STINGER BEER

[trucker5774]

I have'nt started my nettle beer yet. I have seen some recipes which use the leaves and stalks. I was was thinking leaves only. The main question is.....................Is it getting a bit late in the nettle season? They are starting to flower/seed. Should only young stingers be used?

[J_P]

How Do Trucker

I've not brewed a nettle beer at all however my money is on using the freshest nettle tops you can find rather than those that have been hanging round for a few weeks getting eaten by bugs and turning leathery

[trucker5774]

Sounds like we are all thinking along the same lines. Thanks for the advice guys.

[robharper]

Nettles are a pernicious beast and keep coming back at you. If you want some fresh growth so you can cook or brew with the tender tips, the trick is to hack them back and wait. How quickly they regrow will depend on the weather (it has been a bit hot and dry around here for quick growth) but you'll soon have a new crop. I think I just need to wait another week or so for my next batch.

[trucker5774]

Thanks Rob. That had crossed my mind but I have the "good fortune" not to have a garden full of nettles.(it may even have been a previous post of yours I read at some time) I will be a little more vigilant as to where they are growing and when the local authority cut the verges back!

[robharper]

It's odd how the prospect of a good brew can change your outlook, isn't it? There's the old adage, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The more appropriate version for the likes of us would be when life gives you nettles, make beer!

[Mitchamitri]

Think about why PGTips is the best tea!!!

[trucker5774]

Stinger a-go-go! I now have 17 litres of nettle ale in an FV under airlock. It was bubbling and formed a 30mm blanket in 4 hours! It has cream of tartare, orange and lemon in it. I'm not sure exactly these do (something to do with acid?) but most of the recipes include them. I even had nettles and cheese for my dinner (sag paneer)

[Tequilla6]

You have obviously decided on a recipe. Have you posted it, if not can you?

Spent the weekend picking Elderflowers for an Elderflower Champagne and looking at the nettles , but as you say they all seem to be flowering and there is no new growth to speak of yet. Maybe too late in the season as you say.

[mrbenbod]

Interested to know how yours turns out Trucker.

[Tequilla6]

Marigolds don't stop you getting stung! Pick some Dock leaves before you start.
They don't do much for ones credibility either!

Especially the Pink ones..

Not wanting to put a damper on your brew, but in my mind this recipe is not the Stinger beer recipe I was looking for, but a "country wine" recipe. Beer It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains as the "Stinger Beer" produced by Hall and Woodhouse is and not the joke of a recipe pushed Mr Hugh Fearnley - Whittingstall from River Cottage fame on his website. If he got a proper beer out of those buckets I would be amazed.

From what I can glean from the internet the nettles have been used in the same way that hops are used in beer as a bittering agent. What would be interesting is your thoughts on the bitterness of the stock and did it have a pleasant aroma?

I was wondering whether to do a Nettle tea in the same way you can do a hop tea for addition to a beer but in roaming the country looking for Elderflower the nettles in my area seem to be flowering and going to seed and did not look right for use within a brew. I remember doing nettle tea a long time back and it was always suggested to use the tops as these were less bitter but I wonder if it's the bitterness I am looking for should I not worry too much about fresh green shoots?

With all this talk and no action on my part I guess I need to get off my arse and go and do a sample nettle tea to assess the flavour profile myself. Maybe this afternoon I'll do just that.

Cheers

[mrbenbod]

The stock had a pleasant aroma, but quite mild, not much flavour and not much bitterness at all.
If it's the hops that impart the bitter flavour of beer I can't imagine nettles doing the same thing, at least not the young leaves.
Perhaps like you suggested the older leaves might be more suitable.
Does the stinger ale taste quite bitter, or is it quite mild?
So this brew i'm brewing is just a weak wine and can't be called beer at all?

[robharper]

Yup, the only difference between the "beer" that you are making (and that I have made in the past) and wine is the OG being on the low side and it usually being drunk young and probably carbonated. That doesn't stop it being very enjoyable -- I had a cracking sunny afternoon in the garden a few weeks back with some friends, a load of pizza, and a few litres of chilled nettle "beer" (made to a similar recipe) -- but it's not really beer.

I'm now getting a reasonable amount of new nettle growth near me (after a strimmer attack a couple of weeks back) so I'll be making a batch using malt very soon. We'll see how this works out soon enough, and I will definitely be posting results.

[Tequilla6]

So this brew I'm brewing is just a weak wine and can't be called beer at all?

You can call it what you like, Bulmers and everyone else it seems get away with it.. (Thinking of their brand new drink called "Pear Cider") What do I know I though it was called Perry. But semantics and high horses come to mind and I'm riding one big time

The other embarrassing thing is that I have never actually tasted "Stinger" so I cannot tell you what it's like at all. The topic of conversation came up on the forum and it seemed like an interesting idea at the time ,as hops as a bittering/flavour agent was a replacement for Gruit, a mix of herbs used up until the 17th century in England and it seems nettles were also used in England as a tonic ale. I can buy the brew online for £35 for sixteen bottles from the website, but its expensive for a taster, I need to find just the one bottle I guess.

Thanks for the feedback on flavour, it may well be now that I end up using hops for bittering and the nettle tea for flavour and aroma similar to the way I would use Elderflower in beer.

Anyway less talking more doing, I'm out this afternoon to do a nettle picking session.

Cheers

[mrbenbod]

Interesting stuff.
I can't ask people if they fancy a pint of weak fizzy nettle wine!