Gruit Pilsner - Thoughts?

I'm brewing this as a collaboration with Victor Vazquez of Das Racist, and we're looking at doing two brews. One is a traditional pills with jasmine, but the other is a bit more experimental.

Malt Steep
3.3lbs Briess Pils LME
2lbs Extra Light DME
1lb Carapils
1lb Pils

Herb Steep
2oz Jasmine
2oz Valerian Root

Boil Schedule:
1oz Rose Hips @ 60
1oz Valerian Root @ 60
4 tablets Acai @ 60
1oz Rose Hips @ 30
1oz Rose Hips @ 15
1oz Rose Hips @ 5
1oz Jasmine @ Flameout

Ferment for 1 week
Dry hop with 1oz Jasmine, 2oz Rosehips, 1oz Valerian Root for 2 weeks
Lager for 3-4 weeks

Yeast:
WLP830 German Lager

And, what does the experimental recipe look like?


Seriously though, my first thought is that is whole lot of herbs! The quantities seem very high compared to the gruits I've made in the past. However, I have not used valerian root or jasmine before.

Are you very familiar with these herbs and their flavors & proportions? If so, great... give it a go. If not, I would recommend experimenting with some teas or tinctures to get an idea of their strength & balance.

Your Pilsner base is light enough, that you should readily taste the herbal additions. I would go lighter with all the herbs, and especially the more perfume like jasmine.

Will be looking forward to hear about your results! Good luck!
--LexusChris

I am somewhat experienced in making tea and tinctures with these, but primarily for the purposes of energy and relaxation. The rose hips are intended to replace the somewhat high hopping of an american pilsner, and are the only ingredient I haven't worked with before.

But yeah, I totally agree that it seems like a lot of herbs. Ideally we'd like the rose hips to provide to a citrusy, wet, bittering character, while the jasmine perfumes the back as you mentioned. The acai and valerian at these levels won't do much other than add an herbal tinge and relaxation / cleansing element with some "traditional" herbs.

The original pilsner is just a continental pils with jasmine rice in the mash and 2oz of jasmine in the "dry herb"

Is the experimental beer intended to be highly drinkable, or a few sip after dinner drink? If the former, I'd seriously ease up on the quantities and add more next time if you felt it was warranted.

Fair consensus. I feel like the rose hips are hard to cut down on as our hop replacement, but I could slice it down to only add to two ounces. The acai is a bit harder to measure, but I feel like 4 tablets in the boil won't effect much.

Maybe slicing everything down by half would suffice?

It sounds like you are familiar enough with the herbs to know roughly how this will probably all blend together... that is great!

(I am less confident in my new Belgian Gruit recipe and hope to hear some comments/suggestions .. pls check it out)

When I used rose hips before, it was 1oz steeped cold in a quart of water for 7 days, then added to Primary on a 6-gallon batch of mead. I also added in Hibiscus flowers too. Beside a nice pink color, there is a wonderful soft tartness to the mead, which balances well with the honey, etc.

I've never boiled with rose hips, or used them in a beer.

Again, it sound encouraging! Keep us posted on the results!
--LexusChris