Spruce Tips

[mashdar]

I finally got around to brewing with spruce tips. I wanted to share my experience, as I didn't find a lot of information online.
edit: False advertising. My spruce turned out to be a fir.

Recipe was a strong bitter, mashed a bit high. Hops were 1oz ~6.4% fuggles at 60m. S-04 yeast. edot: total post-boil volume 5.75 gallons, including losses to hops etc.

I added 4oz of freshly cut spruce tips. They varied from 2" to 5", harvested from a single ~25' (young) tree. They went loose into the boil for the last 7 minutes. They sank nicely. Beer was recirculated over them during cooling.

The spruce is cleary present but not immediately identifiable. If you want a very sprucey beer, you may need more that 4oz. If you want a very subtle flavor, this was too much. This is probably the sweet spot of distinct but not crazy.

The flavor is a little medicinal, but drinkable. I may not repeat this experiment.

I don't recall what species this tree is. Surely different species (and even different specimens of the same species) will contribute differently. Hopefully if someone else takes a stab at this, this note will be useful.

 

[Beekeeper]

Recipe was a strong bitter, mashed a bit high. Hops were 1oz ~6.4% fuggles at 60m. S-04 yeast.

I added 4oz of freshly cut spruce tips.

Was this a 5 gallon batch?

 

[mashdar]

Was this a 5 gallon batch?

Ah, that's important! Yes, ~5.75gal including losses.

 

[RCope]

I brewed a nice Spruce Tip IPA in 2021,the IPA flavor profile is more amenable to the spruce flavor than any other style. The spruce tips were sourced from https://spruceontap.com/shop . My recipe https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1004121/spruce-tip-ipa focused on piney hop additions but was otherwise mundane. Now I want to brew it again ;-).

 

[mashdar]

I brewed a nice Spruce Tip IPA in 2021,the IPA flavor profile is more amenable to the spruce flavor than any other style. The spruce tips were sourced from https://spruceontap.com/shop . My recipe https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1004121/spruce-tip-ipa focused on piney hop additions but was otherwise mundane. Now I want to brew it again ;-).

Permission error - what rate of spruce tip addition did you use? Boil?

 

[Agent]

My notes show I was happy with 14oz of white spruce at flameout.

Though I enjoy just munching on pine pieces whenever I pass one. Which is pretty often.

 

[RCope]

Permission error

My bad, if you are interested I made it "public". Maybe that helps. But I used 4 oz of spruce tips in a hop spider at 15 min in the boil. 14 oz seem like a lot but potency is variable. Cheers!

 

[Peteinno]

I used 8oz during the last 10 minutes of the boil in my 5 gallon batch. The first few beers tasted like a Christmas tree but it mellowed out quite a bit over time and actually tasted pretty dang good.

 

[passedpawn]

I understand wanting to brew with the raw ingredients. But I've used this with great success (in my mind lol). I used 1/2 tsp in a 5g batch of IPA. Identifiable pine there. I would not use more until you've made a test batch. These extracts can get out control quickly lol.

 

[mashdar]

I used 8oz during the last 10 minutes of the boil in my 5 gallon batch. The first few beers tasted like a Christmas tree but it mellowed out quite a bit over time and actually tasted pretty dang good.

Good to know! I'll update as I go. Also: I may be a dope, and I may own a fir tree. I'll have to ask my wife, who is the plant person.

 

[anteater8]

One of the best beers I ever made was a spruce tip wild ale. I soaked a ton of spruce tips in gin to make a tincture, and I think this technique would work well in other styles too. I wrote about it here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/spruce-wild-ale.654193/#post-8369450

 

[mashdar]

Now that I know about spruceontap and that my spruce is a fir, maybe I'll try a few more things (actual spruce, tinctures). It sounds like tinctures/extractions are successful. Nice for dosing small amounts, for sure.

 

[mabrungard]

The spruce is cleary present but not immediately identifiable. If you want a very sprucey beer, you may need more that 4oz. If you want a very subtle flavor, this was too much. This is probably the sweet spot of distinct but not crazy.

The flavor is a little medicinal, but drinkable. I may not repeat this experiment.

A spruce beer should NEVER taste like pinesol or medicinal. Spruce tips used in brewing are actually citrusy and have no pine, spruce, or other pinesol aroma or flavor.

A proper spruce tip has just emerged from its bud and is completely, willowy soft. If the tips are stiffening or getting pokey, then they're too mature.

 

[passedpawn]

A spruce beer should NEVER taste like pinesol or medicinal. Spruce tips used in brewing are actually citrusy and have no pine, spruce, or other pinesol aroma or flavor.

A proper spruce tip has just emerged from its bud and is completely, willowy soft. If the tips are stiffening or getting pokey, then they're too mature.

lol. ok. but what if that's exactly what i like? what if I want pine. Am I wrong???

 

[mashdar]

lol. ok. but what if that's exactly what i like? what if I want pine. Am I wrong???

Maybe we need pine beer? Survivorman said it has lots of vitamin C, so bring a beer the next time you're stranded in the wilderness. Keep one in the car?

 

[mabrungard]

lol. ok. but what if that's exactly what i like? what if I want pine. Am I wrong???

Well, no you're not wrong. But that's why so many people recoil at the thought of drinking a "spruce" beer. They've only had the bad ones.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

lol. ok. but what if that's exactly what i like? what if I want pine. Am I wrong???

There's a couple of beers here up in the Northeast that do a good spruce beer. Silvaticus has Marquis du Spruce. Notch does this pitch lined keg that is very good



I seem to remember Tributary did a good one. Forget the name tho.

All weren't overpowering. Almost like old school cascade pineyness but just a little different

I wasn't too impressed with the recent Treehouse spruce tipped pilsner.

 

[PCABrewing]

A spruce beer should NEVER taste like pinesol or medicinal. Spruce tips used in brewing are actually citrusy and have no pine, spruce, or other pinesol aroma or flavor.

I never tasted Pinesol but I am sure you're correct that a beer shouldn't taste like it.
It doesn't really smell like Pine either, it smells exactly like Pinesol.

 

[mashdar]

Ok. I spoke to the guy who planted the trees. They're Colorado Blue Spruce. It doesn't look like I can edit the first post any more to remove references to fir.

The beer cleared up very nicely after a month in the keg. It still has a very distinct flavor to it. I would not classify it as citrus-y at all. It's an odd flavor, not easy to describe. Medicinal is may be a bit too negative sounding. Notes of vanilla and undertones of peppermint. Maybe a bit fruity.

It's not my cup of tea. I wonder if other species would have better qualities.

 

[Agent]

Ok. I spoke to the guy who planted the trees. They're Colorado Blue Spruce. It doesn't look like I can edit the first post any more to remove references to fir.

The beer cleared up very nicely after a month in the keg. It still has a very distinct flavor to it. I would not classify it as citrus-y at all. It's an odd flavor, not easy to describe. Medicinal is may be a bit too negative sounding. Notes of vanilla and undertones of peppermint. Maybe a bit fruity.

It's not my cup of tea. I wonder if other species would have better qualities.

Colorado Blue Spruce flavor is as subtle as a brick flying through a plate glass window. Hemlock would probably be the only other conifer to give it a run for its money for offensiveness.

You should definitely give it another go with a milder specie next spring.