Spruce Beer Recipe...Whats your Thoughts?

[CTS]

Had this posted in the recipe section with no luck, will try it here!

Hello,

This spring (I know, its far away) I plan on trying to make a Spruce beer with the spruce tips. I found a recipe and want to know what your thoughts are on it. It also has no hop additions so I'm guessing the spruce makes up for that.

All Grain Recipe

11 lbs - Maris Otter
0.5 lbs - Honey Malt
0.5 lbs - Flaked Oats

7.0 oz - Spruce Tips added every 10 min of a 60 min boil.

Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale

Thoughts? What would you add or leave out?

Thanks!

 

[CTS]

Anyone? Maybe I will just order the grains and try it, what's the worst that happens.

 

[solbes]

I brewed one late summer to be consumed as a winter warmer (with light levels of spice). I've had 2 so far and have been happy with the level of spruce (noticeable but not dominant). Not sure I'd try one without hops? Maybe it would be good, but I don't think mine contributed to bitterness. I collected 7 oz of spruce tips in June (new growth White Spruce from our lake property). I stored them in the freezer until late August. Here was my recipe:

15 lbs pale
4 oz chocolate
4 oz C40
4 oz C80
4 oz Special B
Chinook 1 oz FWH & 1 oz 10 min (38 IBU est)
4 oz spruce tips 15 min, 3 oz flameout

Color is somewhere between a brown and porter. With that sort of garnet red with light shining through.

So maybe think about at least adding a light level of hops for some bittereness and preservative effect (Without them, wouldn't this be a type of gruit?). If the honey malt contribues some residual sweetness, then maybe no need to add crystal malts. Your spruce tip level looks about right, unless you mean to add 7 oz of tips every 10 minutes, that would be way too much.

 

[danath34]

is that 7oz at each 10 minute mark, or 1oz at each 10min mark (including flameout)?

I certainly hope its the latter.

 

[BrewerE]

I don't think I'd go sans hops either.

Use something piney...

And this is probably one of those times where you start with a small amount and adjust up next time.

 

[mabrungard]

Its unfortunate that people think that spruce tips have a flavor of pine or pinesol. Spruce tips taste NOTHING like pine or resin. They are sweet and somewhat citrusy.

Next spring when the tips are coming out on the spruce and they are still feathery soft, pick one and chew it. You will then understand the description above. If it tastes anything piney or resiny, you have picked it too late.

A piney hop is no substitute for spruce tips...however, a citrusy hop could come close.

 

[CTS]

Thanks for the replies.

I kinda want to keep it an amber ale type.

Ya kinda thought it was weird to have no hops. So was thinking

.75 oz Chinook @ 60 min
.25 oz Chinook @ 15 min

And I typed the spruce tips in wrong. Its 7 oz total with 1 oz additions every 10 min with one at flameout.

 

[SeeMont]

here is a great link about a Spruce experiment
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/spruce-tip-experiment-484894/

I have a keg filled waiting and hoping it calms down a bit. It ended up a little to strong. Good Luck

 

[sanguine]

Hey, OP, have you thought about incorporating molasses into your recipe? IIRC a lot of early American spruce beers were made with molasses, sometimes entirely instead of malt.

 

[Brettomomyces]

I would imagine focusing more of the spruce towards the end of the boil will give you a more clean "spruce" flavor, as opposed to cycling it every ten minutes. I'm thinking you might get more bitterness/vegetal flavors like that. But I've never brewed any spruce beers, just ponderin'

 

[Renoun]

I enjoyed the Ft. George Spruce Budd Ale enough that I'll be picking spruce buds next spring.

 

[mabrungard]

here is a great link about a Spruce experiment
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/spruce-tip-experiment-484894/

I have a keg filled waiting and hoping it calms down a bit. It ended up a little to strong. Good Luck

Sorry you got sucked into thinking that Bob's experiment was useful. He didn't get a chance to actually try proper spruce tips since he picked tips that were far too mature and piney.

If you like piney, do it Bob's way. If you want a pleasant and non-piney brew, be sure to pick your tips when they are young and feathery soft.

 

[CTS]

Double post

 

[CTS]

here is a great link about a Spruce experiment
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/spruce-tip-experiment-484894/

I have a keg filled waiting and hoping it calms down a bit. It ended up a little to strong. Good Luck

Thanks for the link, was a good read. Thinking I will still do the 1 oz every 10 min but will exclude the one at flameout now.

How much spruce did you use and at what times?

 

[CTS]

Sorry you got sucked into thinking that Bob's experiment was useful. He didn't get a chance to actually try proper spruce tips since he picked tips that were far too mature and piney.

If you like piney, do it Bob's way. If you want a pleasant and non-piney brew, be sure to pick your tips when they are young and feathery soft.

Yes I will be picking them young and soft for sure. Will still probably do the same addition schedule though.

 

[CTS]

Hey, OP, have you thought about incorporating molasses into your recipe? IIRC a lot of early American spruce beers were made with molasses, sometimes entirely instead of malt.

Hey. Actual I have thought about it. I noticed some recipes had molasses in a Spruce beer.

I don't have a clue on how much to add to it. Might have to play around with beer smith a bit. But not to sure if molasses is even an option on that program.

 

[TheBrewBrotha]

Any updates on how this turned out?

 

[bobeer]

I've done juniper beers before with branches and berries. For the branches I picked some and boiled them in about a gallon of water for around 10 minutes so I could taste what they did to the plain water. Lots of flavor and bitterness. Maybe get some spruce tips and do the same thing so you know what it'll do when they're boiled.

I've never brewed with spruce tips before but I have had spruce tip beer a few times. I always assumed it would have the same feel as juniper but it doesn't at all. Even though the spruce beers are pleasant I still dig the juniper beers more. My favorite was an APA I made with pulverized juniper berries.