Spruce Juice

Classification: spiced ale, spruce beer, extract

Source: James P. Buchman (jpb@tesuji.dco.dec.com) Issue #598, 3/18/91

I tasted the sample which I took to measure the SG. The pine taste and smell were definitely present but not excessive; they added extra sharpness to the brew on top of the hops. Hard to say more from a flat, sweet, yeasty sample only halfway fermented.

Ingredients:

5 pounds, Premier Malt hopped light malt extract
1 pound, dried light plain malt extract
20 ounces, cup loosely filled with blue spruce cuttings
1/8 pound, roasted barley
2 ounces, Cascade hops
Ale yeast

Procedure:

Bring extract and 1 1/2 gallons of water to boil. Add Cascade hops and boil for a total of 45 minutes. Rinse spruce cuttings, then toss into the wort for the final twelve minutes of the boil. Cool. Pitch yeast.