[Lager]

I want to toast then add sesame seeds to a summer blond ale. I am looking for both aroma and taste
More taste than aroma but neither one strong - just a mild enhancer/spice so to speak. I am not planning on doing an all-grain.
My questions: For a 6g batch, how much, when (if into the boil) and how...as in: straight into the boil, steeping, or as a mini mash?

[jeffy]

I've put caraway seeds in beer before.  Sounds similar.
I put them into a bag and sank them into the keg, like "dry spicing."  I'm not sure I've ever measured how much spice though.  Maybe a tablespoon full or a little more?  If you're adding to the keg or for that matter, to the secondary, you can always taste it to see how it's coming along, then either take it out or add more.

[morticaixavier]

The only concern I would have is that there is a lot of oils in sesame seeds. Toasting them would help somewhat but you might negativly effect your head retention

[Bret]

Sesame beer?  Why?

[Slowbrew]

Sesame beer?  Why?

So every time he opens a bottle he can say "opened sesame". 

Ba-dum-ching!!! I'll here all week, try the veal.

Must be almost time to go home. 

Paul

[Bret]

Ha ha.  I love veal...

[Lager]

Why sesame: Sort of an Asian flair with Lemongrass. And toasted sesame seeds smell and taste so good. I though just a mild background smell and subtle hint of taste would add a nice nuttiness and depth along with a balance to the lemongrass

[The Professor]

Interesting idea.
I like the idea of a subtle sesame character...that's really appealing.
But sesame seeds do carry a fair bit of fat, and I too would worry about what it may do to the head retention.  But if that's not an issue to you, I say go for it.  If everything is in good balance, you may really have something there.
You'll never know unless you just try it!

[morticaixavier]

I wonder if youi use tahini and let it set for a good long time, pour off the oil, let it set again. repeat until all that is left is the thick chunky paste at the bottle of the bottle and use that. At least most of the oil is out then. You could toast the paste a bit as well which should drive off even more oil. Toast it on a cooling rack so that the oil has someplace to go.

[Lager]

The (Asian) Blonde aka: "Love You Long Time" with the toasted sesame seeds, lemongrass and Sorachi Ace hops  turned out nice. More lemongrass than sesame so I will have to adjust the recipe. No problem with head retention. I did crack the seeds and soak up some of the oils which could have helped the head retention but decrease the seed flavor
I used about 1/3 of an ounce of lemon grass in the mash, 60 min in the boil, and dry hopped in the secondary.
Then the same schedule with 1 tablespoon of sesame seed each time.
I went with the rule of less is better - not to over power. But i think next time I am going to at least triple the sesame seed and try not to get rid of all of the oils. Probably drop the lemon grass a bit

[morticaixavier]

cool! keep us posted.

[euge]

I think it is the right philosophy to use less when adding spices.

[tumarkin]

you mention putting the lemon grass in the boil for 60 min, and also dryhopping with it. the only time I've used lemongrass was in a mead, in the fermentor. got great lemongrass  aroma & flavor.

just wondering why you put it in the boil. I'd think a lot of the volatile aromas would be driven off. it's not like hops that have to be boiled to bind the acids for bittering.

[morticaixavier]

you mention putting the lemon grass in the boil for 60 min, and also dryhopping with it. the only time I've used lemongrass was in a mead, in the fermentor. got great lemongrass  aroma & flavor.

just wondering why you put it in the boil. I'd think a lot of the volatile aromas would be driven off. it's not like hops that have to be boiled to bind the acids for bittering.

I don't know specifically about lemon grass but I know alot of herbs will give some bitterness if boiled long enough. Mint comes to mind. even black tea will get quite bitter if you boil it. Not saying that's what the OP is after but...

[roxanne]

One options is to do a "high" spice batch and an equivalent low or no spice batch.  Blend the 2 batches until you get the ratio of spices you like (much like blending meads).  It requires a plan and an extra batch (or - a mistake and an extra batch ), but it would probably get you in the right ballpark pretty quickly.  I went a bit overboard with some black pepper - but we have some of the same brew without pepper that we will be using to determine what the level should be the next time we try.