Brewing question

[Pignut]

I am brewing some nettle beer at present (as of last night) and was wondering how do I know when to bottle it?

 

[stovie]

give it 5 days, then bottle. should be fine and dandy..

 

[Pignut]

give it 5 days, then bottle. should be fine and dandy..

Good enough!

Ta

 

[Steve M]

HF-W's recipe says similar:

Ingredients

• 6 ltr water
• A small carrier bag of nettle tops, washed
• Juice of 1 lemon, strained
• Juice of 1 orange, strained
• 750g caster sugar
• 30g cream of tartar
• 5g yeast

Method

1. Bring the water to the boil in a large pan.
2. Add nettles, stir, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to infuse for at least an hour until it is at blood temperature.
3. Carefully – you might want to enlist a helper at this point - strain the nettle liquid through a colander lined with a large piece of unbleached muslin into a large brewing bucket or pan. Once the liquid has filtered through, squeeze the muslin to get the maximum amount of liquid into the bucket.
4. Gradually add the sugar, stirring constantly to ensure it is thoroughly dissolved, then add the cream of tartar, and lemon and orange juice.
5. Finally, once the mixture is tepid, stir in the yeast. Cover and leave for 2-3 days in a warm place, until it’s obviously fermenting.
6. Remove any scum which has risen to the top in fermentation and siphon the beer into sterilised bottles and seal with corks.
7. Leave for at least a couple more days or up to a month before drinking.

 

[Toadflax]

Last year I made nettle beer (nettle, dandelion and burdock) using the recipe from The New Age Herbal and I liked it, but my wife wouldn't try it. That time I bottled it after 3 or 4 days and it came out with a bit of a sparkle.

This year I made a batch of dandelion beer (Roger Philips' wild food, and a good use for 'weeds' from the garden) but let it ferment out all the way and it hasn't sparkled (though I've now opened the bottles and primed them with a bit of sugar, so they may well fatten up).

I've now got a batch of dandelion and burdock beer brewing, but may well see about bottling it before it ferments all the way. I've been a bit wary of bottling too soon since my daughter's ginger beer inflated her plastic bottles like balloons.

These are all very similar recipes, boil up the wild herbs, and add lemon and ginger root. I wonder if anyone has any other wild beer recipes.


Geoff

 

[brancho]

Toadflax brew it out all the way say a week if you have an airlock and add about half a teaspoon of sugar to each pint bottle.

Here is a recipe

 

[durulz]

OK, I've made some nettle beer.
It's currently busy fermenting in a large pan. I'm going to transfer it to bottles in another day or so.
But.
It has formed a lot of foam on the surface. Which it's meant to do. How do others remove that foam and transfer the beer to bottles without getting any foam into them (or is it OK if a little foam gets in)?
Cheers.

 

[Iona]

I skimmed with a spoon and syphoned it out with a length of plastic tubing from Robert Dyas! avoids taking the foamy top hope that helps


Oh, and having never actually drunk it before, is it nicer cold or room temperature? got a point to prove to some super townie family members tomorrow, they're getting free venison blagged of one of the guys that does the cull, ramsoms, and nettle beer. And they're gonna love it.