Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Sprucey rye saison  (Read 4838 times)

Offline IMperry9

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 217
Re: Sprucey rye saison
« Reply #30 on: October 21, 2015, 11:40:57 am »
I know it's been awhile but how did this recipe turn out? I want to brew a Saison this winter and was considering using rye or spruce.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.
Kegged/Bottled: N/A
Coming up:
SMaSH Rye Pale Ale
Chocolate Rye Stout
Milk Stout

Offline chumley

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1207
Re: Sprucey rye saison
« Reply #31 on: October 21, 2015, 02:46:12 pm »
I'm curious as well.  The original recipe sounds pretty good.

I have brewed two spruce beers.  One came out wonderful, the other was awful.  I blame my selection of spruce for the second.

For the one that came out good, I used the new growth tips from a Colorado blue spruce tree (picked in early June), picked a quart by volume of them, and added them to the last 15 minutes of the brew.  Used a 1.055 red ale base with a 20 IBU Northern Brewer bittering hop addition, no flavor or aroma hops, neutral ale yeast.

I would not attempt using anything but the fresh new growth, found here at 46° latitude north in late May/early June.  I have a vial of spruce essence, but cannot work up the nerve to ruin a perfectly good beer with it. :)

Offline Iliff Ave

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4507
Re: Sprucey rye saison
« Reply #32 on: October 21, 2015, 02:50:01 pm »
Add me to the curious list as well.

I have spruce tips sitting in the freezer from May waiting to be used. I think I will be brewing a maltier winter pale ale with them. I have been debating on how to use them although most likely it would be late in the boil. 15 minutes remaining or later seems best.
On Tap/Bottled: IPL, Adjunct Vienna, Golden Stout, Honey Lager
Fermenting: IPA
Up Next: mexi lager, Germerican pale ale

Offline Ale Farmer

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 150
Re: Sprucey rye saison
« Reply #33 on: October 22, 2015, 08:46:48 pm »
I used fresh tips from some towering Norway spruces besides my house--picked in early May (with the help of my kids), then frozen until used in an APA-like brew in the summer and an amber ale in August. They add a clear floral/fruity flavor--my wife compared it to apple juice, but that's not quite right: it is lighter, more flowery. See Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer for a very helpful discussion of how to harvest, prepare, and use the tips.

For the APA-like brew, I wanted to highlight the spruce flavor, so I put in a quart of tips (for 5 gallons) near the end of the boil (last 15 minutes) and kept the hops mild--East Kent Golding. The spruce is very noticeable on the first couple of sips but then not so much. Very refreshing taste.

For the amber ale, I used only 3 oz. to allow the tips to add a background floral/fruity touch--in fact, I'm drinking one right now as I write. The spruce is just a tad too much, so when I do it again next year, I'll back off to maybe 2 oz.

Anyway, I'm sold on spruce tips--and I recommend them if you think a floral/fruity dimension would work for your recipe.   
George

Brew and grow...

Bottled: Belgian May Ale, APA, Wit, Pilsner, Rye Pale Ale, Pale Irish Ale, Dark Mild, Brown Porter, English Pale Ale, Amber Ale

Fermenting:

Next Brews: English Pale Ale, Spruce Porter, Brown Ale

Offline unclebrazzie

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 318
  • Edegem - Belgium
Re: Sprucey rye saison
« Reply #34 on: October 23, 2015, 12:55:21 am »
Follow-up.

Never got around to brewing this, mainly because the spruce tips I (still) have in the freezer taste like grass when made into a tea. That same green-plant flavour I got from a bunch of wild hops I found growing near where I live.

I still want to brew this though, only I'll have to find a different source of spruce flavour. Would commercial spruce work? Yes, I'm talking christmas tree here because yes I am that desperate to find spruce :)
All truth is fiction.
--Don Quichote