dandelion lambic

Would a dandelion lambic be good.

I'd never say "no", but I'd be cautious of overbittering the beer, as the greens can be pretty bitter. If you go for it, I'd advise young greens and not much of them, and be sure to tell us how it goes!

I'd drink one.

I got the idea from dandelion wine. I wanted to modify it for beer and thought a lambic may be nice.

passedpawn said:

I'd drink one.

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Always drink one!

Dandelion wine uses only the flower petals from dandelion flowers.

It's kind of a PITA to harvest because you don't want to get any greens in the wine including the green parts on the back of the flower. Of course for a beer this is probably less of an issue since some bitterness is expected.

Pick the dandelion flowers in the middle of a sunny day when they're most open if you are able.

mutedog said:

Pick the dandelion flowers in the middle of a sunny day when they're most open if you are able.

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Don't forget to frolic in the meadow as you pick dandelions.

It could be really interesting... I've brewed an ESB with the whole plant, (roots and everything) and that was 1-2 hours of weeding the lawn for 3 gallons.

You'd better have acres of dandelions available to you.

New Belgium made some kind of dandelion beer in their lips of faith series.

Fantome Pissenlit is brewed with dandelions and it's easily my favorite beer from them.

They dry out the flowers and then soak them in water for a couple days before adding the "dandelion tea" into the beer. Unfortunately, I don't know much more about the process, but I would assume the "tea" is added to the boil. No idea how much per gallon would really be used, either.

reverseapachemaster said:

don't forget to frolic in the meadow as you pick dandelions.

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+1 !!!!!!!

womencantsail said:

Fantome Pissenlit is brewed with dandelions and it's easily my favorite beer from them.

They dry out the flowers and then soak them in water for a couple days before adding the "dandelion tea" into the beer. Unfortunately, I don't know much more about the process, but I would assume the "tea" is added to the boil. No idea how much per gallon would really be used, either.

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You could probably use a food dehydrator to get the dandelions dry- I just added all my stuff to the boiling wort.

Cant wait for summer to brew this beer

uncommonsense said:

I got the idea from dandelion wine. I wanted to modify it for beer and thought a lambic may be nice.

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That sounds tasty, actually. I thought you meant a "gruit" kind of lambic bittered with the greens.

dwarven_stout said:

That sounds tasty, actually. I thought you meant a "gruit" kind of lambic bittered with the greens.

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Well see I was thinking I would use the green to bitter it a little. I don't know though. I'm a play it how I feel it kinda guy so I'm ganna collect all the info I can from you guys and the interwebs and feel it out when the time comes to brew it.

The book Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers has a number of recipes for making dandelion beers, though these seem to focus more on using the leaves than the flowers.

Dandelion wine recipes I've seen have called for 2-3 quarts of dandelion flowers per gallon of wine you plan to produce.

I am brewing a Dandelion ESB recipe from The Hombrewer's Garden this Saturday. Try this one if you like a session beer, about 4% ABV. I made it last spring (2010) with Wyeast Thames Valley II, 9 oz of dandelion blossoms (mostly) and greens (a few). It came out a brilliant gold and very creamy smooth. The yeast is gone, so I'm using Thames Valley I this weekend. The French gave us "Danedelion" - Lion's Tooth, but they also call it "Pissenlit" or "wet the bed." Even after several, I never had a problem.

I'm planning a dandelion beer using no hops and just the greens. I haven't found a field near me that has any yet, though the blue bonnets are starting to show up. I wonder how TX blue bonnets would be in a mash...