Juniper berries

[labrewski]

Just had a sip of a gin flavoured with Juniper and thought beer straight away it has bitterness and strong flavour anybody ever try this in a brew???

 

[BradleyW]

Don't all gins have juniper in them?

 

[labrewski]

Honestly wouldn't have a clue beer is as far as I go not into spirits
I just had a sip of one of those little cans with flavoured gin

 

[Gerryjo]

Just had a sip of a gin flavoured with Juniper and thought beer straight away it has bitterness and strong flavour anybody ever try this in a brew???

Not juniper though mine was Rowanberry which I did about 4 years ago and it was quite tart to say the least. I also tried chestnuts in an ale it was very earthy but glad I did do them.
The Rowanberry I did add too much around 300g but would be something that could be tried in a sour.

 

[Zephyr259]

Honestly wouldn't have a clue beer is as far as I go not into spirits
I just had a sip of one of those little cans with flavoured gin

Juniper is main historical flavouring in gin, some modern gins push it to the background with other flavours but I'd assume they all still have some in then otherwise they wouldn't really be gin.

When you say a little can, is this a premixed gin and tonic? Gin itself isn't normally bitter but tonic is very bitter.

 

[LED_ZEP]

Juniper is main historical flavouring in gin, some modern gins push it to the background with other flavours but I'd assume they all still have some in then otherwise they wouldn't really be gin.

I've made a few gins and like to dial up the liquorice and angelica root flavours but it wouldn't be gin without a little juniper in the background just flavoured vodka.

 

[BradleyW]

Honestly wouldn't have a clue beer is as far as I go not into spirits
I just had a sip of one of those little cans with flavoured gin

Me neither, I just have a vague recollection of watching something about gin and was sure the guy said it's basically vodka with juniper.

 

[hop-a-long]

Both gin and the dutch "jenever" derive their name form juniper (phonetic).

I also tried chestnuts in an ale it was very earthy but glad I did do them.

Did you roast them, prepare them in another wayor did you just chuck them in?

 

[Squirey]

I had a little trip to the Harbour brewery in Cornwall and they gave me a bottle of an experiment involving juniper berries. The guy told me it was horrible and he was absolutely right! I thought maybe I could do better (what do they know, as experienced professional brewers??). Added juniper berries (sanitised in vodka) to a wheat beer I was brewing, 2 days in. Very small batch, so 4g of juniper berries to 4 litres of beer. Really, really horrible. But still somehow drawn to the idea...
btw, Harbour Brewery is incredible. They have an 'experimentation' section full of mad-stuff happening (like a massive terracotta amphora when I visited, conditioning whatever). Great beer.

 

[MuckyNeighbour]

I’ve been thinking about a juniper pale ale as I thought the berries would make a decent substitute for hops, taste wise. Maybe I should abandon the idea.

 

[Brewnaldo]

You arent allowed to call it gin if juniper isnt one of the botanicals im sure, so its pretty well a must.

I cant really rember why I uave a load of juniper in the house, I got it off GEB last year. What I do know is that I now use it in salmon cures sometimes and the fridge smells unbelievable when one of those is in there. Pure gin.

 

[foxy]

The only time I have used Juniper Berries is curing bacon, as far as I know American bacon and English bacon are cured without smoking. Australian bacon is smoked.

 

[Brewnaldo]

We have smoked and unsmoked here Foxy.

Unsmoked is convenient if you happen to be providing bacon to a child

 

[Sadfield]

Used to quite like this....

... Perhaps there's a clone recipe out there.

I've used Juniper branches to make an infusion and mash filter when brewing with Kveik. However, through fermentation the flavour comes through as citrus fruits and pine.

 

[YeastFace]

As with @Sadfield, I've used the Juniper branches (which had some berries attached) to make infusions for a Norwegian and a Swedish farmhouse ale, but I wouldn't say that it was apparent in the final products.

 

[dad_of_jon]

after enjoying an amazing french beer with juniper (which I was unable to ever find again) I tried making my own. I added 50g of dried juniper berries. couldn't taste the juniper. So I can confirm juniper in a beer can work. I've just not worked out how to.

 

[foxy]

We have smoked and unsmoked here Foxy.

Unsmoked is convenient if you happen to be providing bacon to a child

We haven't the luxury of choice here, just smoked. I think that is why I like English and especially American bacon. Here they remove the rind and a lot of the fat. As it takes so long to cure bacon with a lot of faffing about I make sausages. Far easier.

 

[johnny108]

We haven't the luxury of choice here, just smoked. I think that is why I like English and especially American bacon. Here they remove the rind and a lot of the fat. As it takes so long to cure bacon with a lot of faffing about I make sausages. Far easier.

Long time to cure bacon? Cut the belly thin , add your cure, and it can be done in 24 hours or so.
Has anyone else made a Finnish Sahti?

 

[Wobbly13]

Currently brewing a Finnish Rye Juniper Sahti Ale from the book ‘Brew Better Beer’ by Emma Christensen. It contains quite a lot of Juniper berries 6 tbsps to the gallon. Taste good going into the secondary.

 

[BackToBasics]

I did an IPA with juniper, coriander and orange peel replacing the flameout hops. The beer was decent but you couldn't really taste the "gin" additions. Not sure whether I need to up the quantities or try adding them in the fermenter.