Switching up Fresh ingredients instead of dry.

[hellbus]

Hello. I am getting ready to brew my 2nd batch of beer, and am looking to do a Christmas ale.
I've purchased a kit from a local supply store, but I am looking to doctor the recipe a bit.
The kit only has a bag labeled "Spice", and has no measurements on it. It appears to contain dried orange peels, cinnamon sicks, and dried ginger.

I am thinking of using fresh ginger and fresh orange peels. Is there a rule of thumb ratio used when switching dried ingredients for fresh? I saw somewhere else on this forum where you should use 3/4 the amount of fresh ginger than dry. Is that correct?

Also, would I just go to the store and grab an orange to use, or are there specific kinds to use? I see some recipes calling for "bitter" and "sweet" peel, but I am not sure what the difference is.

As for adding ingredients, I am looking to double the honey from 16 oz to 32, and add some nutmeg. Would there be any issues with using that much honey?

As far as the nutmeg goes what would an appropriate amount to use? I know that varies from recipe to recipe, but what would be a good baseline?

Thank you for any help offered! I appreciate it!

 

[h22lude]

First let me say that if your LHBS sells a lot of kits and is a good store then that spice packet should be good to use. My LHBS makes his own spice packets with freshly bought spices so I know they will be good. With that said, you can definitely throw that away and use fresh stuff.

I haven't used fresh ginger so I can't tell you from experience but I have also read 3/4...not sure how true it is though.

There are different oranges for bitter and sweet. Again I haven't done any fresh oranges so I don't know what oranges to use. People do say fresh oranges are better though it will take a good amount of oranges to get what you need.

No issue with adding honey. Though remember that honey will add fermentables to your beer so your OG will be higher. If you have a brewing software, add that into it to see the difference.

You want to add as little as possible with spices. You can always add more at bottling but you can't take any out. I like adding my spices at kegging. This way I can taste it and add more if needed. Boiling you will want to add it during the last 10 minutes. Anything more and you could boil away some of the flavor and aroma. Spices tend to fade away quickly.

 

[hellbus]

Thank you for your reply! I've never even thought of using spices at bottling time!

 

[menerdari]

Orange peel is a bit different. Don't use the entire peel if you use fresh unless you want your beer to taste like ham. Seriously.
Dried doesn't have that effect as far as I know. If you use fresh you only want to use the zest.

 

[hellbus]

mmm..ham beer....

I appreciate that tip. I wasn't sure if you were to just use the zest, or if you could get away with the whole peel.. Now I know! Thank you.

 

[menerdari]

Actually it's more aroma than taste, I am getting ready to brew a Blue Moon clone and I picked up a bottle of McCormick Valencia orange peel. Coriander also gives an orange flavor.

 

[h22lude]

Oh yeah good point. Just use the zest. The white part is very bitter and not good for anything lol

Coriander goes very well with orange peel. Typical belgian wit spice.

 

[Unibrow]

Orange zest is great for light belgian ales - if you carefully peel the outermost layer, you won't get any bitterness from the pith. Check each piece as you're zesting, and if you get the white layer on any piece, just throw it away.