whirlpool this beer since there are no late hops. I just let the spruce soak after the boil to get the extraction.
Certainly if you were whirlpooling some late hops, you could just put the spruce in there.
I think with Columbus and Simcoe, it might be hard to pick out the spruce flavor but that doesn't mean it won't lend some character. Spruce Tip Sculpin is really good for example. I use spruce quite a bit but not in hoppy beers so let me know how it goes.

 

[tellyho]

I'm going to agree that any significant hop amounts are going to obscure spruce tip flavor. I'd consider a wheat beer as a base instead. Or saison?

 

[tellyho]

This cranberry saison is a very tasty recipe. A yearly brew for me.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/fall-cranberry-saison/

 

[rodwha]

Ended up making this (5.25 gals):

7 lbs pale ale malt
2.75 lbs white wheat
1.5 lbs carared
1 Oz Midnight Wheat
3 lbs cranberries made into purée and added at FO
1 Oz spruce tips @ 30 mins
1 Oz spruce tips @ FO
.25 lb DME (starter)
.125 Oz Columbus @ FWH
1 Oz Columbus/Simcoe @ 15 mins
1.5 Oz Columbus/Simcoe whirlpool
1.375 Oz Columbus/5.5 Oz Simcoe dry hop

1.063/1.012
6.7%
107 IBUs
11+ SRM

 

[CaptSobel]

How did this end up? I am looking to combine cranberries and spruce tips in my next brew.

 

[rodwha]

How did this end up? I am looking to combine cranberries and spruce tips in my next brew.

It ended up infected. I’m guessing because the cranberries floated. The spruce tips were overshadowed by the hops as well.

 

[CaptSobel]

Damn, that sucks. yeah cranberries and spruce tips probably have loads of wild yeast on em too. I used pure cranberry juice (the kind you have to water down) for a cranberry sour. I made sure it was pasteurized.