Ideas on Spicing Beer?

[baloonon]

I've made a couple of spiced beers by adding spices to the end of the boil,
and haven't been happy for several reasons -- proportions seem off, flavors
dont age out evenly, but most of all, a full batch of spiced beer is too
much.

So, I'm thinking of making an infusion by soaking spices in vodka, and then
adding a bit at bottling time to about a six pack or so. Reading around
online, though, I get all kinds of wild differences in quantity of spices,
time to age, and so on. Does anyone have any practical advice to give?

I'm basically thinking of some part of a cinnamon stick, whole cloves and a
bit of whole nutmeg soaking in vodka that would be enough for a six pack --
any suggestions, preferably by weight rather than variable quantities like
"a stick?" If the end result is a drinkable leftover bit of flavored
vodka, that's OK too, and any other additions that fit a
Thanksgiving/Christmas flavor are fine as well. Again, the more specific
as far as weight, the more helpful.

[Steve Bonine]

Post by baloonon
I've made a couple of spiced beers by adding spices to the end of the boil,
and haven't been happy for several reasons -- proportions seem off, flavors
dont age out evenly, but most of all, a full batch of spiced beer is too
much.
So, I'm thinking of making an infusion by soaking spices in vodka, and then
adding a bit at bottling time to about a six pack or so. Reading around
online, though, I get all kinds of wild differences in quantity of spices,
time to age, and so on. Does anyone have any practical advice to give?
I'm basically thinking of some part of a cinnamon stick, whole cloves and a
bit of whole nutmeg soaking in vodka that would be enough for a six pack --
any suggestions, preferably by weight rather than variable quantities like
"a stick?" If the end result is a drinkable leftover bit of flavored
vodka, that's OK too, and any other additions that fit a
Thanksgiving/Christmas flavor are fine as well. Again, the more specific
as far as weight, the more helpful.

You have a noble goal here -- benefit from the experience of someone who
has accomplished what you're trying to do.

Problem is, your goal is so related to individual taste that even if
someone chimes in and tells you to use 4.8 grams of cinnamon to 24.5 ml
of vodka, what you're seeing is their personal taste. You could
replicate what they did and discover that it doesn't meet your goals at all.

I'm afraid that if you want to end up with something that you like
you're going to have to do it scientifically and keep careful notes.
Make your infusion then add differing amounts to bottles. One or more
of them will probably hit the level you want. Fun if you enjoy such
things; hassle if you don't.

Drinking the leftover vodka may be the best part.

[baloonon]

Post by Steve Bonine

Post by baloonon
I've made a couple of spiced beers by adding spices to the end of the
boil, and haven't been happy for several reasons -- proportions seem
off, flavors dont age out evenly, but most of all, a full batch of
spiced beer is too much.
So, I'm thinking of making an infusion by soaking spices in vodka,
and then adding a bit at bottling time to about a six pack or so.
Reading around online, though, I get all kinds of wild differences in
quantity of spices, time to age, and so on. Does anyone have any
practical advice to give?
I'm basically thinking of some part of a cinnamon stick, whole cloves
and a bit of whole nutmeg soaking in vodka that would be enough for a
six pack -- any suggestions, preferably by weight rather than
variable quantities like "a stick?" If the end result is a drinkable
leftover bit of flavored vodka, that's OK too, and any other
additions that fit a Thanksgiving/Christmas flavor are fine as well.
Again, the more specific as far as weight, the more helpful.

You have a noble goal here -- benefit from the experience of someone
who has accomplished what you're trying to do.
Problem is, your goal is so related to individual taste that even if
someone chimes in and tells you to use 4.8 grams of cinnamon to 24.5
ml of vodka, what you're seeing is their personal taste. You could
replicate what they did and discover that it doesn't meet your goals at all.
I'm afraid that if you want to end up with something that you like
you're going to have to do it scientifically and keep careful notes.
Make your infusion then add differing amounts to bottles. One or more
of them will probably hit the level you want. Fun if you enjoy such
things; hassle if you don't.

Sure, but that's true with any recipe. Want to know what's a good combo
of yeast and hops in an APA? Any response is going to be subjective, of
course, and the only absolutely true way is to take every possible yeast
and every possible amount and quantity of hops and go from there in a
million possible permutations. Or, you can ask people for what works
for them.

You can take the attitude that all beer forums are hopeless endeavors
beyond narrow technical issues like what temp kills yeast -- what one
person says is a good way to use crystal malt in a bitter may never suit
someone else's tastes -- but I'd pretty strongly disagree, and I think
most people who take part in these forums disagree too.

When someone asks for advice in a field like home brewing, it's
typically with the understanding that they're not asking for pure
chemical and biological input. It's for the broader range of
experience, which is why you'll see people saying things like "I like
Wyeast 1968 for an ESB because it highlights the flavors of the Maris
Otter I like to use" -- clearly a subjective judgment, but also a useful
bit of input. It's a starting place, a jumping off point, and not some
kind of gospel truth.

So, knowing how someone measures out their cinnamon and cloves, and the
reasons and the results, would in fact be useful, in my opinion. I may,
in the end, decide that next time I'd prefer 25% more cinnamon and 50%
less cloves, for example, but getting the kind of response (or even
better, multiple responses) that comes from these places provides the
kind of start that helps develop a way forward.

[Scott Alfter]

Post by baloonon
So, I'm thinking of making an infusion by soaking spices in vodka, and then
adding a bit at bottling time to about a six pack or so. Reading around
online, though, I get all kinds of wild differences in quantity of spices,
time to age, and so on. Does anyone have any practical advice to give?

That's how I make my pumpkin ale, only the infused vodka gets dumped into a
keg on top of the beer:

http://www.beerandloafing.org/brewblogger/index.php?page=brewBlogDetail&&filter=salfter&id=7&pg=1

At the start of fermentation, I infuse two shots of vodka in a mason jar
with a tablespoon of cinnamon and half a tablespoon each of nutmeg and
clove. Shake every couple of days or so. At kegging, the infused vodka is
decanted into the keg.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[baloonon]

Post by Scott Alfter

Post by baloonon
So, I'm thinking of making an infusion by soaking spices in vodka, and
then adding a bit at bottling time to about a six pack or so. Reading
around online, though, I get all kinds of wild differences in quantity
of spices, time to age, and so on. Does anyone have any practical
advice to give?

That's how I make my pumpkin ale, only the infused vodka gets dumped
http://www.beerandloafing.org/brewblogger/index.php?

page=brewBlogDetail

Post by Scott Alfter
&&filter=salfter&id=7&pg=1
At the start of fermentation, I infuse two shots of vodka in a mason
jar with a tablespoon of cinnamon and half a tablespoon each of nutmeg
and clove. Shake every couple of days or so. At kegging, the infused
vodka is decanted into the keg.

Thanks. Any word on how intense the spice flavor is? I'm guessing you
don't keep this around for a long time, but if you do, any comment on
how stable the spice taste is?

Also, is that ground or whole spice (I'm guessing ground, but wanted to
double check).

[Scott Alfter]

Post by baloonon

Post by Scott Alfter
That's how I make my pumpkin ale, only the infused vodka gets dumped
http://www.beerandloafing.org/brewblogger/index.php?page=brewBlogDetail&filter=salfter&id=7&pg=1
At the start of fermentation, I infuse two shots of vodka in a mason
jar with a tablespoon of cinnamon and half a tablespoon each of nutmeg
and clove. Shake every couple of days or so. At kegging, the infused
vodka is decanted into the keg.

Thanks. Any word on how intense the spice flavor is? I'm guessing you
don't keep this around for a long time, but if you do, any comment on
how stable the spice taste is?

I aim for "pumpkin pie in a bottle," and this recipe hits the target. I've
had no problem with stability. I keep it refrigerated in a keg, but I see
no reason why it wouldn't hold up to bottling.

Post by baloonon
Also, is that ground or whole spice (I'm guessing ground, but wanted to
double check).

The cinnamon and clove are purchased ground. The nutmeg is purchased whole
and then freshly grated, but you could try using ground nutmeg if it's
already in your kitchen.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[Doug Freyburger]

Post by baloonon
So, I'm thinking of making an infusion by soaking spices in vodka, and then
adding a bit at bottling time to about a six pack or so. Reading around
online, though, I get all kinds of wild differences in quantity of spices,
time to age, and so on. Does anyone have any practical advice to give?

Yearly I make a "gruse" which is an ale bittered with something other than hops. Last year I used hand picked woodruff (the spice from May Wine) and it ruled. So this year I bought dried woodruff at the brew shop and used it. Way too weak I can hardly tell it wasn't hops.

My lesson - It's hard to judge the effect even if you measure the amounts.

[baloonon]

Post by Doug Freyburger

Post by baloonon
So, I'm thinking of making an infusion by soaking spices in vodka,
and then adding a bit at bottling time to about a six pack or so.
Reading around online, though, I get all kinds of wild differences
in quantity of spices, time to age, and so on. Does anyone have
any practical advice to give?

Yearly I make a "gruse" which is an ale bittered with something other
than hops. Last year I used hand picked woodruff (the spice from May
Wine) and it ruled. So this year I bought dried woodruff at the brew
shop and used it. Way too weak I can hardly tell it wasn't hops.
My lesson - It's hard to judge the effect even if you measure the amounts.

Thanks for the input. That post was quite a while ago -- my news server
doesn't have it any more -- but by coincidence I just bottled 2.5 gallon
batch of a dark ale for Christmas, and added a spice mixture to about 9
bottles.

I soaked for a couple of weeks about a dozen crushed juniper berries, a
2" stick of cinnamon, and about a dozen cloves in 4 oz of vodka and
added a teaspoon of orange extract and a couple of teaspoons of vanilla
extract. I had a small taste prior to bottling and it seemed to have a
presence but was reasonably in the background. I'll try a side by side
comparison of the spiced and unspiced beer in about a month, and
hopefully by December everything will be getting along well. If not, it
will only be a little more than a six pack of lost beer.