Brewing with Calendula flowers

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Ritzkiss

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Looking to brew a saison with a three flower mix - chamomile, nasturtium and calendula.

I've been able to find information about adding chamomile and nasturtium (a little) but nothing about calendula. I know it's been done (Upright Flora Rustica - which was the original inspiration) but not often.

Any help or suggestions would be great!

Initially thinking maybe at flameout. Anyone with thoughts or, even better, experience?!
 
Did you end up brewing it? I was looking to use some dried calendula in a mead or maybe as a dry hopped for a Belgian golden.
 
I did! A saison and it worked out well. For the calendula I added around 1oz to a 5 gallon batch at around 5 min, pulled it out at flameout.

My thoughts. It's subtle, and especially with the I'd of other flowers (chamomile, nasturtium) its hard for me to distinguish which favors this added specifically, though the beer definitely has floral notes. I'd say, don't be too hesitant for quantity, I was and I think I could have gone bigger and been fine. Hope that helps a little.
 
Sweet! Glad to hear it worked out. I like the idea of using nasturtium in a saison given the peppery floral hint it would add. It grows everywhere around here so it is easy to source a ton of flowers.

As for the calendula, my wife has a huge dried bag of them for making cosmetics/lotions. I made what I thought would be a strong tea with them but like you mentioned, it came out subtle. Nice, but nothing really determinable. It was a little on the vegetal side kinda like the tannin from a light green tea.

Thanks for the tip on the quantity. My next batch on deck is a bohemian pils with Santiam for bittering and Saaz for aroma. I am thinking about pulling off a gallon and dry-flowering with a solid 1/2 oz. of calendula and a second gallon with dried hibiscus and sock it away to lager. (Crossing of fingers)
 
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