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Dumb spice question
I am thinking about doing a spiced ale for the holidays. Now I've used corriander seeds before, but a recipe I found calls for all spice, I can only find that in a ground form. Can I use ground spices in a boil and/or secondary? I've read a few posts on spices and no one mentions if they are ground or whole. Thanks
I think most spices are ground up, except coriander. You usually need to crush the coriander a little bit anyway. I just racked a holiday ale to secondary, and added some spices, all ground up. Allspice was one of them. I'm not sure if there is a whole form of Allspice.
As for when to add them, I would do it in secondary. Adding to the boil can cause some of the qualities of the spice to be boiled away, certainly aroma will go with a vigorous boil. I also would let the spices sit in some vodka overnight first, just to be sure there's no nasties coming with them, even if they are from an unopened bottle. I'm letting mine sit until December to mellow out....
The only corriander I could find to make a rye with this year was gorund corriander and it came out fine.
You can use ground allspice but you will use less than whole allspice, lke maybe half as much as it is more concentrated.
DC
Always ground spices for me.
i use fresh whole spices, and "crush" them in a garlic press. all-spice comes whole, it is like a peppercorn but larger, but smaller than nutmeg.
i'm planning on a christmas ale as well, and the idea of soaking the various spices in vodka overnight seems to make sense.
got me thinking about dry hopping, would it not make sense to do this with your hops as well before adding to secondary for dry hopping?
osky777 wrote:
got me thinking about dry hopping, would it not make sense to do this with your hops as well before adding to secondary for dry hopping?
Ya know, I'm adding spice in my next brew and was going to use vodka before adding them and I never really thought about how I always dump my hops into the carboy before racking when I dry hop. I've never had any problems but maybe its because hops have antiseptic qualities. That, combined with the alcohol content of the beer, maybe makes them less of a threat than adding spices.
You shouldn't need to do anything to the hops when dry hopping. They usually won't be the source of contamination in a batch.
Mortician607 wrote:
You shouldn't need to do anything to the hops when dry hopping. They usually won't be the source of contamination in a batch.
That's why I never dry hopped. I though they had to be boild or sanitized somehow. I didn't think the alcohol content in beer was high enough to offset any possible wild things in the hops or whatever you're putting in the 2ndry. I though once you prime for carbonation you will be waking the yeast up and it will give you weird taste from unwanted things from the hops.
So I guess to be safe I could soak the hops in vodka overnight. would that change what I'm trying to get from the hops?
DC
deafcone wrote:
That's why I never dry hopped. I though they had to be boild or sanitized somehow. I didn't think the alcohol content in beer was high enough to offset any possible wild things in the hops or whatever you're putting in the 2ndry. I though once you prime for carbonation you will be waking the yeast up and it will give you weird taste from unwanted things from the hops.
So I guess to be safe I could soak the hops in vodka overnight. would that change what I'm trying to get from the hops?
DC
I don't think that soaking the hop in vodka would hurt anything, but again it's not necessary. Hops have an antiseptic quality that keeps the little nasties that cause contamination from being able to really survive on them. The alchohol from the beer should do the rest.
I believe that John Palmer in his book says that there has never been a case of a beer becoming infected due to dry hopping. He says that it just doesn't happen. I don't know if that's 100% true, but it is highly unlikely that hops will ruin a batch. I've never done anything to sanitize hops before dry hopping, and haven't had any problems. I'd only soak them in vodka if it helps to put your mind at ease. But if you don't, relax the beer will be fine.
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