What to expect from spices...

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Mandlbrot

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My buddy and I just boiled our third batch yesterday...

First batch was a SNPA clone

Second was a Pumpkin with typical spices. The aroma of the spice in this beer was immediately apparent in the wort. When bottling after 3 weeks in primary the spices still apparent and tasty. Not strong but there...

Third batch yesterday was a 5 gal batch ale with 1 oz ginger, 1 cinnamon stick and and 1 oz sweet orange peel at last 15 minutes.

These spices were unnoticeable at first wort tasting. The beer was sweeter as it had a honey addition as well, but should I expect those aromas/flavors to show up later after primary or did I use to small of amounts?

Dont have the recipe at work but it was OG of 1.060. 2 row, munich, cara 80, EKG and Hallertauer roughly
 
I brew a christmas beer that has ginger and cinnamon sticks in the boil and it comes out great every year.
The honey will almost fully ferment out and it should dry the beer out nicely.

Off the top of my head I don't recall how much ginger and cinnamon I use for my xmas beer but I can look when I get home and let you know. What size batch did you brew and how much of the ginger and cinnamon did you use in the boil?
 
I brewed 5 gallons and used 1 oz of ginger, 1 oz of sweet orange peel (dried) and 1 cinnamon stick.

Also wondering if this isn't enough - can additional spiced be added to primary? I'm not keen on moving to a secondary just for that purpose.
 
I'll compare your additions/batch size to what I brew and let you know for sure. I think I did a 2.5 gallon half batch last year. I"ll look at the proportions and let you know.

As for now, if I were you, I'd let it ferment out and taste it after it's finished. If you still think it needs more spice flavor then I'd make a spice "tea" and add it with your priming solution if you're bottling. If you're kegging then I'd still make the tea and add it while your racking to the keg. Add to taste until you get the flavor where you want it to be.
Just get a cup or so of water and boil it and add your spices. Boil it all for 10 or so minutes.
 
1 cinnamon stick seems kinda light. In my pumpkin beer I add 4 cinnamon sticks or 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon. But I love cinnamon so who knows.
 
Added 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/2 gps pumpkin spice to my pumpkin ale. Hope it's not too much
 
I'm scared to death to try a pumpkin beer. I'm not a "Flavored" beer person in general though. I like different styles of beer, but usually once you start adding spices, orange peel, fruit, it just isn't my thing. And kind of to seal the deal, I was at the store the other day and they were handing out pumpkin spice M&Ms to try. Combination of the texture of the inside of an M&M and the spices they used, I literally thought I was eating a candle. My wife loved them and bought a pack, but I couldn't get it out of my head that I just ate a candle.

Sorry to derail, but caan anyone recommend a commercial version of a pumpkin beer so I can wrap my head around something that most would agree is good? I like the idea, I like pumpkin pie, I'm just a bit nervous of finding it gross.
 
Added 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/2 gps pumpkin spice to my pumpkin ale. Hope it's not too much

The cinnamon and pumpkin spice seem ok , clove however is a massively strong spice. 1/2 a tsp might drown out the other flavors. Let us know either way, I'd be interested to find out-Cheers
 
Thanks again...and the spice tea - Genius. ;) makes complete since.

OK so for my recipe it's a 5 gallon batch... Says to use 0.36 oz Cinnamon Stick (Boil 1.0 min) and 1.00 oz graded Ginger Root (Boil 1.0 min)

I cut the recipe in half since I did a 2.5 gallon batch and I remember using half a stick of cinnamon. So if you used 1 stick I think you'll be good, depending of course how much cinnamon flavor you're going for. The ginger flavor was spot on for my taste though. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out!! :mug:
 
I'm scared to death to try a pumpkin beer. I'm not a "Flavored" beer person in general though. I like different styles of beer, but usually once you start adding spices, orange peel, fruit, it just isn't my thing. And kind of to seal the deal, I was at the store the other day and they were handing out pumpkin spice M&Ms to try. Combination of the texture of the inside of an M&M and the spices they used, I literally thought I was eating a candle. My wife loved them and bought a pack, but I couldn't get it out of my head that I just ate a candle.

Sorry to derail, but caan anyone recommend a commercial version of a pumpkin beer so I can wrap my head around something that most would agree is good? I like the idea, I like pumpkin pie, I'm just a bit nervous of finding it gross.

I dig The Fear by Flying Dog. It's not too sweet and it's an imperial so it has a nice hop bite to it while also having the pumpkin backbone. Shipyard's Pumpkin Head is good too if you like the lighter pumpkin pie feel. Try em both!
 
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