Spices: How do get them 'just right'?

[roggae]

been thinking of making a pumpkin/fall beer. found a nice recipe here on the forums, but noticed something i thoguht would be interesting to discuss here:

'The biggest key to brewing this beer is getting the spice blend right. If you use “supermarket spices,” these amounts should yield a subtly spicy beer. Decrease the amount if you grind your own whole spices.'

this is from a pumpkin ale found here:

http://www.byo.com/recipe/1337.html

anyway i was wondering how you got your spices all right? do you simply taste from the boil? do yo uuse exact measurements? do you mix up a test batch of wort before boiling? i think i'll just taste boiling wort (once cooled). are there any specific philosophies out there?

[dparsons]

If you take measurements then you have a record that you can adjust from the next time. I like to taste at brewing time, but the flavor changes over the time between brewing and drinking. After brewing a recipe a few times you may learn to taste how its going to end up at brew time. I'd also note how fresh the spices are and whether they were preground or homeground and all.

[Chubber]

I just did a spiced Christmas beer and racked to secondary last night. Tasting the hydrometer sample indicated it was still too sweet (still at 1.017, coming down from 1.073) but the primary taste was oranges. I used dried sweet orange peels and that package said to use 1 oz of dried peel. I think that was too much.

But, the recpie had 1 lb honey, which will take at least another 2-3 weeks in the primary to keep working out, so hopefully the orange taste will mellow as well.

The spice flavor will change over time. Don't make too much of a decision based on a first impression.

[MmmBeer]

From brewing several spiced beers and getting advice on these forums my one suggestion with spices is to start out small, real small, under a teaspoon of some spices is enough to notice them in the finished product.

And I think you will find, as I have, that the subtler the spice the better and more complex the beer. If you can taste the spice, and the malt, and the yeast profile, you got a damn good beer. I went overboard on my first one and it was like "HOLY CINNAMON NUTMEG!" tasted like an alcoholic christmas cookie, not what I wanted.