Sanitize Cinnamon Sticks for Secondary?

[John Sand]

I want to add a cinnamon stick to NB Brickwarmer Christmas. It's a 5g batch split into two fermenters, one will get cinnamon, the other won't. I did a search on HBT and came up with a variety of suggestions: bake it, boil it, do nothing as it is already antiseptic. Do nothing seems like a bad idea. I guess baking it is easiest. I seem to remember reading somewhere to soak it in liquor (rum mmmm). Is that right? Or am I thinking of something else? Has anyone used cinnamon stick in secondary?

[Brewbirds]

I've soaked seeds, nuts and vanilla beans in liquor to sanitize but in those cases the liquor went into the fermenter also.

If you don't want the liquor I would think a hot oven is the best choice as boiling will leach flavor out of the stick and into the water. I don't know if I'd risk infection by drop in as is.

[John Sand]

Maybe it's crazy, but I think I'll add the rum too. I think a couple of ounces of dark rum in 2.5g of Christmas beer might be a good thing. Of course, I could wait to do that at bottling. I'm baking a cinnamon stick now.

[haerbob3]

I would go with the rum. The heat will oxidize the stick a bit you will lose a little of the flavor and aroma of the stick

[John Sand]

Thanks Bob. Have you tried this? I already baked it at 300 for 25 minutes, sprayed it down with starsan, and dropped it in the fermenter. I'll report on it when it's done. Some of the reasons I didn't use rum are that I thought about alcohol tolerance of the yeast (S-04), and the option to use it later in some of the bottles. That way I can weigh the flavor contributions against each other.

[haerbob3]

I am a pastry chef I know what happens to the sticks when baked the heat releases the oils and they evaporate

[John Sand]

That's a good background. How long and how hot do you think it takes? I'm not worried, because at worst it will add little or no flavor to a recipe that doesn't call for cinnamon.

[RickBeer]

As discussed in a recent thread, a stick in an LBK may be a bit too much.

[John Sand]

I missed that Rick, but it's in there now. This is not an LBK, and it's a little more, 2.5 gallons. As above, the cinnamon isn't boiled. In any case, I'll report the results.

[BrownstotheBone]

I missed that Rick, but it's in there now. This is not an LBK, and it's a little more, 2.5 gallons. As above, the cinnamon isn't boiled. In any case, I'll report the results.

Maybe because "1 stick might have been too many"... when you baked it you released some, cooking it just enough that it added that something special that you'll now have to try and replicate.

[John Sand]

Thanks Brownie. I have kept notes!

[John Sand]

Well, it worked out fine. I taste a hint of cinnamon in the ale, very subtle. It wasn't fresh cinnamon, I baked it, and not using a secondary, it sank into the trub. So, if you want a hint of cinnamon in 2.5g, bake and bury one old stick. (No, I am not describing relations with "Cinnamon")

[FedoraDave]

It's great when it all comes together, isn't it?

[BeerRust]

I missed that Rick, but it's in there now. This is not an LBK, and it's a little more, 2.5 gallons. As above, the cinnamon isn't boiled. In any case, I'll report the results.

Maybe because "1 stick might have been too many"... when you baked it you released some, cooking it just enough that it added that something special that you'll now have to try and replicate.

Myself and Monsteroyd used 6 tsp of fresh ground cinnamon ( more than 1 stick ) in out RCE and Roy's came out great without any issue. Mine is in the fermentor now.

[John Sand]

Great! I'll know better about the effect of the cinnamon stick when I try the half of the batch without cinnamon.