heather ale

[Peatbogbrewer]

The heather is nearly in bloom on the nearby moors and last year a made good extract heather ale with a little EKG and steeped crystal. This time im making 2 x 5 gallon partial mash batches with slight different additions. Each will have 3kg of pale malt, 20g EKG at 60 min and a 1.5 carrier bag of fresh heather tips and flowers (third at 30, third at 10, third in colander with wort poured into FV).
One batch will have 5g of bog myrtle at 10 mins and the other 10g of meadowsweet at 10 mins.
Does anybody our there have their own recipe or any thoughts on this? Ive heard thta lager malt may be a good alternative?
Chin chin

[seymour]

I wish I did, but I don't have access to your timeless raw materials. Best of luck, and I can't wait to hear how it turns out for you!

[DeadFall]

You're thinking of something along the lines of Froach?

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?q=fraoch ... e%20recipe

[seymour]

This heather ale question got me thinking, here's some interesting stuff I found:

The Naturalist Thomas Pennant's 1776 A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides mentions heather ale, with the proportions of two-thirds heather bells to hops. So, you could try picking a target IBU, calculate the quantity of Goldings or Fuggles hops necessary for the full boil, then add double that weight of heather to the late boil.

In John Lightfoot's 1777 Flora Scotica, the ratio is the same, but the ingredients differ, "the inhabitants of Islay and Jura still continue to brew a very potable liquor by mixing two-thirds of the tops of heather to one-third of malt." Some very old recipes are more mead than ale, calling for heather honey as the source of fermentable sugar, along with or instead of malt.

In Stephen Buhner's 1998 Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, his 5 gallon Heather Ale recipe basically goes: 90% Pale Malt, 10% Amber Malt, mash and sparge, then add ½ gallon lightly pressed flowering heather tops and boil for 90 minutes, no hops.

There are many legends about ancient Pictish heather ale, and how the Picts refused even upon death to ever teach their Scottish conquerors. However, there are some accounts they did teach the Vikings, even if just to spite their Scottish enemies. One theory goes that Norse Gale Ale is an authentic derivitive of Pictish Heather Ale. If true, you could follow any old-fashioned Gale Ale recipe, simply switching-out the herbs.

Good point about modern-day Fraoch, DeadFall. Here's some info about two closely related brews of theirs. Unfortunately, I don't have any specifics about those late additions (quantities, how to prepare, etc.) but it might give you some starting points for grainbill and so on.

Heather Ales Fraoch
Brewery: Williams Brothers/Heather Ale Ltd. In Alloa, Scotland, UK
Style: Traditional Ale
OG: 1048
ABV: 5.0%
Grainbill: 92% Pale, 5% Wheat, 3% Caramalt
Kettle hops: Brewers Gold
Late addition: Flowering heather, Root ginger, Sweet gale
IBU: 22-24
Colour: 10/19, deep amber

Heather Ales Pictish Ale
Brewery: Williams Brothers/Heather Ale Ltd. In Alloa, Scotland, UK
Traditional Ale
OG: 1036
ABV: 3.6%
Grainbill: 90% Pale, 5% CaraMalt, 5% Wheat Malt
Kettle hops: Brewers Gold
Late addition: Flowering heather, Root ginger, sweet gale
IBU: 27-29
Colour: 12/24, deep amber

[TC2642]

You may want to check up on the psychoactive properties of heather around your area otherwise you may get more than you bargained for when you have one pint to many

[Peatbogbrewer]

Epic replies, thank you! I'm going to brew soon and I'm using lager and pale malts as i need to use these up. A touch of wheat DME, Munich malt with EKG (in the ratio expressed in the thread) and bog myrtle only as not got time to search for more meadowsweet (used it in my grozet clone in the FV). As for the ergot type fungus (fogg) I'm boiling heather and pouring boiling wort over the flowers, this should prevent any unwanted trips hopefully. i will let you know how this turns out

[nobby]

Is it Ling or Bell Heather?? they look very similar but are worlds apart in flavours. It would be worth checking.

[Peatbogbrewer]

Its Calluna vulgaris heather not purple bell heather (Erica cinerea) or crossed leaf heath (Erica tetralix). I have seen people, use bell heather do yiu know how different they are?

[seymour]

Who knows how authentic this is, but the brewer from Iron Goat Brewery in Spokane, Washington, USA stated:

"We use about 1.2lbs/bbl heather tips at whirlpool then dry 'hop' at the same rate. We bag it since it gets quite messy if just thrown in."

If I calculated correctly, that's about .74 oz/21 g per Imperial gallon.

In other words, for a typical 5 gallon homebrew batch: 3.7 oz at flame-out, and another 3.7 oz in the secondary fermentor. That seems reasonable to me, anyway.