nettle beer

[the big lebowski]

hi all ive been going up the plot the last few days (digging and weeding) and ive seen the the stinging nettles are about ready for picking to make nettle beer so heres my recipe for it

makes 1 gallon

1 kg nettle tops ( approx 1 carrier bag full)
50 g cream of tartar
1 tsp dried carragheen
450 g sugar
juice of 2 lemons
1 sachet of yeast

i have heard of other recipes with juice of oranges in too so feel free to add your own twist on here too ,cheers

[Deltawhiskey]

What do you do with the ingredients?

David

[the big lebowski]

bring 5 liters of water to the boil in a large pan ,add the nettle tops ,cream of tartar and carrageen and boil for 15 mins ,stirring from time to time ,strain the liquor through a colander or sieve into a fermentation bucket ,add the sugar and stir until dissolved ,leave to cool to room temp

add the lemon juice and the yeast .cover and leave to ferment for 3 days - this will probably do the trick but if you want but if you want to be safe ,bottle when it reaches a specific gravity of 1010 .carefully siphon into strong sterilised bottles ,making sure you do not disturb the sediment that will have accumalated at the bottom of the bucket .

the beer will continue to ferment ,gradually building up a head of steam ,and is ready to drink in a week ,although if you leave it longer it will be better .this beer is usually cloudy - remember that this is a homebrew ,so murkiness is considered to be `character'.

this is how john wright makes his and the description is from his book (worth buying imo) hope it helps ,cheers

[fishpond]

What does it taste like?
Any idea what the alcohol percentage is?

[Twynyrodyn]

What does it smell like? As bad as nettle fertilizer?

[the big lebowski]

not sure what it tastes like ,i hope it doesnt taste like nettle fert ,i`ll have a bottle in one hand and a finger and thumb on my nose with the other if it does , its 4% apparently ,cheers

[Twynyrodyn]

My golden retriever decided to roll in some sludge left from a batch of nettle fertilizer. ...worse than fox poo!

[Deltawhiskey]

The taste is really good, they used to sell it in Heysham when I was a child and on holiday. The alcohol laws must have been more lax in those days. I am going to make some next week.

David

[Mr Bones]

I tried a few nettle beer recipes, one was similar to yours BL but without the carragheen. Can't remember the quantities but in the end I made it from nettles, sugar, yeast, lemon juice and half a teaspoon of marmite (vitamin B to help the yeast). It came out about 6%, was pleasant enough in taste and smell and tasted like neither nettles nor beer. It was better too after it had stood bottled for a while, the last bottle of a five gallon batch was always the best one.

One word of caution though, don't mix it with other drinks. Less than half a pint of nettle beer as an aperitif followed by a glass or two of red wine with dinner resulted in the mother of all hangovers. Not a normal hangover but something more like the result of a chemical reaction. This happened to a few people on different occasions, (me included) before I realised the connection. Maybe it was something in a particular wine that clashed with something from the nettles, I don't know.

[fishpond]

Might make some and give to the neighbors.
Many Thanks for posting.

[Deltawhiskey]

You could leave out the carrageenan. It is a kind of sea weed that gives beer a head.

David

[the big lebowski]

hi all thanks for all the replys ,as delta said carrageenan is a seaweed ,from the west coast of ireland i belive and i prob wont add any as is rather expensive ,cheers

[the big lebowski]

i made my 1st batch of nettle beer today (apart from the yeast ,i havent got any i`ll have to get some on thursday) it looks a nice goldeny beer colour which is quiet odd as it looked green in the pan as i was boiling the nettles but the orange and lemon juice has changed it ,smells pretty good too ,cheers

[johnjohn]

1 kg nettle tops ( approx 1 carrier bag full)

Thanks for the recipe TBL, nettle tops obviously are the new growth, any one have any experience with using grown nettles (so more than the tops) and how that affects flavour, maybe too bitter?

[the big lebowski]

mr bones how long did you leave yours for ? i bottled mine this morning and was thinking about leaving it till july (my bday) do you think that will be long enough ? cheers