Adding Spices To Primary - Dull Spice Problem

[garthus]

Hi All,

About a week ago I put down my first AG BIAB after being at the ThirstyBoy demo at Grain & Grape.

I decided to go crazy and brew a Pumpkin Ale as I have a Christmas in July brew off with a few mates and wanted to try something crazy first time based upon this recipe:
Pumpkin Ale Recipe


All went well, and its been fermenting happily but I have an issue with the spices. When I poured from the cube into the fermenter the spices are strong and lovely but tasting a sample after taking a gravity reading yesterday I can taste the Pumpkin but none of the spice.

I was wondering if I could get away with adding it to the primary now before I CC prior to bottling what does everyone here think?

I have read other options such as putting it in secondary but I don't really want to do that as a) I have only one fermenter and B) I get nervous about racking to secondary anyway. I have also heard about putting the spices into vodka for a week possibly before adding - all to get rid of potential nasties.

So after all that - what does everyone think? Should i just put some more spices in before CC, leave it alone and have another home brew, or something else?

Thoughts appreciated!

Garthus

 

[Dave70]

Jamil recommends adjusting spices little by little in BCS, coincidentally in relation to a pumpkin ale I think. Add a little, give it time to infuse, taste - and so on.

Be interested to see how it turns out as I was going to half batch SMASH recipe to get an idea of how pumpkin works in the finished beer. I hear it's one of Dogfish Head's most popular beers.

That, and I also have an abundance of pumpkin taking over the garden at the moment..

 

[garthus]

Jamil recommends adjusting spices little by little in BCS, coincidentally in relation to a pumpkin ale I think. Add a little, give it time to infuse, taste - and so on.

Be interested to see how it turns out as I was going to half batch SMASH recipe to get an idea of how pumpkin works in the finished beer. I hear it's one of Dogfish Head's most popular beers.

That, and I also have an abundance of pumpkin taking over the garden at the moment..

All I can say is that I had a Pumpkin Ale when I was living in the USA and it was amazing, especially as it was cold outside with a log fire.

Do try it, if I can get the spices right, the pumpkin as a base is actually really nice and will be amazing (to my palette anyway)

 

[garthus]

So back to my original question, can I add spices straight to the primary or is this a bad idea?

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Yes most likely some of the spice was scrubbed out by fermentation.

I do not see why adding spices to primary would be a problem. Just make sure everything is clean and sanitary.

If you are suss about the spices at all, maybe infuse in a small amount of boiling water first.