QUICK! adding whole spices

[jefferym09]

brewing a pumpkin ale today. i have nutmeg, cinnamon, alspice, and vanilla bean. all the spices are in thier whole form, not ground (figured i would want to take them out at some point and ground spices would just "dissolve" into the beer) anyway all i can do is crush them as fine as i can with a hammer without powderizing it. but how much should i add of each? i know they wont be as strong in crushed as apposed to ground. also hints about addition time would be helpful too.

also I want the spices to be apparent, but not "punch you in the face" spicy

5 gallons, OG will hopefully be around 1.075

 

[Roadie]

There are many pumpkin ale recipes on the forum which list when to add spices - usually toward the end of the boil maybe with 5 minutes or so left. Take a look at the Samhain pumpkin ale recipe for examples of spice quantity.

 

[alane1]

For a pumpkin ale I usually do a stick of cinnamon, half of a nutmeg and a teaspoon of vanilla extract, adding the cinnamon and nutmeg at 15 and the vanilla at flame out. You can always add more to the secondary if it's not enough but this usually gets me a nice subtle spice flavor. ymmv.

 

[jefferym09]

how do you prepare the cinnamon and nutmeg? grinding or crushed?

 

[alane1]

The cinnamon stick you can use whole, the nutmeg I just crush.

 

[ddrrseio]

crushing will ensure a more predictable extraction since there's far more surface area.