AG#4 Barliman's Best (Gruit Ale)

[Tequilla6]

Ok Guys,

I have also completed my "Nettle Beer" this weekend and it's bubbling along nicely. Here is the recipe I used.

Recipe 12 Litres @85% Efficiency

Grain Schedule
Pale Malt 735gm
Pale Crystal malt 440gm
Rauchmalz 735gm

Gruit Schedule
Dried Yarrow 10gm for 60min
Dried Nettle Tops 100gm for 15min
Fresh Sage 25gm for 15min
Dried Heather Flowers 25gm for 5min

Yeast used was Sal-S04 (500ml Starter)

OG 1.040 Expected G 1.009

The Grain mix was to try and recreate the smoked brown malt of old, with the Gruit mix using only herbs mentioned in the LOTR (With the exception of the Yarrow, which was used because of my concern the the nettles would not contribute enough bitterness to the brew) Liquor treatment used the GW's WTC default for Bitter. As mentioned the beer is fermenting away with no issues, the only thing I have done this time is to skim the top of the trub off the brew after one day as there seemed to be an awful lot of trub brought to the surface. As my hop strainer has been designed for whole hops the small particulates from the herbs seem to have gone through the strainer although the wort when run off looked clear enough. What I have got a a dark brown ale with a very nice herb, woody and nutty aroma. The test sample from the FV prior to the pitching of the yeast was interesting indeed and I think once the sweetness of the wort has been fermented out it's going to be a very nice and somewhat different brew. The addition of some wheat in the mix next time for head retention maybe in order as I do not know how the herb addition will affect the capacity to form a head on the beer.

Anyway nice experiment and I will post a picture of the brew once fermented and conditioned. If it gets bottled in time it maybe part of my tasting session at the next Cambridge Beer meet.

Cheers

[WishboneBrewery]

There must be some Hobbit in you! Are your Feet Hairy?

[adm]

Yer a brave man! Hope it turns out well......keep us posted!

[Garth]

keep us posted on this one Teq,

I'm very interested in doing something like this.

did you pick the nettles yourself?

[Tequilla6]

Of course , along with the elderflower for the SWMBO's Elderflower champagne. We made a day of it in the local country park and along the river to the next village where we stopped for a boor and lunch. However due to delays in getting the brew going, I was waiting for the Rauchmalz to arrive and sorting the Elderflower Champagne, I had to store the nettles so decided to leave in the oven on air dry for 24 hours and then stored them in the freezer until I used them on Friday. We had a good day of rain a few days before and so we ended up with some more green growth on the nettles.