Spruce Bock
Here’s a hearty holiday beer with an unusual spice — evergreen needles. Spruce tips, the new-growth of spruce trees, give a unique, characteristic flavor to beer. This flavor is not “piney,” as many people suppose. Spruce tips can be found through an internet search. For best results, age your beer several months before sampling it.
Spruce Bock (5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.081 FG = 1.020 IBU = 19 SRM = 24 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Muntons Amber dried malt extract
2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) Muntons Dark dried malt extract
6 lbs. 2 oz. (2.8 kg) Muntons Amber liquid malt extract (late addition)
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (40 °L)
8.0 oz. (0.23 kg) wheat malt
4.0 oz. (0.11 g) chocolate malt
4.0 oz. (0.11 g) lager malt (toasted)
1 cup (loosely packed) spruce tips
5.25 AAU Hallertauer hops (75 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g of 3.5% alpha acids)
3 AAU Spalt hops (15 min.) (1.0 oz./28 g of 3% alpha acid) Lager yeast
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)
Step by Step
Steep crushed malts in 0.75 gallons (2.8 L) of water at 152–157 °F (67–69 °C) for 45 minutes. Combine “grain tea,” dried malt extracts and water to make 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of wort. Boil for 75 minutes, adding hops at times specified in the recipe. Add spruce tips and liquid malt extract with 15 minutes remaining in the boil. Cool wort and transfer to fermenter. Top up to 5 gallons (19 L) with water. Aerate and pitch yeast. Ferment at 55 °F (13 °C).
All-grain option: Replace malt bill with 9.75 lbs. (4.4 kg) 2-row pale malt, 5.0 lbs. (2.3 kg) Munich malt, 1.0 lb. crystal malt (40 °L), 8.0 oz. (0.23 kg) wheat malt, 8.0 oz. (0.23 kg) chocolate malt, 4.0 oz. (0.11 kg) lager malt (toasted) and 4.0 oz. (0.11 kg) Carafa III malt (dehusked). Mash at 154 °F (68 °C). Boil 90 minutes. Add spruce tips with 15 minutes left in boil. Ferment at 54 °F (12 °C).
