Spice quantities

[skeaterbait]

I have read through quite a few posts and I find lots of talk about coriander, orange peel and ginger but quantities seem to vary a little. So if I could I would like to get thoughts on how much too add.

I am making 1 1/2 gallon batches while I upgrade my equipment, going partial electric , and I am looking to make a spiced Christmas ale. My muse is Sam Adams Winter Lager.

I was thinking about zesting approx. half an orange and probably grate the ginger to get maybe a teaspoon?

The coriander has me stumped. My town only has a Price Chopper and they didn't seem to have coriander seed, only ground, so I am totally clueless on how much of that to use.

Any thoughts or input would be most appreciated.

 

[Talgrath]

I've never used Ginger or Coriander myself, but from using nutmeg and cinnamon in my winter warmer I would say you want to go way lighter than that. A teaspoon of nutmeg and a couple tablespoon of cinnamon was more than enough for 5.5 gallons of wort with my winter warmer, a teaspoon of Ginger for a 1.5 gallon batch is probably going to make the whole thing taste like ginger. With such small batches and with ginger being so strong, I'd start with maybe 1/8th of a teaspoon for the ginger, maybe 1/4th or 1/2 of a teaspoon of coriander, and then ramp up from there.

 

[Glocke_Ale]

I agree with Talgrath, I think the most you would want to use is 1/4 teaspoon for that batch size. I would start off with the 1/8 teaspoon first though for the ginger, it is pretty potent. I usually use 1 oz of crushed coriander seeds per 5 gallons, but I have never used ground coriander so I would start off light.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I use a 1/4 teaspoon of fresh crushed Coriander seed per 10 gallons of packaged beer. That's one spice that, depending on where you buy it, can very easily dominate all flavors of a beer. As for orange zest one average sized orange per gallon is a great starting point.

 

[Glocke_Ale]

I typically go off this table

http://***********/images/stories/brewspices.xls

 

[skeaterbait]

Thanks for the input, I will give this a go and see what happens.