How mich spice to add?

[jhw_murphy]

I want to make a Christmas beer. Can someone give me a guide line as to how much of a spice to add for a five gallon batch?

 

[ParadiseBeer]

How do you want the taste? To have other ask what is that in the background or to be very noticeable? I would go light on the spice at end of boil. if you go into secondary and you think it's close but might need a bit more, i would leave it and it will be good. if you get secondary and you are asking yourself if the spice is there at all then toss a bit in. If you overdue it you will either need to let is sit till next year or dump it. I would be careful and remember that you are making beer and not a pie. That all being said, for 5gal i would use less then 1.5 tablespoons of dry spice at the last 5 mins of the boil. if they are sticks like cinnamon then use those in secondary. Good luck.

 

[jhw_murphy]

Thanks I was thinking of about 1.5 tbls. I will start there and I can always add more.
Thanks for the help

 

[wedge421]

Yeah I was going to say between 1-1.5 tbsp total. And work from that if you want more.

 

[ABrewingApe]

Apparently I like my beer a LOT spicier than normal; for five gallons I use at least a teaspoon, sometimes a tablespoon, of my primary spice with at a teaspoon or more of the complementary spices.

You can always add, so you probably want to take it easier than me.

Consider the properties of cinnamon specifically, though: once it's in warm water, the mucilage in the cinnamon bark comes out. Put some cinnamon in your coffee sometime and you'll see what I mean, you'll have some gummy cinnamon sludge at the bottom of the cup when you're done. A little extra body for the beer, no? That's why I like to add cinnamon at the start of the boil so all that tasty cinnamon-slime comes out and incorporates with the wort rather than making sludge at the bottom of the fermenter.

 

[day_trippr]

Apparently I like my beer a LOT spicier than normal; for five gallons I use at least a teaspoon, sometimes a tablespoon, of my primary spice with at a teaspoon or more of the complementary spices.[...]

The previous responders were recommending 1.5 tablespoons of spice, which puts you in the LESS spicey domain...

Cheers!

 

[ABrewingApe]

Not when I'm using four or five spices--that's two and a half tablespoons of dry spice, minimum. Chopped ginger and citrus peel are extra.

Anyway, OP, what type of beer are you planning to make? Spiced brown, barleywine, something else?

 

[RM-MN]

Not when I'm using four or five spices--that's two and a half tablespoons of dry spice, minimum. Chopped ginger and citrus peel are extra.

Anyway, OP, what type of beer are you planning to make? Spiced brown, barleywine, something else?

Yes, what type of beer as this will have a big impact on how much spice to add. Think of the variation of the flavor of the base beer with Bud Light on one end and Guiness on the other. One would be way to spiced while you might not even taste the spice with equal amounts of the spices.

 

[drainbamage]

There is a lot of personal preference here as far as what/how much spice character you want (type of beer matters a lot as well, as others have mentioned). I made 5 gal. of a Christmas amber ale last year with 1/4 tsp. each of allspice, ground clove, and powdered ginger, 3 tsp. of powdered cinnamon, 4 tsp. of vanilla extract, and some sweet orange peel, all added in the last 10 min. of the boil. The cinnamon and clove were the most noticeable in the final product.

 

[jhw_murphy]

I brewed a dark ale. I added a tbls of all spice with 5 min. Remaining in the boil. When I pulled a sample to check my final gravity I tried and it was good. But I will see when it's done fomenting. Worst case I will have to brew another batch and up the spice.

 

[edmanster]

It all depends on the spice used too.. I used 1.5 grams of cardamom and a half ounce of coriander in my last wit and the cardamom won for sure...

 

[jhw_murphy]

Turned out really good

 

[jusware]

peoples taste in spices vary so much that it would be hard to give an accurate answer. I followed the spice protocol on a pumpkin abbey I brewed for halloweed based on a gold winning pumpkin abbey. My taste buds definitely do not agree with the judges. I prefer a subtle contribution, but enough to know that it is there and I can figure it out. This beer ended up as a "Holy effin' pumkin charlie brown!!"The good news is that beers with too much spice can be fixed by letting them age. Beers without enough spices can be dry-spiced in the keg.

 

[billtzk]

I only spiced beer once. 1/4 teaspoon mace in 5 gallons of beer, a pale ale. Really gross. I'll never do it again. To each, his own.