Brewing with Spices

Submitted by KurtS on Tue, 05/13/2008 - 15:05.

Anybody out there tried brewing with rosemary, juniper, or sumac?  If so, how much did you use and when?  I am modifying a recipe for steam beer and wanted to give it a little extra something.  My initial thought was to add a small amount of dried rosemary (perhaps an ounce) to the boil with my last batch of hops (10 minutes).  I have heard that boiling sometimes deadens the flavor of herbal additives, so I was also considering putting the rosemary directly in the primary fermenter. 

 Same questions for juniper berries and sumac.

Thanks for your help.

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Just my .02, I'd avoid

Submitted by DerekT on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 13:18.

Just my .02, I'd avoid Rosemary unless you use it in minute amounts -- it's powerful. I had a BW made with it years ago that was a better marinade for lamb than drinking. Unfortunately, it was comercially made so I have no idea how much or where in the process it was used. Good luck!

- D

Although I have never brewed

Submitted by mdoczkat on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 18:43.

Although I have never brewed with any of the ingredients you mentioned, I have seen some of them mentioned in passing in brewing texts. For the rosemary, I have read that herbs and spices should not be boiled for more than five minutes for the very same reason you mention. I probably wouldn't add these to the primary fermenter. Try "dry-hopping" your herbs instead in the secondary. You could also probably make a tincture (set the herbs in grain alcohol or vodka for a week or two) if you are worried about sanitation. As rosemary is a potent herb, I would guess that an ounce is probably more than enough, but I am sure you could either search for quantitative recipes online, or try adding a little bit to a steam beer that is already made to get a feel for how much flavor you might want, then multiply by your batch size to get the overall quantity.

I have seen a few recipes for a Finnish beer called Sahti, which uses juniper. Maybe if you research a few of these types of recipes you could find the proper quantity of juniper to add to your beer.

I have no idea on how or why sumac would be used in beer. All I know is that I think I am allergic to the poisonous variety, so good luck on that.

I hope this helps.