Adding Herbs and Spices to your Beers
A spice is typically defined as a dried part of a plant used to flavor, color, or provide preservative properties to food (or drink). In that regard, every beer you drink is spiced with at least hops, which provide a variety of flavors and some preservative elements to your brew. As we delve into the world of spices in beer we need to be cognizant of the other “spicy” flavors that may be present in beer that can come from malt, specialty grains, and yeast by-products and how they will play with any additional spices. It would be difficult to give you precise quantities and situations for the use of each and every spice as it depends on the particular flavor and aroma profile you seek in your beer. This is where brewing is a bit more art than science. Hopefully, I can provide you with some ideas on how to approach spicing beers as you work toward formulating your own signature spiced homebrew.
When considering a spiced beer, it is best to begin with a final flavor profile in mind that accounts for flavors from all of the ingredients that occur in the mash tun, brew kettle, fermenter, bottle or keg. As a homebrewer friend of mine recently reminded me, when using spices in beer; “less is more.” Spice additions for a typical 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer can range from a tenth of an ounce of a dried spice to several pounds of fresh fruit. If you don’t have a sensitive enough scale to weigh out small quantities of spices, it may be easier to measure a volume such as ten teaspoons of a spice and record the weight. For example, if ten teaspoons weighs 1 ounce (28 g), then you can use one teaspoon to obtain a tenth of an ounce.
You want your spices to blend with the flavor profile of your beer, not bomb the other flavors into submission (unless that truly is your goal). Someone drinking your beer should ask “Is there a bit of cinnamon in this?” rather than, “Whoa, how much cinnamon did you put in this?!” With that said, let us consider how various beers might play well with some spice.
Spices can be used successfully in a recipe for beer from any category or style. Because there are currently 34 categories in the 2015 BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) guidelines, I will generalize here for our discussion on spicing. Please refer to the 2015 BJCP guidelines (http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf) as a reference for the terminology I may use in the rest of this article.
Choose a flavor profile
In clean, pale, standard, or session strength beers such as American Lager, Cream Ale, or Munich Helles, a spice such as spruce or chamomile must be very subtle and blend with the malt and any spiciness of the hops, or provide a contrasting layer of flavor, such as chili or other peppers. Again, keep your flavor profile goal in mind! Fruit and vegetable (i.e. pumpkin) beers lend themselves well to spice additions that mimic the flavor profiles of traditional dishes such as fruit cobbler or pumpkin pie. Dark, high, and very-high strength beers (sometimes referred to as seasonals or winter warmers) with their malty, roasty, fruity, and sometimes alcoholic flavor profiles are wonderful canvases on which to paint with more assertive spices such as cloves or allspice. Last, but certainly not least are the Belgian beers whose ingredients often include spices such as coriander, but are fermented with yeast that produce spicy, fruity and funky flavors of their own. Belgian beers are a good case in point regarding blending spices with yeast flavors. Think of flavors from spices that will add layers to the sometimes fruity, phenolic, peppery profile of Belgian yeast. Spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon that would fit well in a pumpkin beer or holiday porter might amplify the spiciness of a Belgian yeast to make
a beer that would be unpleasant to drink.
Some beers that would be very challenging to spice successfully might include India pale ale, German wheat beer or Czech lager that have signature somewhat spicy flavor profiles from yeast and hops used in their production. Any additional spice used in these type of beers could easily detract from the overall flavor profile or give the impression of a flawed brewing process or ingredient.
Adding spices
Once you have a particular style and flavor profile in mind for your special brew, it’s time to think about how spices could help you get there. All of us are familiar with some common spices, such as cinnamon, ginger, or vanilla. If there is a spice you are considering adding to your beer but have never tasted or smelled it, definitely become familiar with it before using it in your beer. There are some spices that may sound good, but without actually smelling and tasting them you will not have a full appreciation for how they would work in a beer. Many combinations of spices used in beer are familiar combinations used in cooking or baking. Cinnamon and nutmeg in pumpkin pie, caraway in rye bread, cacao (chocolate) and vanilla in pastries. If spices work well together in cooking or baking, they will probably work well together in a beer with due consideration of the level of flavor or bitterness from hops in the recipe. A combination of spices can be evaluated by brewing a tea of those spices with some water just off the boil. Combine small quantities of the spices in the relative proportions you are thinking of using in your beer. You will quickly discern whether the spices work well together and which spices may need to be increased or decreased to get the desired flavor profile. You might even add some of your spice tea to a glass of the style of beer you are considering brewing with those spices to get a rough idea of how it would taste. This approach can hopefully get you closer to the desired product on your first try brewing a beer with those spices, as you work from there to refine your recipe.
Ponder where a spice may fit in your beer, be it in the aroma, flavor, appearance or some combination of the three. Some spices, such as sweet woodruff, work best as a delicate sweetening flavor to a beer and that would be diminished if the flowers were added to the boil rather than as a “dry hop” to the secondary fermenter. Sweet woodruff syrup (Waldmeistersirup) is the green-colored syrup commonly served in sour Berliner weisse. On the other hand, spices such as sweet or bitter orange peel, coriander, or licorice work best if added to the mash or during the boil to extract their characteristic flavors.
Consider the progression of flavors and aromas or “layers” you wish to have in your beer. Do you want a flavor to be up front, in the middle, or part of the finish as the beer makes an impression on your senses? Do you wish the flavor to be deeply rooted or fleeting? A spice with a strong flavored nature or one added for a considerable time in the boil will typically make a lasting impression rather than a passing appearance in a beer. Bear in mind that there is an overlap between how we perceive aromas and flavors, and that the aroma typically makes its impression first as a beer is sampled.
With a spice or spices in mind, you will need to zero-in on the form, amount, and timing of how the spice will be used in the brewing process. Spices may be used whole, crushed, ground, fresh picked/cut, dried, extracted in alcohol, steeped, brewed, or toasted (see chart on page 54). It is best to pick fresh herbs or crush dried spices as close to the time they will be included in your brew. Thus, some spices may require a little work to harvest or prepare so you have them ready to go when needed in your brewing or fermenting process. As with any other ingredient in your beer, freshness of spices matters. Some of those old spices sitting in the cabinet for years may not lend the best flavor as newer, fresher products would. Consider your source of spices when collecting or purchasing them. Specialty spice shops tend to be more knowledgeable regarding spices and how they should be stored and used. Regarding the amount of spice to use, be conservative, you can always use more in your next batch if the spice did not express itself well enough, but cannot be removed if overdone. Also, you may be able to add a bit more spice or extract of spice to your finished beer as a post-fix to bump up the spiciness, if desired. So play it safe. The only thing worse than drinking a pint of over-spiced beer is drinking a five-gallon batch of over-spiced beer!
Getting the desired level of spice in a beer is also a function of when the spice is added during the brewing process. A spice added too early to the boil could extract too much flavor or astringency. By contrast, adding a delicate spice too early to the boil could allow too much flavor/aroma to escape in a volatile form.
Some spices are so delicate that they are best added to the secondary fermenter or in the bottle or keg at packaging to preserve their volatile flavor or aroma compounds. (Sweetgrass or fresh peppers would be some common examples.)
If you wish to have a spice deep-seated into the flavor profile of your beer, such as licorice or sassafras, it could be added to the mash or early in the boil.
Also, take into account that the degree of spiciness can be relative to the flavors of other ingredients in the beer, particularly hops. In order to get the desired spice flavor without overdoing it, you may need to reduce hop bitterness, flavor or aroma to allow a modest amount of spice to express itself. This is particularly true of hop varieties such as Saaz, Simcoe®, Cascade, Chinook, Citra®, and others that have prominent spicy/piney/citrus flavors of their own. Additionally, including spruce tips and Simcoe® hops in the same brew would most likely result in Simcoe®’s piney flavors overwhelming the more subtle spruce. The Brew Your Own Resource Guide has great information on the flavors various hops, yeast, malt, and brewing adjuncts can contribute to your beer to help you balance them with spices.
Some spices may render a color change in the beer or even produce haziness in the finished beer. These changes in appearance may be acceptable or unacceptable depending on the style of beer. Addition of finings (such as gelatin), time allowed for settling, or even filtration may be necessary to remove unwanted haze or possible “floaties” that remain from the use of spices. Our impression of a beer is often formed first with our eyes, then with the nose and palate!
It is a good practice to take notes for all of your brewing, but when experimenting with spices it is even more important to do so. Careful records of the source, type, form, amount, preparation, and timing of spice additions will be invaluable when you taste the finished beer and wish to adjust the recipe to achieve a different desired flavor profile. Spicing beer is often a delicate business and meticulous brewing notes will be necessary to provide the level of detail required to refine a recipe to perfection and be able to replicate it as nearly as possible in the future.
Successfully producing a spiced beer is often about subtlety and layering complementary flavors and aromas in balance with each other. This is particularly true if you plan to enter a spiced beer in a homebrew competition. According to the BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines the flavor profile of a spiced beer should be such that; “The balance of SHV [Spice-Herb-Vegetable] with the underlying beer is vital, and the SHV character should not be so artificial and/or overpowering as to overwhelm the beer.” As an experienced BJCP judge, I have sampled a number of beers that have been otherwise well made, but were unbalanced in regard to the use of special ingredients and thus did not score as well as they could have if a balance had been achieved.
Brewing with spices can be a wonderful adventure in homebrewing. By having a clear flavor and aroma profile in mind and using quality ingredients with a careful hand, you can soon develop your own special signature spiced beer homebrew recipe to savor and share!
Jalapeño Cucumber Saison
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.072 FG = 1.009
IBU = 35 SRM = 8 ABV = 8.6%
Dustin Palm, of Springs, Texas took first place in the Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer category at the Dixie Cup competition organized by the Foam Rangers of Houston, Texas with a jalapeño cucumber saison. Dustin said “I like to experiment and try new things. I made a jalapeño cucumber mead and loved the combination, being from Texas, so I made a beer out of it.” Dustin noted that he removed the seeds and ribs from the jalapeños to retain the flavor and lose some of the heat from the peppers. If you would like your beer spicy hot, add the jalapeños seeds, ribs, and all.
Ingredients
11 lbs. (5 kg) Pilsner malt
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) wheat malt
9 oz. (0.25 kg) crystal malt (80 °L)
4 oz (113 g) acidulated malt
7.2 AAU UK Goldings hops (60 min.)
(1 oz./28 g at 7.2% alpha acids)
10 AAU UK Fuggles hops (5 min.)
(2 oz./57 g at 5% alpha acids)
3 large cucumbers, sliced (0 min.)
4 large jalapeño peppers, sliced with seeds and ribs removed (0 min.)
1 large cucumber, sliced (after primary fermentation)
White Labs WLP565 (Belgian Saison I) or Wyeast 3724 (Belgian Saison) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
This is a single infusion mash. If using distilled water or reverse osmosis (RO) water, treat with 1 g calcium carbonate, 2.5 g gypsum, 4 g calcium chloride and 1 g Epsom salt to make 9.6 gallons (36.3 L) of brewing water. Mix the crushed grains with 4.8 gallons (18.2 L) of strike water to stabilize the mash at 153 °F (67 °C) and hold for 60 minutes. Sparge with remaining 4.8 gallons (18.2 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) water.
Collect 6.5 gallons (24.6 L) of wort to begin your 60 minute boil. Add hops per the schedule on the ingredients list. At the end of the boil, you should have 5.5 gallons (21 L) in your kettle. Give the wort a stir to create a whirlpool and add the jalapeños and first addition of cucumbers. Let the wort settle for 15-30 minutes prior to chilling. Cool the wort to 70 °F (21 °C) for fermenting, aerate well and pitch your yeast. After seven days, rack to secondary fermenter and add one more large sliced cucumber and wait 3-4 days. Bottle or keg as usual.
Jalapeño Cucumber Saison
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.072 FG = 1.009
IBU = 35 SRM = 10 ABV = 8.6%
Ingredients
3.75 lbs. (1.7 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract
5 lbs. (2.27 kg) wheat liquid malt extract
9 oz. (0.25 kg) crystal malt (80 °L)
3 mL 88% lactic acid
7.2 AAU UK Goldings hops (60 min.)
(1 oz./28 g at 7.2% alpha acids)
10 AAU UK Fuggles hops (5 min.)
(2 oz./57 g at 5% alpha acids)
3 large cucumbers, sliced (0 min.)
4 large jalapeño peppers, sliced with seeds and ribs removed (0 min.)
1 large cucumber, sliced (after primary fermentation)
White Labs WLP565 (Belgian Saison I) or Wyeast 3724 (Belgian Saison) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Heat 5.5 gallons (21 L) of water to 160 °F (71 °C) and steep the crushed grains in a small muslin bag. Add the lactic acid and steep grains for 15 minutes. Remove the bag and let the grains drip into the kettle. Add the liquid and dried malt extract, then stir until fully dissolved. Bring the wort to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops per the schedule on the ingredients list. At the end of the boil, you should have 5 gallons (19 L) in your kettle. Give your wort a stir to create a whirlpool and add the jalapeños and first addition of cucumbers. Let the wort settle for 15–30 minutes prior to chilling. Cool the wort to 70 °F (21 °C) for fermenting, aerate well, and pitch the yeast. After seven days, rack to secondary fermenter and add one more large sliced cucumber and wait 3-4 days. Bottle or keg as usual.
Alchemy Winter Old Ale No. 1
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.090 FG = 1.025
IBU = 35 SRM = 20 ABV = 9.3%
Shaun Niemeyer, of Janesville, Wisconsin took a first place win with Alchemy Winter Old Ale No. 1 at the Badger Brew-Off organized by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild of Madison, Wisconsin and second place at the Hoppy Halloween organized by the Prairie Homebrewing Companions of Fargo, North Dakota in the Spice/Herb/Vegetable beer category. Shaun has been homebrewing since 2009 and has won numerous awards for his beers. He is also a Master BJCP beer judge. He advises that; “The key is to add the spices incrementally, post-fermentation, a little bit at a time, tasting after each addition. You want the spices to be noticeable, but not overpowering the other aspects of the beer. They should be an accent, not a dominating characteristic.”
Ingredients
17 lbs. (7.7 kg) Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter pale malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Franco-Belges Malteries kiln amber malt (19 °L)
14 oz. (0.4 kg) Thomas Fawcett crystal malt II (65 °L)
10 oz. (0.28 kg) Thomas Fawcett pale chocolate malt (220 °L)
10.8 AAU Challenger hops (60 min.)
(1.5 oz./43 g at 7.2% alpha acids)
Spice extract (see Step by Step):
4 fl. oz. (118 ml) vodka
1⁄2 tsp. Penzey’s ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄8 tsp. ground cardamom
1⁄8 tsp. ground nutmeg
Wyeast 1318 (London Ale III) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming to bottle)
Step by Step
Ten days prior to needing the spice extract, combine the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg with vodka, cover and allow to steep. One to three days prior to brew day, make an appropriate sized yeast starter.
This is a single infusion mash. Mix the crushed grains with 6.5 gallons (24.6 L) of water to stabilize the mash at 151 °F (66 °C) and hold for 90 minutes. Sparge with approximately 3.5 gallons (13.2 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) water or enough sparge water to collect 7 gallons (26.5 L) of wort and conduct a 90 minute boil. Add hops per the schedule on the ingredients list. At the end of the boil, you should have 5.5 gallons (20.8 L) in your kettle.
After the boil, give the wort a stir to create a whirlpool, then let the wort settle for 30 minutes prior to chilling. Cool the wort to 68 °F (20 °C) for fermenting, aerate well, and pitch the yeast. After seven days, rack to secondary fermenter and add spice extract in ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) increments and taste to achieve desired level of spice. When fermentation is complete and beer has cleared, bottle or keg as usual.
Alchemy Winter Old Ale No. 1
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.090 FG = 1.025
IBU = 35 SRM = 20 ABV = 9.3%
Ingredients
10.5 lbs. (4.75 kg) Maris Otter liquid malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Franco-Belges Malteries kiln amber malt (19 °L)
14 oz. (0.4 kg) Thomas Fawcett crystal malt II (65 °L)
10 oz. (0.28 kg) Thomas Fawcett pale chocolate malt (220 °L)
10.8 AAU Challenger hops (60 min.)
(1.5 oz./43 g at 7.2% alpha acids)
Spice extract (see Step by Step):
4 fl. oz. (118 ml) vodka
1⁄2 tsp. Penzey’s ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄8 tsp. ground cardamom
1⁄8 tsp. ground nutmeg
Wyeast 1318 (London Ale III) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming to bottle)
Step by Step
Ten days prior to needing the spice extract, combine the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg with vodka, cover and allow to steep. One to three days prior to brew day, make an appropriate sized yeast starter.
Place the crushed grains in a muslin bag. Mix the grains with 1.5 gallons (5.6 L) of water to stabilize the mash at 151 °F (66 °C) and hold for 45 minutes. Remove the grain bag and place in a colander. Slowly wash the grains with 1 gallon (3.8 L) hot water. Add the liquid malt extract and top off the kettle with water to 6 gallons (22.7 L) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops per the schedule on the ingredients list.
After the boil, give your wort a stir to create a whirlpool, then let the wort settle for 30 minutes prior to chilling. Cool the wort to 68 °F (20 °C) for fermenting, aerate well and pitch your yeast. After seven days, rack to secondary fermenter and add spice extract in ½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) increments and taste to achieve desired level of spice. When fermentation is complete and the beer has cleared, bottle or keg as usual.
