Grozet Ale

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Peatbogbrewer
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Grozet Ale

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:44 pm

I've made this for the last couple of years and its rather nice, has anybody else brewed something similar?
3kg maris otter
1.5kg wheat malt mash at 65 for an hour
10g EKG (for anti septic qualities) at 60 min
7g bog myrtle at 5 min
7g meadow sweet at 5 min
1.5 kilo pasteurised gooseberries in secondary
Safale US05
Makes a zippy summer quencher!

Chin chin

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Peatbogbrewer
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:03 pm

Nobody?

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Pinto
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Pinto » Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:09 am

I think most folks round here be 'op people :lol:

Never brewed a herbal myself, but have tried one (walesales' Gruit) and found it quite drinkable but not sessionable - the herbs clogged my palete up somewhat.

Let us know how it drinks :)
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DeadFall
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by DeadFall » Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:37 am

Where do you get the bog myrtle and meadow sweet from?
Let's all go home, pull on our gimp suits and enjoy life

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Peatbogbrewer
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:14 pm

Gathered them myself. The bog myrtle from Scotland and meadow sweet locally (its much more common down here than bog myrtle). I have done a gallon experiment bog myrtle ale that was very nice. I know a guy who has a medical herbal garden and a lot of the herbs he uses have also been used pre hop times. I've done a great ale with mugwort, yarrow, bog myrtle which tasted awful when young but absolutely gorgeous at about 6 months in the bottle, bergamot flavours coming out If you know what your looking for there is loads of foraged stuff that can flavour ales. I've heard that fir needles give a citrus flavour and a spruce needle porter i did was brill.
There's more to ale than hops! (I do use a bit of hops for preservative qualities though)

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Pinto
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Pinto » Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:38 pm

Peatbogbrewer wrote: I've heard that fir needles give a citrus flavour and a spruce needle porter i did was brill.
Be careful there....

https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/ ... _having_a/
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Secondary 1 : Empty
Secondary 1 : None
DJ(1) : Nowt
DJ(2) : N'otin....
In the Keg : Nada
Conditioning : Nowt
In the bottle : Cinnamonator TC, Apple Boost Cider, Apple & Strawberry Cider
Planning : AG #5 - Galaxy Pale (re-brew) / #6 - Alco-Brau (Special Brew Clone) / #7 Something belgian...
Projects : Mini-brew (12l brew length kit) nearly ready :D

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WalesAles
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by WalesAles » Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:25 pm

DeadFall wrote:Where do you get the bog myrtle and meadow sweet from?
DF,
Bog Myrtle from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25g-Bog-Myrtl ... SwLVZVmDF5

never used meadow sweet but have used Yarrow from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Premium-Yarro ... wGlcSnNDJw

Go easy on the Rosemary! 25gr is too much in a 20Lt brew! :D #-o

WA

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DeadFall
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by DeadFall » Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:32 pm

thanks, WA. Despite living in Scotland, I don't drive so getting out to places where it's likely to grow is a bummer. I'll give this a crack in a few months.
Let's all go home, pull on our gimp suits and enjoy life

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charlie
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by charlie » Fri Jan 15, 2016 2:04 pm

It's Darwinian evolution in action.
If you can't tell the difference between a pine and a yew then you shouldn't go foraging, and if you do you really shouldn't taint the gene pool with your sexcrement.

afaik Yew is strongly poisonous to the liver with very poor prognosis for recovery but I could be wrong.
Brewing in the badlands between Arnside and Milnthorpe.
Cumbria

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Peatbogbrewer
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Fri Jan 15, 2016 5:36 pm

Pinto wrote:
Peatbogbrewer wrote: I've heard that fir needles give a citrus flavour and a spruce needle porter i did was brill.
Be careful there....

https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/ ... _having_a/
Oh shit don't make beer out of yew! Fortunately i know my plants, i'm an ecologist, so no worries there...

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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Fri Jan 15, 2016 5:44 pm

WalesAles wrote:
DeadFall wrote:Where do you get the bog myrtle and meadow sweet from?
DF,
Bog Myrtle from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25g-Bog-Myrtl ... SwLVZVmDF5

never used meadow sweet but have used Yarrow from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Premium-Yarro ... wGlcSnNDJw

Go easy on the Rosemary! 25gr is too much in a 20Lt brew! :D #-o

WA
Thanks for heads up my bog myrtle supply is running low, Meadowsweet likes wet grassland/wooded edges etc. and is lovely in the right amount. I had a rosemary and bay ale that a mate brewed, it was a bit overpowering. The pure bog myrtle ale i made was t'riffic recipe will follow. Check out http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants ... eadowsweet

Petrovitch

Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Petrovitch » Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:26 pm

That recipe looks very tasty indeed, how would you describe the finished article? Would love to see your recipe for bog myrtle ale as well.

I've recently got back into the idea of brewing with things other than hops and am planning on starting a few useful plants such as yarrow, sage, mugwort, sweet gale etc. in my new garden. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers is a great resource for info on this kind of thing (even if it does have a slightly wanky title) but I haven't gotten round to making a anything more adventurous than nettle beer yet (excluding my hilarious adventures with country wines).

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Peatbogbrewer
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Re: Grozet Ale

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Sun Feb 21, 2016 10:11 pm

Petrovitch wrote:That recipe looks very tasty indeed, how would you describe the finished article? Would love to see your recipe for bog myrtle ale as well.

I've recently got back into the idea of brewing with things other than hops and am planning on starting a few useful plants such as yarrow, sage, mugwort, sweet gale etc. in my new garden. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers is a great resource for info on this kind of thing (even if it does have a slightly wanky title) but I haven't gotten round to making a anything more adventurous than nettle beer yet (excluding my hilarious adventures with country wines).
This years grozet was not as good as lasts years, very sour from overdone g the goosegogs i reckon and i over did the meadowsweet, so will prob omit or drastically reduce, i also got a slight infection from wanging unpasteurised gogs in the secondary so now i pasteurise all fruit additions! It was still ok to drink though. This was an all grain version i did of partial mash gallon experimental grozet from last year so i may go back to the good ol recipe!

I would forage for yarrow and mugwort its pretty ubiquitous, I've heard you can grow sweet gale in pots with the right acid, low nutrient, wet conditions or bang it in a bog garden!

I've heard of the 'scared beers' book, any good? the following are gallon partial mashes/steeped grains experiments i've done:

Sweet Gale~:
500g pale dme
190g honey
50g crystal
6g east kent goldings @ 60
19g sweet gale (split into 30, 10 min and dry hop editions)
Nott danstar yeast
Nice and drinkable after a couple of weeks in the bottle, i would do this differently for AG, using maris otter, munich and crystal malts.

Gruit:
500g pale dme
50g crystal
100g honey
6g mugwort @ 60
6g yarrow (half at 60 half at 30)
6g perforate st johns wort @ 30
2g bog myrtle @ 10
safale s33 yeast
After a month this was almost undrinkable but after 6 months was gorgeous, i would reduce mugwort next time.

Ive also had some success with heather ale, chamomile and spruce needle ale too....

Nice to meet someone interested in herb beers on JBK....

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