Hello out there. I have some doubts about adding spices to a pumpkin beer. (maybe one day I can actually contribute to this forum!) Most recipes out there recommend adding the spices to the last 5 minutes of the boil. I am going to add them whole, as I don't want to deal with little chunks of cinnamon and nutmeg floating around. Maybe this is a dumb question, but should I leave that hop bag of spices in during fermentation? It seems like the logical thing to do, but I don't want to overpower the beer with spiciness. I keep reading that once you have too much clove taste, there's no going back (some suggest not using cloves at all for this reason). Second, some of you gave me the tip to add a shot or two of rum before bottling to impart rum flavor, rather than adding soaked oak chips. I think this is a great idea, and am currently studying how to make a tincture using spices (if flavor is lacking), rum and some homemade vanilla that I have. Will adding alcohol right before bottling affect the amount of corn sugar I need to add? Thanks in advance.
I have good luck with adding a half teaspoon of cinomon and nutmeg the last 5 minutes of the boil. Never had a issue with small partials of spice in the brew. I caution you on adding more than, unless you are looking for a ultra spice bomb of a beer. A little goes a long way. I do not use liquir in beers so somebody else will get that question.
I have only spiced a beer once, and it was a holiday ale which used some different spices than a pumpkin ale. I believe the spices went into the boil near the end but I'm going from memory back 10+ years for that. My beer was from a recipe that gave good guidance, so I essentially let someone else figure out the right amount of spices and tell me about it in that proven recipe. So no experimentation or guessing by me. This topic comes up frequently in this forum around this time of year, so I did a search of thread titles looking for the word spices. Maybe you can get some more proven advice from these old threads. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/119259163/?q=Spices&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=8 I have no experience with brewing with spirits either, so I'll also pass that topic to someone else.
No. Assuming a 5 gallon batch, 2 shots (3 ounces) would increase the volume by less than 1/2 of 1 percent.
Adding spices or liquor (or most any flavorings) is so subjective that recommendations of a specific amount will be a shot in the dark. Some folks have suggested to get a commercial beer that’s similar (spice-wise in this case) to what you’re brewing. Then, using a pipette and counting the drops used, dose the glass with the liquor until you get the flavor you want. Consider putting the clean test beer in multiple glasses. After that you can dose each bottle individually…..or scale up by multiplying the dose by the number of bottles (or ounces) and add the entire amount to your bottling bucket. If going the latter route, you’ll want to blend it in the bottling bucket just as thoroughly and gently as you would the priming solution. An advantage of dosing individually is you can vary the amount per bottle, in case you want to see how it affects the final product with more/less rum. I could be wrong and am ready to be corrected, but I think it’s unlikely the small amount of alcohol in the minimal volume rum will have much (if any) impact on the amount of corn sugar needed. Good notes on this will be your friend in the future.
If I was in your shoes, I would just make a tincture with rum and spices, and then be done with it. Take notes and learn from them for next time. I will say that nutmeg goes a lot further than you think it does, and that allspice is awesome, if you appreciate it for what it is. A bit of ginger is great as well, and you can use a heavy hand with it if you use crystallized/candied. Dried/powdered ginger can be harsh, and fresh ginger is tough to gauge on impact; it depends on how fresh it is and water content. I've brewed a couple of beers spiced with a mix based on the "Pie Spice" in this book: https://www.herbies.com.au/general/spice-bible/ None were meant to be a "Pumpkin Spice" beer, rather, beers that would have a Fall/Winter spice impression in the background. One was a dark strong saison, the other was a winter warmer (basically, an imperial dark mild).
@butterygold if you decide to do a tincture, here's a cheat sheet for when it comes time to figure out how much of the tincture to use: http://sonsofalchemy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Flavor_Sample_Dosing.pdf
Wow. Thanks for all the great advice! I am going a little nuts in the next two months, with a pumpkin ale, mango wheat, Galaxy/Mosaic IPA, cranberry saison and a Christmas beer. I will need all the luck/advice I can get.
