Elderflower ideas

[jimny14]

Ok guys i'm planning a couple of brews this weekend, both with elderflowers in em. I'd really appreciate your thoughts on these two recipes please,

Firstly we have a light summer ale

MO 4kg
Crystal 150g
Torrified wheat 150g

60 min boil

northern brewer 10.5% 60mins 20g
Goldings 6.4% 10mins 50g
Dried elderflowers 10 mins 20g

Gonna use S-04. Should give 4.1%abv and 36IBU's

Secondly a wheat

MO - 2.5KG
Wheat malt - 2.5kg

60 min boil

Hallertauer hersbrucker 2.3% 60 mins 40g
Hallertauer hersbrucker 2.3% 10 mins 40g
Dried elderflowers, 10 mins 30g

Using WB-06, should give 5% abv and 14 IBU's

Any suggestions greatly recieved, i've never used dried elderflowers before so i'm pretty much just guessing at the mo.

[richc]

My immediate thought is, why use dried elderflowers when they are in bloom at the moment?

I'd be slightly concerned with losing the elderflower flavour in the first recipe behind the hops but the second one looks great.

[jimny14]

Hi rich, the main thought about using dried elderflowers is that i've got some and i'm busy over the next couple of days so can't really get out to get any. I'm not sure how much the elderflowers are gonna come through in the ale, but i'd rather have them in the back ground than overpowering the ale though. Do you think Fuggles might work better than Goldings maybe? I couldn't decide between the two.

[ncmcdonald]

I'm brewing an Elderflower Kolsch next week. Going to collect some fresh elderflowers over the weekend, not used them before so don't want anything overpowering. Here is the recipe - Elderflower Kolsch

[TheMumbler]

I reckon something like bitter and twisted but drop the hallertauer and replace with elderflower might work well. So switch the goldings for some styrian goldings in your first recipe. I have some bobek and some celeia in the freezer if you want to swap something for 50g or so.

[richc]

Hi rich, the main thought about using dried elderflowers is that i've got some and i'm busy over the next couple of days so can't really get out to get any. I'm not sure how much the elderflowers are gonna come through in the ale, but i'd rather have them in the back ground than overpowering the ale though. Do you think Fuggles might work better than Goldings maybe? I couldn't decide between the two.

Fair enough on the dried elderflowers, I suspect the thing to do with the ale is to give it a go and see what happens, at worst you'll have a nice ale. My guess, and I've never tried anything like this, is that perhaps a fuggles/golding mix is the way to go, just to let the elderflower aroma/flavour come through a bit more.

[critch]

celeia work very well with elderflower i use it in my elderflower ale ive got 4 kilderkins of it at the gbbf this year

[richc]

celeia work very well with elderflower i use it in my elderflower ale ive got 4 kilderkins of it at the gbbf this year

I'll have to keep an eye out for that one, I should actually make it to the gbbf this year....