AHS Hibiscus Ginger Saison

Recipe calls for 4oz of Hibiscus at FO. I'm pretty sure this will be dried hibiscus. I would be interested to hear opinions on using dry vs. fresh hibiscus flower, and whether I should follow the recipe or try dry-hopping with the flowers.

slim chillingsworth said:

Recipe calls for 4oz of Hibiscus at FO. I'm pretty sure this will be dried hibiscus. I would be interested to hear opinions on using dry vs. fresh hibiscus flower, and whether I should follow the recipe or try dry-hopping with the flowers.

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I'd do 1.5 oz at FO and the remaining 2.5 for dry hopping. That could provide a more well-rounded aroma.

One of my next 10 beers must have flowers in it, I can't wait to try brewing with some flowers. Like roses, violets, etc. I just read an article on a beer some brewery did at Russian River, sounded very interesting. I want to try my hand at it, a very simple dry recipe to show off the floral component.

I wonder how a rosehip cream ale would go down?

I brewed this last week and the dried Hibiscus was certainly powerful, both in color and aroma. We'll see how it turns out, been fermenting heavy for 7 days now.

Got the AHS saison brewing as well. Spent a week in primary, gravity: 1.04. Been week and half in secondary and still bubbling.

How long does this beer take?

any good resources on brewing with flowers? I'm itching to use the honeysuckle that grows all over my place.

I just brewed this last night and never even thought about adding the flows into the secondary. I used them all at the boil per the recipe and did leave them in the Primary though.

I just hope my bucket won't be stained pink because of them.

My buddy just bottled this one about a week ago. When it was in primary it looked like a fermenter full of blood. It's some crazy looking stuff! I can't wait to try one!

I would try saving ~half for dry "hopping" to give it a little more aroma.

Ahoy hoy,
I use Hibiscus regularly in one of my wifes beers. I dont know about fresh, as the ones I use come from Egypt. But, for a 5 gallon batch, i use 2.5 ounces at 15 minutes, and dry hop for 7 days with another 2.5 oz
Reddest beer you ever saw, some think its wine. Wife, friends wife, and all subsequent girlfriends all love my hibiscus beer. I brew it in 10 gallon batches now.
A great day to all!

I have been interested in hibiscus for a few months and actually just drank my 1st bottle of home brew with it tonight.

I made a real Frankenstein: a hibiscus-infused wheat braggot:

4 gallons initial (plus extra gallon in secondary, see below)

3lb pilser
3lb wheat, american
1.5 lb honey
.75 lb carapils
.75 oz hallertau @ 60 (8 AA)
.25 oz hallertau @ 15 (8 AA)

(really bad efficiency though .... )

fermented with Notty yeast @ high 60's

After 7 days I tasted it and it tasted like lemony, light, grainy mead.

I boiled about .75 gallon with the following sugars and added it to the carboy:
.75 lb light DME
1.125 lb honey
.25 lb amber candi sugar

At bottling, I added the hibiscus to 2 gallons of the stuff.

I steeped 2 ounces of dried hibiscus petals in 1.5 pints water, then brought it to a boil really quick to kill any bugs. Per the comments above, this makes your beer look like blood!

Drinking one today, about 16 days after bottling:
IT TASTES LIKE A FRUITY ZIMA!!!!!

So this is not going to be my favorite perhaps, but hibiscus in a saison sounds absolutely lovely. But at least with mine, its a good beer to give to non-beer drinkers who want something a little more wine-cooler-like.

Final note: I was going to buy the hibiscus from a local hippy-type herb shoppe, where it was like $4/ounce. I happened to be in a flea market and found a Mexican farmer selling all kinds of beans and veggies and stuff, and he had it for SEVEN DOLLARS A POUND. And it was fresh and almost still moist. Much better than the herb store stuff.

Its called "Jamaica" in Spanish (pronounced like "ha-may-ka"), so ask for that at your local Latino market.

Man, I can't wait to do a dubbel with hibiscus, or a saison, or GAHHHH a lambic!

Medo said:

Ahoy hoy,
I use Hibiscus regularly in one of my wifes beers. I dont know about fresh, as the ones I use come from Egypt. But, for a 5 gallon batch, i use 2.5 ounces at 15 minutes, and dry hop for 7 days with another 2.5 oz
Reddest beer you ever saw, some think its wine. Wife, friends wife, and all subsequent girlfriends all love my hibiscus beer. I brew it in 10 gallon batches now.
A great day to all!

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Recipe? Or just some tips?!? This would be one that I would like doing. We accidentally killed our hibiscus tree a couple of weeks ago (tried to get rd of a bug infestation, and that did not go well). We're probably going to pick another, and we make Jamaica and other drinks from the hibiscus. I'm sure that my wife would love to try a hibiscus beer.

Is it a hefe or what?!?

I'd love to get the recipe too, a red hibiscus beer sounds really interesting!

I figured I'd resurrect this thread.

I brewed the Austin Homebrew recipe up tonight for the second time. I had brewed it about a year ago and it came out fantastic. I entered it in to the HBT competition and it scored a 37 and a 38. Some of the comments were "one of the most interesting beers I've Judged," Hibiscus comes through in the flavor, well balanced with the ginger subdued, peppery flavor, tart, dry finish," "Very complex, but possible entered in the wrong category. Should be experimental category," "Brilliantly bright red. The reddest beer I've ever seen."

Last time I brewed it I used the WLP568 Belgian Saison yeast. This time I went with the Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast since my apartment isn't all the hot right now. I added all four onces of Hibiscus at flameout and all of it went in to the fermentor. I let it primary for a month, then secondary for a month. It took a little while for the ginger bite to subside.

I love this beer. It is one of my favorite beers I have made to date. Once it was tapped it was hard to keep my friends out of the keg. I maybe got 10 glasses from the keg before it was gone. I highly recommend this recipe.

edit: I had entered it in the 16E Belgian Specialty Ale category.

I'm seriously considering making the AHS Hibiscus Ginger Saison in the next couple of weeks. The only thing that's keeping me from pulling the trigger on this order is the cost of the yeast. The base kit is already a little on the pricey side for me (gotta keep SWMBO happy). This brew has an OG of 1.068 so AHS recommends pitching two yeast packs ($14). I used the calculator on Mr. Malty to see if I could get by with one yeast pack and a starter (needs 246 billion cells) and unless the yeast is extremely fresh, it says I will need two.

Alternatively, I could use the recommended dry yeast: SafBrew T-58. Does anyone know how the T-58 compares to Wyeast 3724 (Belgian Saison) or White Labs WLP568 (Belgian Style Saison Blend) for a saison? I also noticed the optimal temperature ranges for the yeasts are a little different.

SafBrew T-58: 59-75F
White Labs WLP568: 70-80F
Wyeast 3274: 70-95F

From what I've read, saisons are best fermented at higher temperatures, which sounds ideal for me since I lack good cooling for the upcoming summer. Am I "safe" with the SafBrew or should I splurge for the liquid yeast?

Edit: I just placed the order, and I decided on "none of the above". I went with Wyeast 3711 based on people's experiences with 3724 (long fermentations, need for high temps) and T-58 (flavors not as good as 3724). I just ordered a single smack pack plus some yeast nutrients, and I plan on creating a 2L starter to up the pitch rate..

Medo said:

Ahoy hoy,
I use Hibiscus regularly in one of my wifes beers. I dont know about fresh, as the ones I use come from Egypt. But, for a 5 gallon batch, i use 2.5 ounces at 15 minutes, and dry hop for 7 days with another 2.5 oz
Reddest beer you ever saw, some think its wine. Wife, friends wife, and all subsequent girlfriends all love my hibiscus beer. I brew it in 10 gallon batches now.
A great day to all!

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Medo, willing to share this recipe or what is the base style you put the hibiscus in?

I made this with the 3711 and it REALLY dried it out. I came in with a FG of under 1. (0.998 I think) Took it a good 4-5 months to get the ginger bite as well as the boozyness to fade to a reasonable level. NOW, they are amazing. Glad I have 6 of them in long term storage to see how they handle some extended aging as the others will not last long at all.

Wow... Really bringing the old threads back.