One tablespoon of pumpkin spice way to much !?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Jefeipa, Oct 9, 2012.

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  1. Jefeipa

    Jefeipa Initiate (0) May 6, 2009 Arizona

    I just brewed a pumpkin dunkelweizen with 1 tbsp of pumpkin spice after reading someone people say 2 teaspoons is to much. How long will it take for it to mellow out?
     
  2. LeeryLeprechaun

    LeeryLeprechaun Savant (1,094) Jan 30, 2011 Colorado
    Trader

    I used 2 tsp and some additional spices in a 4 gallon batch of pumpkin ale and it turned out great. So you may be fine. Have you tasted it yet?
     
  3. mikehartigan

    mikehartigan Maven (1,397) Apr 9, 2007 Illinois

    A member of my brew club simply added 1/2 ounce of 'pumpkin pie spice' to an amber last year and it was superb! I don't know how many tsp that is, but it's probably a good place to start (dry ingredients should ALWAYS be measured by weight, not volume. The US is one of the few countries that hasn't caught on to this yet). As with most spice additions, or any flavoring addition, for that matter, it's better to err on the side of too little than too much.
     
  4. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    The spice WON'T mellow out.
     
  5. Danielbt

    Danielbt Initiate (0) May 4, 2012 Texas

    1 gallon batch? 5? 10? Need context.

    I'd say 1tbsp is fine for 5 gallons.
     
  6. skivtjerry

    skivtjerry Pooh-Bah (1,841) Mar 10, 2006 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It depends on whether you like spiced beers... my preference is to keep them to a minimum but they should blend into your dunkelweizen pretty well. I think your beer will be fine.
     
  7. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,176) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Spices vary in potency depending on age and source and storage conditions One half oz (or one T or one t) of your pumpkin spice and my pumpkin spice could leave our beers worlds apart. The best practice is to add a little and taste as you go. The most systematic way to do this is to make a spice tincture and add dropwise to a class at packaging, and then scale up to batch size. If you use some preordained measure of spice, whether it is volumetric or gravimetric, you might get burned.
     
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  8. maltmuncher

    maltmuncher Initiate (0) Aug 22, 2012

    not sure this is 100% might be a number of variables that would allow for this to some degree... I just did a pumpkin porter and after a few weeks the notes of spice are not to the same level they were when I first racked, then bottled.
     
  9. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    I made a pumpkin that was staticly obnoxiously spiced and I made a prowler that was staticaly obnoxiously OVERspiced. They did not fade. While there may be some degree of variability here, I'll add that it is easier to add in a keg, glass, or secondary than to try to cover the spice up somehow.
     
  10. maltmuncher

    maltmuncher Initiate (0) Aug 22, 2012

    What size batch and how much spice did you use
     
  11. Jedipartsguy

    Jedipartsguy Initiate (0) Oct 4, 2012

    3tsp
     
  12. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah


    Sorry for the late response. Both my spice beers were 5 gal. I think the prowler was a 1070 beer with 2 cinnamon sticks in secondary along with other winter spices. It was awful. I made the pumpkin a 1064 with about a tsp and a half of winter spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice) and was too strong too.

    I think with everyone trying to make pumpkin beers this time of year it's most important to emphasize that you can add this spice in a late primary or in a secondary. You can add it to the top of whipped cream if you want to get fancy and you think the beer needs a little something.

    I have friends who all have their qualms about one of the winter spices. Some say that ''cinnamon is all I can taste'' when I think it's ballanced and in check. Darker beers can handle this spice better, so a TBS tablespoon of spice will barely be detected in a pumpkin porter; whereas I'm going to cut you off at about a tsp teaspoon of spice on a light pumpkin beer. I really won't back down on saying that these spices won't mellow out because it's soo easy to add them in later and soo hard to swallow when it's not right and overspiced.
     
  13. Beerontwowheels

    Beerontwowheels Initiate (0) Nov 22, 2009 Maryland

    I added 1.5 tbsp of McCormick's Pumpkin Pie spice to a recent (AKA, my first) pumpkin ale. I added it with 10 minutes to flame-out. I haven't tasted it yet, but hopefully it turns out okay. Will let you all know in about 3 weeks time.
     
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  14. hoplover82

    hoplover82 Initiate (0) Oct 14, 2008 Texas

    when is the best time to add spices to the beer? I was thinking a stick of cinnamin in the mash, with about a tbs of my own blend of winter holiday spices with a minute left in the boil, then cool and pitch yeast. Does anyone have another way they've tried like after cooling or after primary fermentation or all in the mash?
     
  15. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,043) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I almost always add spices very close to the end of the boil, to avoid boiling away aromatic compounds. I'm not sure what advantage adding cinnamon to your mash might give.
     
  16. rocdoc1

    rocdoc1 Savant (1,191) Jan 13, 2006 New Mexico

    I may sound like a dick but any pumpkin spice is too much. So take however much you think is a good idea, cut it in half and that's enough. When I brew my Belgian wit, I use 5 grams of coriander instead of the 1 oz(28 grams) I see in so many recipes and I think it's borderline excessive.
     
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  17. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,043) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    What type of coriander seeds are you using? I used 0.34 oz recently in a 5.1 gallon batch, and I think it was right on. I used Indian coriander instead of the regular kind available at the grocery store, which tastes like grass to me.
     
  18. rocdoc1

    rocdoc1 Savant (1,191) Jan 13, 2006 New Mexico

    The last wit I brewed I used seeds from my garden and it tasted great, but I have no idea what variety they are. My problem with coriander and other spices is that they are generally overpowering so that the whole focus of the beer is the spices. I love pumpkin pie, but I cannot force myself to enjoy a pumpkin beer.
     
  19. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,043) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Ditto on pumpkin beer. I'm still looking for the pumpkin beer that makes me want to have another one.
     
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  20. hoplover82

    hoplover82 Initiate (0) Oct 14, 2008 Texas

    yeah, I was thinking of adding the spices (not pumpkin spice, my own blend of freshly ground cinnamin, nutmeg, ginger) right before I turn the heat off at the end of the boil. Yeah, think I'll go with that. Maybe add a cinnamin stick at like 30 minutes in the boil as well. So I like spiced beer and I believe in a spiced beer the spices should be pronouced, but now over powering. Does everyone agree that a somewhat heaping tablespoon altogether of fresh spices in a 5.5-6.0 gallon batch of porter would be a good amount of spices to add?
     
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