When to harvest spruce tips for beer?

[phishheadmi]

I'd like to try using some spruce tips in an upcoming brew.

I've read that blue spruce are among the best for use in beer and I have a nice one in my yard. I've also read that you want to use just the fresh growth "tips" that grow each spring. I harvested a few oz of fresh growth tips just the other day, but they don't taste or smell very piney.

I'm looking to add a piney punch to a black IPA I brew, when is the best time to harvest? Am I right about using the new growth tips? Any other suggestions?

Oh, also, I'd like to store some to use in a Holiday brew next December. I'm thinking vacuum seal and freeze?

 

[imasickboy]

You'll probably think this is crazy, but a brewer in our club makes spruce beer by throwing a branch into the boil. Works well. Tastes great.

 

[TurnipGreen]

While i’ve never brewed with spruce tips myself, I am a forested and talked with a couple folks that have.

Early in the spring the young new growth will be an obviously lighter color. Those young, lighter tips will have a higher resin content. Alternatively, you could chuck a whole branch in the pot. Think of it like IBUs for hops a lot of low a low aa hop will give the same bitterness as a little bit of high aa hops.

If yours are past the young growth try going to a higher elevation to get some that are young now.

 

[phishheadmi]

Thanks for the replies.

I guess I'm more questioning if the tips I'm using could be TOO new?

It's definitely new growth tips, but they don't smell very piney, and when chew them up, they don't taste piney at all, kind of just a green vegetal taste.

In your analogy above, you're thinking like the higher resin content of the new tips is the higher aa content hops?

I'm not so much looking to make a spruce beer, as to add that character to an already somewhat piney tasting black ipa. Maybe I'll just make some up into a tea and see how it tastes.

 

[phishheadmi]

Here's a pic of the tips I collected:

 

[TurnipGreen]

I’m not sure? Or maybe too old after bus burst? I’m mainly replying to bump the thread ‘cause I’m interested too.

Maybe you should make two batches of that black IPA. One with young shoots and one with branches further back and see which one gets the flavor you’re looking for.

Also, you may not get a strong ‘pine’ flavor from a spruce. Spruce, pine and fir all smell different, even different species smell different. I believe I read somewhere, historically young spruce tips were used just as much to get vitamins in a beer for health purposes as it was to flavor. Now now that we live in an age where our vitamins come from fortified breakfast cereal, it may be better to flavor our beer with a older growth?