So it's early days for me and I'm still on the kits. I have a young's A.P.A and wanted to spruce it up a bit and have it for Christmas. I was going to go out picking some fresh spruce tips tomorrow but don't know exactly how much to get and when to add it to the brew. Should I a handful, boil them and add the extract (how many mls would that be?) and add it to the first fermentation? Or should I add it when the hops is added? Sorry for the ignorance. All a learning process.
Spruce tips tips
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TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
I actually have a recipe for a spruce ale; I haven't tried it yet, but it specifies one 6-inch sprig for a gallon batch; three 6-inch sprigs for 5 gallons.
The spruce appears to be added at 55 minutes (60-minute boil), and then left to steep as the wort cools.
For what it's worth, it also calls for Chinook and Simcoe hops, molasses and then maple syrup for priming sugar when bottling....
If you'd like, I can email the recipe (it is in pdf format) so that you can compare it what you have, and then work it into your kit instructions.
If you want it, send a PM with your email and I'll shoot it over as soon as I can.
Hope this helps....
Ron
The spruce appears to be added at 55 minutes (60-minute boil), and then left to steep as the wort cools.
For what it's worth, it also calls for Chinook and Simcoe hops, molasses and then maple syrup for priming sugar when bottling....
If you'd like, I can email the recipe (it is in pdf format) so that you can compare it what you have, and then work it into your kit instructions.
If you want it, send a PM with your email and I'll shoot it over as soon as I can.
Hope this helps....
Ron
TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
Delete - redundant.
TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
Delete - redundant.
I made my Coniferken using 3 oz of the light green spruce tips at t=15 mins, some molasses, pale malt, caravienne and 1 oz of willamette - it tasted OK but not sprucy enough.
Then I steeped another 3 ounces of spruce tips in 200F water, let the resulting solution cool and added it to the secondary, then fined with gelatin, then cold crashed it for a week,then dry hopped 2 oz of Centennial.
It ended up being a favorite of many and it ended up being sprucy enough but not overly sprucy. It is George Washington beer.
Make sure you only use the new growth, light green tips.
Avoid white spruce b/c they will smell like cat piss.
Then I steeped another 3 ounces of spruce tips in 200F water, let the resulting solution cool and added it to the secondary, then fined with gelatin, then cold crashed it for a week,then dry hopped 2 oz of Centennial.
It ended up being a favorite of many and it ended up being sprucy enough but not overly sprucy. It is George Washington beer.
Make sure you only use the new growth, light green tips.
Avoid white spruce b/c they will smell like cat piss.
