licorice in a porter?

[Fritz Eye]

Hey all,
Thinking of doing a Porter, probably the Black Butte from CYBI and adding some licorice to it.
I got one of those licorice sticks from one of our sponsors, not sure which. It is about 5" long. I am looking for a subtle flavor addition. Any ideas of how much to use and what part of the boil to add?
Any suggestions/opinions are welcome.
Cheers.
Fritz

[Bugeater]

I had a really awful licorice porter about a month ago. I don't know how much the guy added, but make sure that whatever amount you use is less than what you think you need.

Wayne

[Fritz Eye]

Ouch, but perfect feedback Bug, maybe I will reconsider what flavoring I use or just go real subtle
Cheers brotha!

[Evan B]

when I use star anise in belgians, I use less than a gram in a 5gal batch. be very careful with adding too much

[Gnome Brewer]

I used one of those licorice sticks (not the actual root but the 'hard candy' version from a homebrew shop) in a Stout a few years ago. We put half of it in at the end of the boil and dropped the other half in secondary fermentation because we didn't know when we should add it. It started off with sort of a mild licorice flavor and aroma. I brewed this beer with a college roommate and was able to stow away a bottle for over a year. He came to visit a few months back and we drank it, I would have thought that the licorice flavor would have faded with time, but licorice was the only flavor you could taste in the stout (after about 1.5 years in the bottle). I thought that was petty weird, I guess the dark malts and hops all dropped out leaving behind an all licorice brew. If I did it again I would probably use an actual licorice root in secondary. Since you already have the stick, I would just add half or one third of it at the end of the boil. I've been thinking recently that I little bit of licorice could be really nice in a black IPA.