A friend wants to brew a Winter Lager this weekend. I pretty much know which way I’m going with it. But I need some suggestions for the spices and amounts/how to use them. I want to take a nice balanced Bock style recipe with some Wheat and add Orange Peel, Ginger and Cinnamon…only ingredient I have worked with has been orange peel. I’m looking to add them near the end of the boil. I don’t want to mess with them post fermentation or do any tinctures. I want them to be a subtle addition to the complexity of the beer, I’m not looking to make a full on spiced beer.
But with ginger and cinnamon, what might be some starting amounts to go with? Also what might be a good % of Wheat to go with? I’m not looking to go full on Weizenbock, but the wheat sounds like it could be nice in what I have in mind.
Probably the best way is to make a tincture by soaking the spices in some Vodka. If you plan on using cloves, be sure too use them whole. The rest of the spices are fine ground. After a week or so, strain it through a coffee filter. When you’re ready to package the beer you can dose it gradually to taste in your bottling bucket and not run the risk of adding too much. If you keg, add to the keg.
I use a graduated syringe to dose to 4 oz. samples of beer until I get the taste I want, starting with 1/2 cc. Then just extrapolate the amount for the batch.
I would look at recipes that involve those ingredients and take it from there. Orange peel is the only one I have used as well but when I’ve added juniper I have used the same quantities. 1 oz.
I feel like with ginger I would want fresh ginger post fermentation.
As with cinnamon I think you might be able to put cinnamon sticks in with your grain build and mash with them. I’ve never done it but I’ve seen the technique used with vanilla beans and know people who have used spruce tips.
I say ginger after fermentation because you could just pour it in like a juice.
Tinctures with vodka are by far the safest way to go with a new recipe.
For the first time, I brewed a Christmas ale (stout recipe) with mulling spices in a tincture of vodka. When I added a small amount to a bottle of porter I had previously brewed, I thought the taste was too strong. Solution: add more vodka to dilute it. I still did not like it much. Waste of cheap vodka!
I added the tincture to four bottles only. Six individuals tasted the finished product; two thumbs up and four thumbs down! Had I added the spices to the whole 5-gallons I would have been very unhappy.
For me, it’s a “one and done” brew. Never again.
Just be careful; I hope your winter lager comes out to be everything you’re envisioning.
Good advice, that is what I ended up doing. Looked over a lot of recipes for what I had in mind. I ended up using a fresh ginger paste at the end of the boil. 1tbs seems to have done the trick.
Thanks, cheers as well. This batch is lagering right now but hydrometer samples tasted great. The orange, ginger and cinnamon are just there enough to give it some character. It tastes like it will be just what I had in mind and a nice Amber Lager to boot.
I hear ya with the spices they can easily take over. I used about 3/4 tbs cinnamon at the end of the boil along with ginger paste and orange peel.