Spruce Tips are Popping...Do I Dare???
- Thread starter BierMuncher
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
RoaringBrewer
Well-Known Member
you mashed the needles? I thought they were to be added for 15 min like a hop addition?
OP
OP
NAh...I did do a 15 minute boil. The mash-mush comment was just a bit under the influence.
Spruce beers are one of my seasonal favorites, I usually use about 1oz of tips per gallon.
Just did a dark, with 1# of German smoked malt. 4oz Spruce - 60 min, 2 oz 10 min, 1 oz Cluster (60 min), .5 Tettanger 10min. I use BeerSmith & shoot for a low end IBU & let the spruce take it the rest of the way. Different species, like hops, are different. Stronger, weaker, sweeter, harsher, you can take a fresh tip & chew it to tell.
Oh, yeah, those little tan buds at the bottom of the tip, get rid of them, pitchy.
Just did a dark, with 1# of German smoked malt. 4oz Spruce - 60 min, 2 oz 10 min, 1 oz Cluster (60 min), .5 Tettanger 10min. I use BeerSmith & shoot for a low end IBU & let the spruce take it the rest of the way. Different species, like hops, are different. Stronger, weaker, sweeter, harsher, you can take a fresh tip & chew it to tell.
Oh, yeah, those little tan buds at the bottom of the tip, get rid of them, pitchy.
Butterfield_Craft_Brewing
Active Member
so BM- I'm curious how this batch turned out?
OP
OP
Funny you mentioned it. I enjoyed a few drafts last night. I'm about half way through the second keg now.
It is really great. The spruce aroma is very subtle, but noticeable. It isn't even a definite "spruce" aroma. Just a nice, additional layer of bitterness. The beer is well balanced and I'm glad I backed off the hops a bit to make room for the spruce.
I'm hoping to bottle off a 12-pack this weekend and if the aroma preserves, maybe enter it into a comp this winter.
It's definitely a warm weather beer. Very crisp and a slight tartness. I'll brew it again next spring when the tips are popping again.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
Hey BM, curious to see how this one turns out.
Looking at the photo above with your hop additions, are you putting your pellet hops in water before you put them in the boil? Just curious if that's why it looks like hop soup in those glasses and the reason for doing that.
Looking at the photo above with your hop additions, are you putting your pellet hops in water before you put them in the boil? Just curious if that's why it looks like hop soup in those glasses and the reason for doing that.
OP
OP
I hydrate all my hops during the mash. That way (especially when I have 1, 5 and 10 minute additions) I'm not wasting time trying to get dry hops to submerge and start their magic.Hey BM, curious to see how this one turns out.
Looking at the photo above with your hop additions, are you putting your pellet hops in water before you put them in the boil? Just curious if that's why it looks like hop soup in those glasses and the reason for doing that.
I also find that when dry hopping, if I steep the hops for 15 minutes in tepid water first, I get a more robust aroma in the beer.
killian
Well-Known Member
bier are you brewing another spruce beer this spring?
I was just logging in looking for some insight on spruce myself. No need to ask any questions, I found everything I was looking for in this thread all ready. Thanks for the info folks. I'm going to be adding some fresh spruce tips to my next wit. Orange peel, coriander, chamomile, and spruce in a Belgium wit! I'm exited!
eschatz
Well-Known Member
Wow! I remember this thread!!!
When you first started "daring" I thought it was going to be a bad bet! Now I'm looking at this thread and thinking.... Do I Dare?.....
My palate has changed so much in the past year!
When you first started "daring" I thought it was going to be a bad bet! Now I'm looking at this thread and thinking.... Do I Dare?.....
My palate has changed so much in the past year!
OP
OP
It was a good beer. I recall that I think I should have gone with an extra 50% of the spruce and maybe done a higher, shorter mash to get the combination of a maltier toned pale with the tingle of the spruce.
Spruce is definitely a nice addition for some complexity.
Spruce is definitely a nice addition for some complexity.
Brewed up the following this week:
hopville . "Spruce Tip IPA" American IPA Recipe
I used a total of 5 oz of fresh spruce tips that I had frozen the night before. Missed the OG by 3 points for 1.060.
I tried the initial wort from the gravity sample. Sweet as I would expect, with a slightly different flavor, but I don't know if I could pick it out as being spruce. It'll be interesting to see what happens when it finishes.
hopville . "Spruce Tip IPA" American IPA Recipe
I used a total of 5 oz of fresh spruce tips that I had frozen the night before. Missed the OG by 3 points for 1.060.
I tried the initial wort from the gravity sample. Sweet as I would expect, with a slightly different flavor, but I don't know if I could pick it out as being spruce. It'll be interesting to see what happens when it finishes.
OP
OP
Try to get them before the stems get to "woody".
huh huh......huh huh....I said "woody".
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2008
- Messages
- 250
- Reaction score
- 0
My buddy made a killer spruce porter last year, glad I saw this thread. Now I have to steal his recipe!
How much did you end up using? I saw the pile of "Spruce tips 15 min WTF", but didn't catch a final weight. Did you end up using the whole 4 oz? (in a 10-gallon batch, right?)
OP
OP
I think it ended up being about 5-6 ounces....but that is a 2-cup measuring glass...loosely packed, if that helps.
Paco
Well-Known Member
BierMuncher,
are you doing the recipe again this year and do you plan changes on the recipe, mostly about spruce tips quantity and/or addition schedule?
are you doing the recipe again this year and do you plan changes on the recipe, mostly about spruce tips quantity and/or addition schedule?
This has reminded me to pick some spruce, and to see if I can get my hands on that tree I found in the UP. The aroma from the needles was amazing! I should try to find some spruce beer and see what it tastes like, and make some and compare.
OP
OP
IF I were to do this recipe again, I would do two things:
1) Mash at a higher temp for a shorter time to get a fuller malt profile.
B) Add about 20% more of the fresh spruce tips.
This is a really good beer, but a stronger malt presence would compliment the spruce tips nicely.
I see the blue spruce trees are sprouting their new growth right now. I think im going to brew an IPA/APA with a bunch of spruce added to the mash. I have read that a "grocery bag" full of spruce tips is about right. I would like a LOT of pine/spruce aroma to come threw. Couple guys have told me to not add them to the boil, but I would think a late addition would be ok.
From my limited experience using spruce tips, I wouldn't expect to get much in terms of recognizable piney flavor or aroma. It is much more citrusy/fruity than piney. It's good, just not piney.
Im doing an IPA, but im wondering if i should use "piney" hops like simcoe in the boil to accent the spruce, or use something else and try and let all the piney/fruitiness come from the actual spruce tips. Doesnt appear that many people have tried this, so i may just have to wing it.
One last valiant effort to get some feedback on this before brewday. Recipe I whipped up. Depending on how the spruce turns out, this could be a very piney IPA, or a very fruity one. The amarillo DH should help on the citrisy side.
"Just the tips' Spruce IPA
11 lbs. Golden Promise base malt
1 lb. Munich 10L
4 oz. Medium Crystal 50-60L
1/2 "Grocery Bag" Spruce tips
1oz Chinook @ 60
1 cup Spruce tips @60
1/2 cup Spruce tips @30
1oz Amarillo @ 15
1/2 cup Spruce tips@5
1oz Simcoe @ 0
2oz Amarillo DH
"Just the tips' Spruce IPA
11 lbs. Golden Promise base malt
1 lb. Munich 10L
4 oz. Medium Crystal 50-60L
1/2 "Grocery Bag" Spruce tips
1oz Chinook @ 60
1 cup Spruce tips @60
1/2 cup Spruce tips @30
1oz Amarillo @ 15
1/2 cup Spruce tips@5
1oz Simcoe @ 0
2oz Amarillo DH
wish I could help out, but my experience is limited...I think it is a good experiment. Let us know how it turns out.
BTW be sure to chew on some of the tips to see what kind of flavor they have - this might influence your schedule/amounts.
BTW be sure to chew on some of the tips to see what kind of flavor they have - this might influence your schedule/amounts.
Babylon
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2008
- Messages
- 139
- Reaction score
- 0
I made some with Hemlock. Unfortunately in the process I found Wooly Agelids
Isn't Hemlock poisonous?
I picked a few new growth tips and boiled them in a cup of water to see what they would do. Their was essentially NO aroma or flavor to them. I even chewed on a few of the raw needles from the tip, same thing. On the other hand, the old growth needles were bursting with aroma and tasted piney(weird!), and slighty bitter. Those seem to be what a guy would go with to brew. Maybe its just the trees i tried, but I don't see how the new growth tips would impart ANY flavor into my beer. Super, super bland.
