Fenugreek - How much in 5 gal batch?

[Ksosh]

Hi All,
I want a maple flavor in my beer, and adding maple syrup only seems to add the woodsy flavor, not the maple flavor. Fenugreek was recommended as an option. So.....since I'm trying another maple beer in the upcoming future, I wanted to know:
1. How much fenugreek seed I should use in the beer
2. Should I crush the seeds, or use them as is?
3. How exactly should I use it? (Add to boil, dry hop in secondary)

My local hippie store has it for $6/pound for the seeds, so it's not cost prohibitive, and is wicked cheap compared to their organic grade B syrup ($6/pound?).

Thanks!

 

[Ksosh]

As an FYI for anyone who stumbles across this later, I spoke with Doug at XtremeBrewing, and he found a reference for Fenugreek seeds in Mosher's Radical Brewing. It recommends adding a teaspoon or two into the secondary.

I'm sure glad I didn't add the 12 ounces+ that I was planning on!

I'll post later (if I remember) with how it came out.

 

[BBBF]

I was reading about that beer in Radical Brewing, just this morning. I live near an indian market and know for a fact that they have jaggery. I'm sure they have fenugreek too. Keep us posted on how the fenugreek works out for you. I'm thinking I might use it in my next batch.

 

[DubbelDach]

I really want to do a Maple Porter that tastes of maple. Sadly, syrup doesn't leave any flavor. Watching this thread!

 

[Ksosh]

Small update: Beer is going to be brewed sometime next week (when space in my swamp cooler becomes available). Picked up the whole fenugreek today from the hippie store (they also had crushed/dust), it was about $6/pound, and I got 8 oz. Plan to put a couple ounces in the secondary. Fresh fenugreek smells suspiciously like curry/indian food, so it'll be interesting how the maple flavor comes out. I might end up with a nice brown curry ale.

 

[Stratotankard]

Well.... Curry and beer go well together, so it may not be a failure either way.
Terje

 

[Dinklefwat]

Small update: Beer is going to be brewed sometime next week (when space in my swamp cooler becomes available). Picked up the whole fenugreek today from the hippie store (they also had crushed/dust), it was about $6/pound, and I got 8 oz. Plan to put a couple ounces in the secondary. Fresh fenugreek smells suspiciously like curry/indian food, so it'll be interesting how the maple flavor comes out. I might end up with a nice brown curry ale.

Any further updates? I'm very curious to hear how this turns out, because I was considering doing something similar myself...

 

[Ksosh]

Nothing yet, will be secondarying later this week w/ the stuff

 

[BBBF]

I added a tbls in my Jaggery ale @ 5min. I'll be racking into a secondary in a week or so and I think I'll add another tbls.

 

[Ksosh]

A couple days ago I racked into a secondary with about 2 Tbsp of the seeds.
My gravity was stuck at 1.030 (expected ~1.015), so I also pitched another packet into the secondary. I'll update the thread when I know more (in a couple weeks).

 

[craven_morhead]

I've used fenugeek in curries; as a powder it is VERY powerful; go easy.

 

[Ksosh]

Gravity down to 1.025, still going to give it another week in the secondary.
Tried the hydrometer sample... not gonna lie, it's pretty nasty.
Bitter and sharp. I have a feeling this beer will need a year to mellow out.
Didn't taste maple at all, so pretty disappointed thus far.
One thing to note is that I used hippie store malted barley, so the nasty taste may be from the low quality malt extract, and not the fennugreek. I bottled some prior to adding the fennugreek, so I'll be able to compare the ****ty malted extract beer to the ****ty malted extract beer with fennugreek in a few weeks.

 

[Ksosh]

*sigh* Lacto infection.
On the plus side, based on the taste of it a few days ago, it can't get much worse.
Maybe it'll be a sweet and sour curry (and/or maple) ale.

 

[Ksosh]

Bottled yesterday. Batch got an infection that seems to be lacto, but beer was still drinkable warm and uncarbed. Had a slight maple smell (wife confirmed), but wasn't as strong as I was hoping. Not sure if this is because the sourness is cutting down the maple aroma or because I didn't use enough. I also used whole fennugreek, not powdered, so I'm not sure how that affected things.

 

[kyleobie]

Interesting. I bought a bunch of Fenugreek on a whim at an Indian grocery store in my city. I was thinking of using it in a brew, but after grinding it, I can't seem to get that maple flavor people keep mentioning. Just the bitter and sharp notes you point out.

I read online that you need to lightly toast the seeds to bring out their maple flavor but this was also a big fat fail for me.

 

[BBBF]

I racked into the secondary over the weekend. There's a slight maple smell. I decided to keep it as for now. Maybe in a future batch, I'll add another tbsp in the secondary.

 

[ForeverBrew]

I have used fenugreek in a stout and most recently in a brown ale. It seems like it has thinned out each batch but I think I am using too much. Also seemed to cut out head retention. The first 3 batches I used 2 oz whole seed crushed lightly (not powder) and the taste was too strong. I have a brown ale in the primary and will toast 1 oz before making a tea and putting it in the secondary. The first two batches I put it in the boil for 10 minutes and the last batch I steeped the seeds like tea and put it in the secondary. How did your's come out. I know this post is old but I am experimenting and not too many people even know about fenugreek let alone brewing with it.

 

[Paulwlowder]

Ugh, I made a small batch with fenugreek and it was just awful. It's used for artificial maple syrup and tastes worse. Also - I see where fenugreek seeds are added to sour kraut as a lacto source, so this may be a spice to avoid.

 

[ForeverBrew]

Yea I agree with you. It's hard to get the taste right. Hopefully roasting and only adding a touch for a 5 gal batch will be ok. I'll find out in a few weeks.

 

[Warphine]

*Hi, I'm new here!*

Any updates guys?

I'd like to share with you guys my experiences using Jaggery and Fenugreek to achieve a "maple" flavor in my beers. For a maple bacon coffee porter that I did, I added 2 lbs of ground Jaggery sugar in the boil (1 lb at 60 mins and 1 lb at 5 minutes). I also added 1 tsp of crushed fenugreek seeds at 5 minutes in the boil as well. Before I added the whole coffee beans, I took a sample to taste. I was shocked that the beer actually had a detectable maple like flavor and was really excited about it. Then I added the whole coffee beans and the maple flavor was overpowered by the coffee flavor and wasn't detectable anymore. So, I added 4 oz of maple extract to compensate. The end result was acceptable.

I recently made a Maple Coffee Imperial Stout that I plan on aging in my 5 gallon bourbon barrel. I tried to learn from my experiences from last time around, and this time I added more fenugreek, about 1 TBSP of crushed fenugreek seeds at 5 minutes (along with the same schedule for the Jaggery sugar). I thought for sure that I would detect the maple flavor again in my pre-secondary sample, but this time I didn't really detect it at all! I'm a bit dumbfounded. I'm debating on adding more fenugreek seeds in secondary, but I'm a bit worried about lacto based on the above comment. Instead, I might just go with maple extract again and hope for the best.

 

[cmac62]

I was wondering if anyone has used a tincture for the fenugreek?

 

[ForeverBrew]

I haven't used a tincture but it sounds interesting to try. I'm my last batch it seemed like 1oz was enough. Given I didn't add coffee or anything else. The more ingredients, the more variables possible to change flavor. Haven't tried brewing with fenugreek since.