Elderflowers in beer

[Rich_B]

Hi,

I've got some dried elderflowers - does anyone have any recommendations for how to incorporate them into an extract brew? Bought them on a whim really as I'd had some beer flavoured that way (from the Badger brewery I think, not sure now though). Has anyone used them with any success? I suppose the best thing to do would be to stick them in at the end of the boil or into the fermenter?

Cheers!

Rich

[Spikesdad]

Hi rich,

Ive had a few very good brews with dried elderflower.

I put 25-28grammes in kettle for last 15 mins of boil.

got one in fermenter as i type, and will be bottling tommora.

The badgers beer is Golden Glory, i think, but i dont know what hops they use with it.

Hope this helps, Dave

[Rich_B]

Ah yes, that sounds right - Golden Glory! Very tasty They do make some interesting brews those Badger boys!

Cheers for the advice - are you brewing 5 gallons and using that quantity of elderflowers? I'd be interested to know what hops you used for your successful brews too - I suppose you don't want anything giving overly floral aroma as that'd negate the addition of the flowers?

I'm still quite (well, very!) new to this brewing lark so still getting a feel for this kind of balancing act!

Thanks,

Rich

[critch]

im just doing an elderflower beer hopped with celia ill be putting the equivalent of 60 g per 10 gallon@15 from the end

[Bobba]

Elderflower's great in a pale beer. I did one a few months ago, was delicious, although I think I'd use more elderflower next time (25-30g) as after a couple of months it had faded into the background. Here was my recipe... (was obviously using up a few grains at the time!)

Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 30.44 L
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 11.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 27.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.80 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.80 kg Pale Malt (5.9 EBC) Grain 67.63 %
0.84 kg Lager/Pilsner (2 Row) (3.9 EBC) Grain 20.29 %
0.25 kg Wheat, Torrified (3.3 EBC) Grain 6.04 %
0.17 kg Caramalt (30.0 EBC) Grain 4.11 %
0.07 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 1.69 %
0.01 kg Black Malt (1300.0 EBC) Grain 0.24 %
40.00 gm Bobek [4.50 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 22.7 IBU
10.00 gm Northdown [8.70 %] (10 min) (Aroma Hop-StHops -
15.00 gm Northdown [8.70 %] (10 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
20.00 gm Elderflowers (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Brakspear Oxford Gold (Burton yeast) (BottYeast-Ale

[Rich_B]

Right, a bit later than I'd intended but tonight I will be brewing an elderflower beer. I've recently had Williams Bros 7 Giraffes ale which I thought was stunning and that made my mind up to pull my finger out and brew it up ready for the longer evenings!!

So, here it is:

Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio

Dried Malt Ext. Xtra Pale 5.5 EBC 4 lbs. 9.1 oz 2070 grams 94.1%
Crystal Malt, Pale 60 EBC 0 lbs. 4.5 oz 125 grams 5.9%


Hop Variety Type Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Fuggle Whole 60 mins 0 lbs. 1.8 oz 50 grams 40%
Golding Whole 10 mins 0 lbs. 1.3 oz 38 grams 30%
Golding Whole 0 mins 0 lbs. 1.3 oz 38 grams 30%


Final Volume: 15 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.011
Alcohol Content: 5.1% ABV
Total Liquor: 19.6 Litres
Mash Liquor: 0.3 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 50 EBU
Colour: 11 EBC

I'm going to add 30g of elderflowers with about 20 minutes to go. Fingers crossed it'll be a winner for the summer!

Cheers for all the advice chaps, it's been most useful!

Rich

[Bobba]

That'll be the ticket! Good luck with that, and some lasting till the summer !!!

[Rich_B]

Haha, yeah.

Might have to re-name it 'spring ale' if it turns out good and goes quick

[Bobba]

Depending on your yeast, I found fermenting it warm ~21C (beer temp not room temp) worked out pretty excellent for enhancing the fruitiness with yeast-produced esters

[Rich_B]

I'll be using US05. temp control during my fermentations has been pretty random but got myself an aquarium heater that i'll be trying for the first time so hopefully that'll sort things.

[Rich_B]

*previous post edited for idiocy reasons!*

Well, all done and dusted. Nice and smooth overall. The only thing is that like a fool, I've topped up to 17 litres so I've ended up with a lower than hoped for OG - 1041 instead of 1051.

I'd prefer something with a bit more oomph, I was hoping for around 5% alcohol but I'll be down slightly below 4% by the looks of it. Can I add some sugar or extra DME to the f/v now to increase it?

Cheers,

Rich

[Bobba]

Can I add some sugar or extra DME to the f/v now to increase it?

Absolutely. You'll want to dissolve it in some water/wort and give it a 10min boil to sanitise it

[Rich_B]

Fantastic. Thanks again matey!

[Rich_B]

I took a few photos (not great quality sadly) so here they are.

Some hops boiling away nicely in a depressingly small stockpot!



A bit hazy - before adding extra DME to f/v



Less than 24 hours later, fermenting away nicely!



Actually, this is the first time I've used the aquarium heater that you can see sticking into the brew. I'm very happy with it so far - normally fermentation takes a good 24 hours to start for me as the flat's fairly cold but this time it was up and away in a few hours. Temp seems to be holding at about 21 degrees without too much bother even though in the room where it is the temp can drop to about 12 or 13 overninght.

It makes my misses happier too that there's no bucket of beer in the lounge next to the radiator to keep warm!

[seanipops]

As well as using Elderflowers in the boil, you could also use them in the dry hop. I've done this in a sterilised hop stocking. However I've only done it with kits and not AG.

I expect I will be doing an elderflower beer this summer and daresay I'll post a pic of the brewday.