Spruce Beer Homebrew Recipe (made with spruce tips) (2024)

FAQs

How much spruce tips for beer? ›

We use 30 lbs. of spruce tips in a 50-barrel batch (~1.5 oz. per 5-gallon/19-L), which are meant to add a certain spiciness to the beer. We don't want that flavor to be over the top and dominate the beer.

Today Sitka spruce, native to the northwest coast of North America, tends to be favored, although other species of spruce have also been used. Lighter, more citrus-like flavors are produced by using the bright green fresh spring growth before the new needles and twigs harden and become woody.

Fermented Spruce Tip Syrup

To make your syrup ferment, add ½ cup (4 oz) water to the basic proportions below, or just enough water so that the spruce tips are just barely covered with liquid from the get-go. Anywhere from ⅓ to ½ cup of water will do the trick.

It was a joy to drink. It also was 7.5% alcohol content, so unwise to drink too many… I had never heard of Spruce Beer previously and was amazed to find it has a rich local history.

Spruce tips can be enjoyed raw, cooked into any dish and used as you might rosemary because their flavor profile is similar. I think that this flavor would pair well with white gamey meat and chicken. They can be chopped and added to salads, soups, and smoothies.

Give the spruce tips a light rinse to get off any dust or small insects and place them in a large saucepan with enough water to cover them. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a a bowl of container and refrigerating overnight.

It's best to plan to harvest in the spring. “The best time I've found to get spruce buds,” Harris says, “is in mid- to late spring, when the new growth is just emerging from the tree tips.” Even within that timeframe, it's worth thinking about just what flavor you hope to get from the spruce.

Typically harvested in the spring, spruce tips are said to contribute a number of characteristics to beer ranging from citrus and floral to cinnamon and pine, making it a nice compliment to many styles.

Spruce contains Vitamin C (as do hemlock, pine, juniper, and lots of other evergreens). Spruce beer was introduced to America by the colonial military, as a practical and economic means to keep soldiers happy and scurvy-free.

Spruce tips are often described as “lemony.” While they are full of terpenes, including citrus-scented limonene (Puchalska et al.

How long do spruce tips last? ›

Spruce tips should be immediately consumed for the best quality and flavor but can last for several months when stored in professional storage conditions. In home kitchens, Spruce tips can be kept wrapped in a damp paper towel and placed in a plastic bag with a few air holes.

Spruce tips are generally clean, but you can remove their party hats and give them a quick rinse to remove any dust and debris. They will last a few months in a paper bag in the fridge, if you can't use what you just harvested. They also freeze well, if you want to keep them even longer.

Fresh spruce tips can be infused in boiling water or wort without the fear of sharp flavors. Alaskan homebrewer Pete Devaris recommends boiling the fresh spruce tips in the wort for one hour.

The brewing of spruce and other types of beer has a long history in Canada. It was a common beverage in both British and French forts across the country as early as the 18th century, and was certainly enjoyed by the Acadians who settled near Fort Beausejour – Fort Cumberland National Historic Site.

So now, you know you need 0.5 mL of flavoring per ounce (113 mL) of beer left.

Customers are also using the dry hop technique with spruce. In doing this, the spruce is not pasteurized, which has risks, but it allows you to test the product out of the brite tank and monitor the effect of the spruce.

An average five gallon batch grain bill (total amount of grain to be used) with pre-boil gravity of 1.035 will call for ten pounds of grain. Each pound of grain will absorb approximately 15 ounces of water.