No Hop Brewing

[OldWorld]

Not even dry hopping...no hops. I've seen some people in the archives say Yarrow makes beer taste bad. Mugwort makes beer taste bad. I'd probably agree with them but I've actually made very good beers without hops using Yarrow and Mugwort.

The herbs that homebrew shops sell in the little packages are of very bad quality. It's best to fresh mugwort and fresh yarrow. The difference is night and day.

Fresh mugwort is really pungent bitter, just two to three little sprigs can bitter 5 gallons with ease. Mugwort bitter is clean and fruity not all hoppy. Many people describe the herbal beers as antiseptic or medicinal. Guess what? That's right...Yarrow and Mugwort offer just as much fighting power of bad beer spoilers as hops...

It takes some age for a mugwort/yarrow beer to come together. Overtime the yarrow will take on a lemony sweetness. In a green beer the yarrow will be a bit antiseptic and some will even say soapy...If you wait two or three months the yarrow transforms into a great lemony/citrus flavor.

My personal favorite brewers spice has to be redwood tips. They will add a very resinous glow to the palette. I think there is far too much disinformation about not using hops. If you dont use hops but use an herb with anti fungal/viral properties the beer will age just as well if not better than a hopped beer.

In fact I'd wager that herbed beers will age better because oxidized herbs take on many unique flavors that are much more pleasant than oxidized hop character.

Considering that certain plants have lots of oil. Another virtue of unhopped beers is that the lack of hops means you won't get sedated. It's quite funny to not feel drunk after drinking a non hopped beer only hours later and 60 ounces of beer later do things feel funny...Moderation moderation moderation.

So lets make it simple...
3LBS light malt extract
3LBS wheat malt extract
1-2 sprigs of fresh mugwort (if you can't find ask me to send you some of my private stash...)
Add fresh yarrow flowers directly into the boil...At least half a dozen or more...

Just boil it out...Add some flowers the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Let the beer age for 3 weeks or more. After two months the flavors will be more rounded and ready to drink. It's not bad beer, it's different. How long did it take the masses to appreciate big hopped beers?

Remember Ballantine brewing? Anyone...They are the true inventor of pale and IPA...But few remember them.

 

[WilliamH]

Time to resurrect this thread!

I love the idea of brewing ancient styles of ale, which I just recently found out means brewing with herbs. This weekend I'll be brewing an experimental, 1 gallon batch of herbal ale. I've got mugwort and yarrow. Any tips on how much of each I should use in a one gallon batch? My grain bill is 2 gallons pale 2-row, and 1 gallon crystal 60L. So it'll be a dark, strong beer. I've also got some ginger I'm thinking of tossing in at the end of the boil.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[Cyclman]

Can't help, but this is a very cool idea. Bring back the Gruit.

 

[WilliamH]

Okay I bottled my gruit last week. When I tasted it, it tasted FUNKY. Not necessarily bad, just very different. It definitely had a sour taste to it, and I couldn't figure out if it was a taste I liked or not. I know that the taste of a beer can change dramatically after it's bottle conditioned for a while, so I'm curious to see what this one will taste like after some time passes! I'll post my tasting notes when I officially open up a bottle.

No matter how it turns out, it's super fun experimenting like this! Whether or not I like this, I think I'm definitely going to try another gruit sometime soon. Just so I can attempt perfecting the herbal ale recipe.

 

[JKaranka]

I used feverfew and blackcurrant leaves once. Not enough feverfew, but it did add some bitterness.

 

[LexusChris]

Okay I bottled my gruit last week. When I tasted it, it tasted FUNKY. Not necessarily bad, just very different. It definitely had a sour taste to it, and I couldn't figure out if it was a taste I liked or not. I know that the taste of a beer can change dramatically after it's bottle conditioned for a while, so I'm curious to see what this one will taste like after some time passes! I'll post my tasting notes when I officially open up a bottle.

Welcome to Gruit!

Gruit beers do take some time to mellow out a bit. I prefer to let me gruits age 6-months before I really start to try them out! The young ones can be off-putting initially..

Getting fresh cut herbs is always ideal. You may even want to start growing your own herbs. Many are easy to grown in your backyard or a pot. There are also many online spice & herb providers which offer really good, fresh dried spices. Check out http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/ for a start.

I also find sweet gale to be a great herb for beer. A little hard to find right now, but worth the search!

Good luck!
--LexusChris

 

[WilliamH]

Cool. Thanks for the tips! 6 months sound about right, given how strong it tasted when I bottled. So... I guess 6 months from now I'll post my tasting notes!

I'm glad to hear Star West sells good herbs! That's the brand my local health food store carries, so those are the ones I bought.

 

[Epimetheus]

This is the summer without hops.

I ran out of hops at the end of May and i am patiently waiting for the harvest at the local hops farm.

In the meantime, my friend John is very knowledgeable about foraging for edible plants and has been teaching me. He does not realize many of the plants have been used in making beer - common yarrow, mugwort, and others. Besides, chickweed tastes great, like sweet summer corn.

I found large patches of yarrow along the road and collected enough whole plants to fill a 5 gallon bucket. That is enough for a 5 gallon batch once you get rid of the stems and such.

Today I am making a historical Egyptian beer. Yarrow flowers are used for bittering and it includes other middle eastern spices. I will post the entire recipe if it turns out decently.

Next week is a Scottish fraoch with heather flowers and bittered with more yarrow. I have yet to find mugwort (artemisias vulgaris or artemisius absinthe) or myrica gale.

After that, who knows? There is sweet woodruff in the back yard and the roads are lined with elderberry flowers which smell sweet as honeysuckle. New England is a fortunate place to try gruit. The temperate climate supports many of the plants used in European beers.

 

[brices121]

Just cut off some leaves of one of my yarrow plants after mowing to try as a tea. As mentioned earlier it seems to have a little bit of a medicinal flavor with a hint of lemon.

Does anyone know for sure whether the leaves can be used as a bittering agent or do I need to use flowers? I believe Charley mentioned using fresh flowers in his book, but I believe I've read either works.

Also I think it would be interesting with basil. I know in cooking basil and citrus go well together. Rosemary might also be an interesting taste with yarrow.

 

[Shanidze]

Hello,

I have come to seek advice from gruit-brewers,

I want to do something with these ingredients available to me - Yarrow, Mugwort, Juniper Berries and Sprue Resin (Gum) - which of these do you people thing should I use for bittering and which ones for flavour?

Thanks in advance!

 

[LexusChris]

Shanidze,

I'm only familiar with Yarrow directly, although Mugwort is from the same family as Greater Wormwood, albeit not as bitter. Experimentation is the best way to go.. maybe even making some teas to explore combos, amounts/ratios, etc.

Also, I found this BYO article and spreadsheet a good reference, absent of any other direct data.
http://byo.com/malt/item/1928-brewing-with-spices-techniques

Wormwood/Mugwort is certainly in that bittering category, and I would be careful to not overdo that.

Yarrow, has a wonderful aromatic quality, as well as some lemony & astringent flavors. In general, if it smells really good, I would use it more towards the late boil, or in the whirlpool.

I do enjoy juniper flavors (and spruce), but have not tried them in a beer just yet. Make sure to pick a base beer style that will hold up and meld with the spices.

Mugwort for bittering, and Yarrow late in the boil, would be perfectly suited as a traditional English gruit, in my eyes anyways.

Good luck!
--LexusChris

 

[Bosh]

From what I've gathered old school English ale had pretty much nothing in it besides malt, yeast and water. It was often either drunk really fast before any bacteria could do much or was made strong enough that the alcohol itself would keep a lot of the bacteria at bay.

Herbal beers seem to have been more of a continental thing.

Juniper/spruce seem to have been used really often since they could be used to filter the mash.

A lot of these really old school beers also seem to have been raw.

 

[Steveruch]

Here's an article about no hop brewing.
http://digital.ipcprintservices.com/publication/frame.php?i=246097&p=&pn=&ver=flex
Go to the Last Drop piece on the last page.

 

[Sourz4life]

Alot of the old ales did use some sort of herb in it. It wasn't for the purpose of antibacterial as they didn't know that yet but merely to cut the sweetness of the "gruit" (usually called grog back then) with bitterness. I've used tons of different herbs and I believe all of them have their place when used correct. I'm more of a fan of mugwort for bittering, but most of the gruits I've brewed have been a mix of spices along with mugwort/yarrow/wormwood. And it is true alot of herbs were added such as juniper, spruce, pine needs, etc anything that could catch the grains, Kveik brewing is a great example of that.

 

[Shanidze]

Thanks a lot! I got encouraged by your posts and brew a batch bittered only with mugwort and yarrow (which I also used for aroma), the wort had a very interesting taste, I consider going without the piney additives, to taste more of the yarrow =D

 

[MT2sum]

Alot of the old ales did use some sort of herb in it. It wasn't for the purpose of antibacterial as they didn't know that yet but merely to cut the sweetness of the "gruit" (usually called grog back then) with bitterness. I've used tons of different herbs and I believe all of them have their place when used correct. I'm more of a fan of mugwort for bittering, but most of the gruits I've brewed have been a mix of spices along with mugwort/yarrow/wormwood. And it is true alot of herbs were added such as juniper, spruce, pine needs, etc anything that could catch the grains, Kveik brewing is a great example of that.

If anyone has any recipes for Ales, Porters, Stouts that use Birch, Juniper, Spruce, Fir, Pine or Tamarack (I would think that Hemlock would NOT be a good idea ;>)), I'd be interested. I've got some Spruce tips on the way, and would like to get a few recipes to choose from for that and future brews. I've read that many Colonial Ales used various evergreen needles, tree leaves/barks, etc. since hops were hard to come by .....
You can either post them or PM them if you want to.

Anyone wanting to learn to brew herbal beers should get a copy of "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers" by Stephen Harrod Buhner, (Author of Sacred Plant Medicine). This book has a few recipes for Juniper Ales, Birch Beer, Maple Beer, Spruce Beer, Pine Ale, Fir Ale, and Oak Bark Ale. I'm always on the lookout for other recipes, that I haven't got in this book!.

Thanks, MT2sum