[bcridley]

Getting ready to brew a brown or possibly a porter. Was envisioning a lightly hopped brew with a good malt backbone. I also wanted moderate spice charactor to it. Just had an idea to throw some cinnamon sticks in at flame out or in the fermentor. I havent read anything about that so I thought I would post it here to get some input. Let me know what you think.

[fmader]

I've added cinnamon sticks to the secondary for a pumpkin ale. I think I put 3 in. I think I added a mixture of spices that included cinnamon at flameout. No ill effects if that's what you're wanting to know? Or are you asking about adding cinnamon to a brown or porter in general?

[bcridley]

Ya that helps. The idea just popped into my head so im just wondering if anyone out there has used cinnamon sticks, how many they used and when they added them. Also what kind of contribution it had and what anyones opinon would be about how the flavor would fit with with a brown or porter style beer.  I know its a vague question but just tryin to get some ideas flowin.

[fmader]

I brewed this 10 gallon batch of pumpkin ale in late september or early october 2012. I didn't use any cinnamon sticks in the boil or flame out. However, I don't see why you couldn't. I just mixed up a like 4 or 5 different kinds of ground spices. I put 3 short sticks in each carboy. When the beer was young, I wish i would have put more in, but I tried one of these last weekend for the first time since probably before Christmas. I was very impressed how the spices pushed through with age. It tastes way better now. This 10 gal batch was 20 lb 2 row, 1.5 lb of 40L caramel, and 1 lb of wheat, so it was rather light in malt character.... just for reference. I hope this helps a bit....I'm sure there are plenty more people on here that have more experience with using cinnamon sticks than me... maybe they can chime in, because I'd be interested in learning more about this too.

[micah h]

I added a 7 inch cinnamon stick, some fresh ground ginger, nutmeg, and orange peels. With ten minutes to go in the boil. Was great with a cookie. But it was a brown ale, not a porter.

Sounds like a fun idea. I never thought of adding cinnamon to a Porter.

[Joe Sr.]

I've thrown cinnamon sticks into the keg before on a pumpkin ale I thought was underspiced.

I think cinnamon works well with a brown ale, but you might want more than just cinnamon.

[Iliff Ave]

I have only used ground cinammon. 2 tsp added at the end of the boil seemed about right for 5 gallon batches.