Elderflower bitter - Share your Recipes

[full malty]

(Also posted to http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/uk-homebrew group)

I brewed an Elderflower bitter today after spending some time this
morning bicycling around the Valley looking for Elderflower.

Here's the recipe for a brewlength of around 11 gallons :

11kg pale malt
3kg wheat malt


100g Susan (9%AA) hops FWH
30g Susan last 15m
Around 50 IBUs
1.5 kg (yes, 1.5kg) of fresh Elderflower last 15m (that is "one carrier
bag full", per Kelvin Lewis' suggestion)

For the liquor, I added 2 level tsp table salt, 2 level tsp Epsom salt,
and 1 heaped tsp of gypsym.

Mashed at high 60s and thick, and short at around 60-90m. I assume this
is the right way to aim for a dextrinous wort!

Nottingham (Gervin) yeast. Very poor starter. I had one single sachet
here, and got that going about an hour beforehand using some 'hotpacked'
wort

Boil for 120-180m (excellent hot break)

OG 1050, therefore an efficiency of around 60%.

I weighed up 70g of copper hops for this brew, but when the hops were
boiling in the copper, it just didn't look right, so I added the aroma
hops and adjusted the recipe. The aim here is to use a fairly neutral
yeast like Nottingham to let the elderflower dominate, and to underhop.
I reasoned that 1.5kg of fresh elderflower is enough of a balance for
100g of Susan hops.

Colour and clarity going into FV, looked superb. Rich golden colour.

Please send me your comments & feedback on my recipe, and share your
recipes for ales brewed using elderflower or other hedgerow fare.

[tribs]

Where on earth would you obtain Susan hops from?

[Andy]

I collected a load of elderflower heads a couple of weeks ago, just got them before they went off.

I dried them and stripped the flowers off the stalks, the dried flowers are now in the freezer. Next brew in early autumn may see them used.

[mysterio]

Susan hops? :blink:

[NzDan]

Is elder flower the same as elderberry?

[oisinboydell]

QUOTE (NzDan @ Sep 7 2006, 12:27 PM)Is elder flower the same as elderberry?
Same tree, but elderflowers are the white flowers that appear in early summer and elderberries are the dark purple berries that appear after the flowers. They are very different in terms of flavour.