Spices - Tincture vs. End of boil

[Rev2010]

Hi all. So up till now I've made my pumpkin ale with powdered McCormick pumpkin pie spice. I typically use 2.25tbsp per 5 gallons in the last 2 minutes of the boil. Trust me, it's not at all too much. The taste comes through moderately in the beer but many commercial examples I've had had much better spice presence - more effervescent, maybe shall I say fresher? I dunno, it's just more "there". So, yes I've seen many say not to use powder, use fresh spices. I've also seen a number of people recommend skipping putting spices in the boil entirely and doing the vodka tincture and add at kegging time. For some reason that sounds to me like it would lend the freshest spice taste, and since nobody seems to report any flavor effects of adding hard alcohol to the beer I'm guessing the small amount is rather unnoticeable within 5 gallons of beer?

Anyone try both? - fresh whole ground spices at the end of boil vs. in a tincture adding at kegging time and have any opinions? The other question would be, for a really nice present spice profile, what whole spice amounts would you all recommend for a 5 gallon batch of pumpkin ale? I love the cinnamon and nutmeg the most.


Rev.

 

[Rev2010]

Bump, anyone?

 

[RPh_Guy]

I'd like to hear some experience as well.

FYI one could instead use a hot spice tea instead of a tincture, or could add spices directly to the fermenter toward the end of fermentation.

Previously I've added saigon cinnamon sticks, whole clove and ground nutmeg toward the end of the boil and tincture for the vanilla.
This year I got some whole nutmeg and I'll try tinctures for everything for better control and presumably fresher taste. Plus I'll be able to see how much flavor my pumpkin contributes by itself.

I use a nice bourbon, not vodka.

 

[dmtaylor]

I don't have much experience boiling spices, as I prefer post-fermentation tinctures. One recent lesson: I did just try adding coriander to the boil in my recent tripel. Result: I can't taste the coriander at all. I think I'll be sticking with the tinctures.

 

[specharka]

Pretty much any spice you might add to beer will do better as a whirlpool addition vice in the boil. Boiling drives off a lot of aromatic compounds rapidly. Though I’m not a big fan of spiced beers, my Witbier does use 0.1 oz/gal of coriander and curaçao (15 min @ 160F) and they’re definitively “there”.

Tinctures are nice for adjusting spice additions to compensate for fermentation losses, but like others have stated, steeping the spices in hot water (140-160F) works just as well.

 

[aharri1]

I've used tinctures with peppers with great results at kegging, and like mentioned earlier, spices at flameout and letting them whirpool around 10 mins or soworks also. [emoji481]

 

[aharri1]

I've use Tito's Handmade Vodka and a mason jar as my extract device lol so I can drink it too if it's not too crazy!

 

[Oginme]

I've only used spices a few times, but I prefer the addition at flame out or later whirlpool. Then I make a tincture which I can use just before bottling to bring the spice level to where I want it. I prefer the flavors blended from the post boil/whirlpool as being (to my taste anyway) more in line with how I want the spicing to come out, but the tincture is a fail safe if the spices don't come through enough. Out of 8 brews, I've only used the tincture once by itself and twice to support boil/whirlpool additions.

 

[RPh_Guy]

https://byo.com/article/winter-seasonal-beers/

This article has several recipes for spiced beers winning Best of Show (and apparently there aren't very many)...

One has spices in the boil.
One has a 10-minute steep at flameout.
One has spices in secondary.
One has extract added directly to the bottles.

Literally every brewer used a different method and yet they all won BOS!

 

[crane]

Another option to consider that I like is steeping spices in hot water (I use my French press coffee maker) and adding that to the fermented beer at bottling/kegging time. I feel like that gets more of the aromatics out of spices as opposed to using a tincture. Now for something like citrus peel/zest, I've had best results with a tincture.

I have found that adding spices to post fermented beer prior to packaging produces a lot more flavor so you need to dial that back a lot compared to what quantities people would use for a flameout or whirlpool addition.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

I have done both tincture and kettle additions. I never had much luck with the tincture method but it may have been user error. How does one go about adding the tincture? I noticed that the spices always settled out. Do you mix the tincture back up or decant the liquid off? If so do you just add the liquid or discard the liquid and add the spices?

For me the tincture method always gave some bottles more spice (literally settled out again in the bottling bucket) than others so i went with the late boil or flame addition

 

[crane]

I have done both tincture and kettle additions. I never had much luck with the tincture method but it may have been user error. How does one go about adding the tincture? I noticed that the spices always settled out. Do you mix the tincture back up or decant the liquid off? If so do you just add the liquid or discard the liquid and add the spices?

For me the tincture method always gave some bottles more spice (literally settled out again in the bottling bucket) than others so i went with the late boil or flame addition

I filter my tinctures through cheesecloth and only add the liquid.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

I filter my tinctures through cheesecloth and only add the liquid

how does this do with fine ground spices like cinnamon or ginger?

 

[brewbr]

The method I used for a spiced cider is as follows;
3 tbsp McCormick pumpkin pie spice, 2 cups vodka. Put in a Mason jar with the lid on and shake it up every day. After 1-2 weeks leave it sit for a couple days and all the solids will settle to the bottom. I siphoned most of the liquid off with a turkey baster and then filtered the rest through a coffee filter. About 1/2 cup of the liquid was plenty enough for 5 gallons of cider.

 

[crane]

how does this do with fine ground spices like cinnamon or ginger?

Works fine. I fold the cheese cloth into several layers and place it in a small strainer over a jar and pour slowly.