Honeysuckle experiment

[NicoleBrewer]

So I was inspired by someone on here wanting to use honeysuckle because I have it growing up my house. I searched all over the Internet to find a way to use it for secondary but people said making a tea with it turned green brown and earthy, and the vodka extract method would be too much alcohol. So I packed a pint sized mason jar with as many flowers as I could and filled it with a pint of vodka. Well see how it goes! At worse it'll be a honeysuckle vodka. I'm thinking of using it in a pale ale or wheat??

 

[Hammy71]

Curious...keep us updated how it goes.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

With all that honeysuckle, what if to go with your honeysuckle brew you churned up some honeysuckle ice cream?

 

[NicoleBrewer]

oooh whats the recipe for that?? I have an ice cream maker! I am hoping for the best with this extract. Do you guys think the floral and sweet components of it would go well with a citrusy APA?

 

[motorneuron]

I have been wanting to make a honeysuckle beer for the longest time!! Let us know how it is!

 

[stewart194]

I also have a lot of honeysuckle in my yard. I think it would be great in a wheat beer if you could somehow get the aroma into it.

How did this turn out?

 

[flars]

Check the identification of your honeysuckle. Some have parts which are not edible.

Among the edible are: L. affinis, flowers and fruit; L. angustifolia, fruit; L. caprifolium, fruit, flowers to flavor tea; L. chrysantha, fruit; L. ciliosa, fruit, nectar; L. hispidula, fruit; L. involucrata, fruit; L. kamtchatica, fruit; L. Japonica, boiled leaves, nectar; L. periclymenum, nectar; L. utahensis, fruit; L. villosa, fruit; L. villosa solonis, fruit;

Among those that might be edible or come with a warning of try carefully are: L. canadensis, fruit; L. Henryi, flowers, leaves stems; L. venulosa, fruit.

 

[NicoleBrewer]

I made the extract but found that it didn't have a strong enough aroma or flavor to impart anything substantial to a beer. Maybe doing the more technical way of capturing the essence would work but that's way too complicated for me


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[whitesheperd]

Hmm, did you just not use enough? I would like to know because we have hundreds of acres of it..


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[NicoleBrewer]

Well I packed a mason jar fairly tightly and topped off with vodka just to cover it. It was a year ago but from what I remember it was packed pretty tight. I read that the method of making a tea with it creates a pungent earthy brown mixture that wasn't good. The vodka smelled and tasted like honeysuckle but it wasn't as strong as I had wanted it to be and it tasted felt the vodka would overpower it once added to the beer


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[Hello]

Did you worry about the non-edible parts of the plant that someone mentioned above? I walk my pup along a road with tons of these and thought about the ice cream actually. Now that beer is in play, maybe that is a good idea.

So the vodka has the taste? Do you think that if you did the same thing but used the vodka like sanitizer. Quickly rinse the honeysuckle and then dump the leaves in secondary? I know I'll look like a baboon picking these things on a high traffic road, but now I want to!

 

[NicoleBrewer]

I left all the greens and picked just the flower part with the nectar


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[NicoleBrewer]

It doesn't hurt to try making an extract. The flowers are free and the vodkas cheap


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[whitesheperd]

Yeah instead of using voda could you use gem clear? It's even cheaper and is 95% alc


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