Spruce Tip Gruit

[beninak]

I've experimented slightly with spruce tips in the past, and it seems as though they have a flavor somewhat similar to hops, so given the outrages prices they are charging for hops these days, I'm thinking of making a Gruit using spruce tips and other spices. However two things I need advice on:

Has anyone had any experience in long term storage of spruce tips? When I used them earlier, I just went outside cut some off a tree and they went straight into the brew-pot. However, now is the season that we are getting the soft and flavorful "new growth" on the spruce trees now, and I'd like to harvest more than i need for this batch in case it turns out well and I want to make more later, or in case it doesnt turn out well and I want to alter the recipe a bit. Do you think they would freeze well?

Also there is the issue of a recipe. My inspiration for this idea was a bottle of Dr. Fritz Briem's 13th Century Grut Bier which was made with "water, wheat, barley malt, 'pollinated wild hops'", "spiced with bay leaves, ginger, caraway, anise, rosemarie, and gentian" and fermented with a top-fermenting yeast.

so I'm guessing I'd start off with
- a 50/50 ratio of malt and wheat aiming for an OG of around 1.042, go for total volume of 5 gallons only boiled for a total of 30 minutes
- maybe 4 oz. of spruce tips (in place of the wild hops) divided:
- 2 oz. for 30 min boil
- 1 oz for 5 min boil
- 1 oz for 1 min boil
- add my spices with 5 min remaining in the boil
- 2 oz fresh ginger
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp anise
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 1/2 tsp caraway seed
- ?? gentian ?? (I'd probably just leave this out since I've never heard of it and it doesn't seem to be available at any shops in this area)
- Probably use a belgian wit yeast, I know if I were to go truly old-school I'd just use bread yeast, or worse yet hope for a natural and wild fermentation using an open fermenter; but I'm leaning more towards using a modern wit yeast and fermentation techniques.


Any thoughts on the concept of this recipe or spruce tips in general?

Admittedly the only times I've used them before were in a Colonial-style Porter (which turned out excellent) and a Spruce Soda (not so great).

 

[DaleP]

I've made a very tasty spruce ale in the past. Due to life getting in the way of brewing, I had to freeze the tips for a few weeks. They came thru with out any issues. I add them in both the mash and the boil, they actually contain (the new bright green soft growth) quite a bit of sugar and are as much a fermentable as a "spice". Also, they should be measured by volume (tightly packed quart) as water content varies a great deal from day to day, if you want consistancy in your batches year to year. Good luck, Alba is a good commercial example.

 

[wildoates]

I can only assume that--given their adaptations to surviving extremely cold winters--that they'd freeze very well.

 

[STLBrewer]

I think they would freeze just fine. I have had DaleP's Spruce beer and I can attest to the results of his!!

My only thoughts are the yeast choice...I would be more inclined to use something along the lines of a clean American Wheat or American Ale. I think the Belgian Wit characters may conflict with the other spices in there...I could be wrong, though!!!

 

[Vino]

This looks like a good recipe, since you won’t be using any gentian you might want to add a bit more of the spruce tips, since the gentian among other things would have increased the bitterness. The rosemary should help with spoilage prevention in lieu of the hops, you might also consider adding some sage as well for the same reason.

As for harvesting any additional spruce tips, I would highly recommend using vacuum storage (FoodSaver) to avoid freezer burn.


Vino

 

[Brimminghorn]

Looks tasty! I freeze my spruce tips, I've had no problems doing that. If you can get Finnish bakers yeast I would give that a try, I brewed a Sahti style beer with juniper and the bakers yeast and it came out great.

Cheers,
Jon