Wild Elderflowers??

[beer gut]

Hi everyone iam brewing a elderflower pale ale and my friend is picking the elderflowers from the wild.What iam not sure of is how do i prep the wild elderflowers so they are safe to put in my ale without getting any infections? do i have to sterlize them if so how and with what? i have never used wild elderflowers before for brewing but i have heard that they make wonderfull summer pale ales.Does anybody know ruffly how much elderflowers i would need for a five gallon batch?The guy iam brewing this ale for loves the elderflower taste.Any advice would be great caus i have no clue how to prep wild elderflowers and my guesse is just washing them won't be enoughto make the flowers safe for brewing.

[TC2642]

I do this with a Elderflower wheat beer I've been making for the past two years. Steeping them at knockout should kill all the bugs. It can be a pain but I always try to make sure I've got the least amount of stem and the most flowers in their aswell otherwise it can leave a vegetal type taste in the finished product. I usually use about 100-200gms of flowerheads, this should give you a fairly prominent taste.

[Brotherton Lad]

Second that. Florets not stems unless you're fond of broccoli beer. A couple of handsful dropped in the boiling wort at flame out. Haven't seen any elderflower up here yet, had hail yesterday.

[beer gut]

Thanx for the reply fellas but I don't want to sound dumb just pity me but what do you mean by steeping them at knockout??

[TC2642]

Once you turn off the boiler just before you cool down your wort stick the elderflowers in, leave them ten minutes in hot wort and then cool as normal. In essence your flash heating them to kill anything that may be on them.

[Capped]

Elderflowers,eh? That's a new one to me. I make elderflower wine for the missus most years,and very nice it is too,in a catty kinda way. So what's the deal in beer? Are they/can they be added to any style of beer or are they reserved for pale types (as I would have thought)? What do they bring to a beer? I can't imagine how elderflowers would interact with the general flavour of malt 'n' hops. I'm game to give it a go tho',so long as someone can convince me I'll not be making toilet cleaner. Go on,give it your best shot....

[Brotherton Lad]

Buy a bottle of Badger's Golden Champion, that's got elderflower in. Summery BBQ beer.

[oblivious]

Elderflowers ale dose sound intriguing, but not in bloom here yet

[TC2642]

They work in wheat beers, use a low AA hop at around 20 IBU's and drink young, very refreshing on a hot summers day.

[oblivious]

They work in wheat beers, use a low AA hop at around 20 IBU's and drink young, very refreshing on a hot summers day.

Yea a nice Belgian wit come to mind, great idea!

[Calum]

Trade Winds from the Cairngorm Brewery also uses elderflower. When you taste it you know that something different is going on as the flavour is familiar but you cannot pinpoint it. However once you find out about what it is it all falls into place.

It's really good for a summer ale as it gives lovely fresh aroma.

[oblivious]

Trade Winds from the Cairngorm Brewery also uses elderflower. .

Forgot that one only had it in bottle lovely beer, must be fantastic on cask

[floydmeddler]

I use dried elderflower in my Honey and Elderflower Ale with great success.

[micromaniac]

made 2 brews with e f did a pale ale and bitter both extract . as one of the posts said you cant put a taste to it realy but you know its there i used 50g dried from hbs last ten of boil.its a nice summer brew

[Brotherton Lad]

It's a floral taste.
Like the floral dance, but not as sweaty.