Experimental Gruit

Trying my hand at my first batch of gruit today for no other reason than because I had the ingredients laying around. The recipe is based on recipes I've found on this and other homebrew sites. My whole house smelled like Christmas while I was cooking it up, it should be an interesting brew. If for any number of reasons it doesn't turn out at all, I only spent about $5 and an hour to brew it so no biggie.

I'll be sure to update as to how it turns out. Recipe Below:

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1 Gallon Gruit

Ingredients:

2lbs liquid malt extract
1lb brown sugar
1oz cinnamon
1oz nutmeg
1oz cloves
1oz allspice
1oz pure vanilla extract
1 packet brewers yeast

1. Heat lme and sugar in .5 gallon water to just below boiling for 15 minutes
2. Add herbs and vanilla, heat additional 15 minutes
3. Cold-bathe wort until < 75F
4. Move wort to fermentor, top off with water, pitch yeast
5. Fit airlock, ferment until FG is ~1.021
6. Carb and bottle like beer

OG: 1.083
FG: 1.021
ABV: 8.0%

Here's an image of what the gruit looks like on day 1. It's a very rich dark brown color. The thin layer of foam on top is the yeast, shouldn't start fermenting till tomorrow.

Great.

What do you think the color and taste will be once finished?

I honestly have no idea what to expect as I've never had a gruit myself. From what I've read about it, since it's basically beer brewed with herbs other than hops, it should be somewhat less bitter than typical beers. If its current smell is any indication of what it's finished taste will be, it should be a good holiday brew; a strong scent of cloves and nutmeg overtakes the senses and leaves you with a hint of cinnamon.

As far as color goes, I used the tastybrew calculator to determine its color index (SRM) should be around a 6:


Although I'm sure the herbs I added may change the color a tiny bit.

That seems like A LOT of herbs for one gallon. For wit's I use 1/2 oz of coriander and orange peel for 5 gallons, and that's plenty. When I've done spiced beers with similar spices, i've used 2 sticks of cinnamon, 1 oz of cloves, etc. I also noticed that not only did you not use hops, but no bittering herbs at all (mugwort, juniper, wormwood, heather). This will be one sweet and spicy beer, but who knows, maybe it'll be great!

I was planning on making this a 2.5 gallon brew, but decided I didn't really wanna use up one of my 5 gallon buckets for this experiment. I used about 0.6 - 0.8 oz of the herbs, but went with the full 1oz of vanilla.

I didn't use bittering herbs because I don't currently have them in my arsenal. If this batch turns out decent I'll probably replicate it making minor adjustments where necessary. If I determine it needs bitter to not taste like ass then I'll adjust accordingly.

Most traditional gruit ales used stuff like Mugwort, Yarrow, Bog Myrtle, Spruce tips and Juniper berries. Whatever you made, drinkable or otherwise, isn't what I would call gruit ale. Hell there aren't even any damn herbs in it, just a bunch of spices!

Good to know.

On another note, I just checked on my concoction, whatever it is, and its brewing away nicely, filling my brewroom with a potently smelly aroma.

Has a nice krausen forming as well. I'll post a pic tomorrow morning.

My hopless beer is bubbling away nicely this morning. The color has already gotten a bit lighter, and has formed a nice krausen.



I think this concoction is some sort of mead and a gruit hybrid. It's not entirely gruit as there are no herbs or bittering agents, only spices; and its not exactly mead because there is no honey, only the malt extract. Either way I'm very interested to see how it turns out.

Its not a traditional gruit with bittering herbs but it is a hopless beer. Should end up very sweet which may go well with the spices chosen. Cold be interesting but I think you will be glad you didn't make 5gals.

I am planning a couple of small gruit experiments myself but I will be using some bittering herbs. I just need to find a half day when my wife is out of the house so I'll have the time and space to do 2 boils without the complaints of the smell.

Craig

CBBaron said:

Could be interesting but I think you will be glad you didn't make 5gals.

Craig

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+1 - I, for one, call undrinkable. At least for a veryyy long time. Or unless you have a veryyy strong stomach.

As noted, no bittering herbs. This will be SWEET.

Also, I used a few oz. of those spices in a winter brew once (about the same amount) for 5g (with hops, with a similar gravity) and it took a long time to mellow. I'm afraid using the same amount in 1g is going to be gag-inducing...

RoaringBrewer said:

Also, I used a few oz. of those spices in a winter brew once (about the same amount) for 5g (with hops, with a similar gravity) and it took a long time to mellow. I'm afraid using the same amount in 1g is going to be gag-inducing...

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I think the flavors chosen may be quite good but I agree that the amounts sound like much too much. I put 4 whole cloves in a 1gal mead that was overpowering. A whole oz sounds like way too much. However the cinnamon and vanilla flavors are probably not too far off. Not sure on the other 2 spices.

Craig

CBBaron said:

I think the flavors chosen may be quite good but I agree that the amounts sound like much too much. I put 4 whole cloves in a 1gal mead that was overpowering. A whole oz sounds like way too much. However the cinnamon and vanilla flavors are probably not too far off. Not sure on the other 2 spices.

Craig

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For his sake I hope it turns out good, I just don't have a good feeling about it with those quantities.

It might be good heated up like a tea or something?

In any case, he did the very wise thing going with only 1g batch. No big loss... can't wait to hear how this is.

I do have an extra 5 gal sitting around, maybe I should dump this batch in there and water it down a bit? Or just dump half in and fill it with 2 gallons...hmmmm I think I'll leave it be for a while and wait to see how it tastes first. No reason I can't add stuff to it when it's done fermenting right? Or make some kind of whicked ice cream syrup out of it when it's done.

mrhead said:

I do have an extra 5 gal sitting around, maybe I should dump this batch in there and water it down a bit? Or just dump half in and fill it with 2 gallons...hmmmm I think I'll leave it be for a while and wait to see how it tastes first. No reason I can't add stuff to it when it's done fermenting right? Or make some kind of whicked ice cream syrup out of it when it's done.

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I'd leave it be... see what happens. The icecream syrup idea sounds interesting for certain.

It's not too late to make a concentrate from some bitter herbs or, dare I say it, hops. Steep some, reduce and toss it in. No biggie.

I had thought about that, the only problem is my LHBS is on the other side of town(about an hour drive) from me. This is a constant recurring problem and is one of the reasons i'm trying to make alcohol that requires as few ingredients as possible from there. I'm sure I'll love my first batch of apfelwein once it finishes up, I just wanted some other interesting brews. I probably should have just gone with mead but I had an extra bag of malt extract laying around and didn't have the extra honey. I'll definitely whip one up this summer though.

Well here's my update for this evening. The gruit/mead(gread?) is bubbling away nicely and has been doing so all day. The bathroom smells like the inside of a donkeys' ass, and the krausen has reached the lip of the fermentor. The color has lightened up slightly more since last night.

I think I'll rack it to a secondary after two weeks, or when fermentation slows to null. Then just leave it for 2-4 weeks and see how it is. If it's too sweet/spicy I'll try watering down small batches or adding little bits of whatever to a glass to see what happens, and bottle it up.

It's been almost two weeks since starting. Yesterday I racked into secondary off of quite a bit of sediment. Took a gravity reading and it was still about 1.03 so after racking I pitched another yeast packet. Now after looking over my notes I see that may not have been wise as it started out at 1.083 which means it is already over 7% abv. It surely would've settled down to around 1.02 without the additional yeast, but oh well. It's bubbling away again this morning and is clearing up nicely. From the smell of it yesterday while racking I can tell it didn't need anywhere near the amount of spices I used, and I will probably be watering it down by at least 200% before bottling. Considering it will be around 11% abv by the time it completes it should still be around 6% after diluting. I'm planning on giving it about 2 weeks in secondary before diluting and bottling. Still considering keeping 1 or 2 12oz bottles undiluted just for grins.

The past three days have been very interesting for this batch. It has been fermenting off and on quite randomly. I gave it a good shake this morning and that seems to have kick started fermentation again. Haven't taken another gravity reading yet; the smell of the spices seems to be getting stronger every day. I'll be bottling two other brews this Saturday so I'm gonna dilute this stuff and bottle it at the same time. I'll determine whether or not to carb with additional sugar after taking the final gravity reading.

As you can see below the color is lightening up nicely; looks almost like apple cider.

Day 1:


Day 16:


(Hopefully) the end result:

If it turns out super sweet, it could be good if you pour it over ice with some soda water to lighten it up.

mrhead said:

I think this concoction is some sort of mead and a gruit hybrid. It's not entirely gruit as there are no herbs or bittering agents, only spices; and its not exactly mead because there is no honey, only the malt extract.

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Finishing sweet doesn't make it mead any more than finishing dry would make it red wine.

It's a spiced, unhopped ale. If you're interested in odd things people used to drink, it sounds perfect for making buttered ale or wassail.

+1 I keep cringing every time you call it Mead.

I would let it ferment out, and see how "bad" it is. (In terms of overpowered spices). If it's really potent, you could brew a simple 4gal house pale ale with just base malt, a little Crystal 40, and a really simple 60 minute bittering addition. Then, ferment the house ale out, and once its done, rack to secondary and add the 1gal of unhopped spice beer.

Could turn into a very delicious drink if blended.

flowerysong said:

It's a spiced, unhopped ale. If you're interested in odd things people used to drink, it sounds perfect for making buttered ale or wassail.

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+1. Were I you, I'd bottle it still (no carbonation) and let it age until winter. Warm it gently in a crock-pot, and you'll have a killer pre-mulled "ale", using the word in the most traditional English sense.

Prior to the 16th century, most English malt liquor was unhopped, sweet and potent, and was invariably called "ale". As you can imagine, it didn't keep long, and was often adulterated to palatability with a variety of spices. Even after the Dutch brought hopped beer to England, it was (and is) often done to mull strong stock ale (the hopped version) with spices and serve it as a warming winter drink.

Here's to hoping it turns out drinkable!

Cheers,

Bob

Last post I said I would be bottling this today with my other batches, I decided to give it another two weeks before bottling. It's still fermenting a bit here and there; I'm sure it'll be done within two weeks.

Funny thought just came to my mind, since I was planning on diluting it into a couple gallons of water just before bottling, I wonder what I could do to get some bitters in there without having to run down to my lhbs? If anyone has any suggestions as to some bittering ingredients that can be purchased at your average grocer please let me know(ie: some kind of common fruit or vegetable). Otherwise I may have to make another dreaded trip to lhb in the next two weeks. Not that I don't enjoy homebrew shopping, I just hate having to drive to the other side of town; I could use some more yeast and dextrose though.......hmmm.....

Unfortunately, there aren't any gruit-appropriate or even sufficiently bittering herbs you can find at the local grocery. You really need an herb with an intense bitterness, like the traditional gruit herbs or (gasp) hops.

If you've got some hops lying around, you can simply boil a handful of pellets for a half-hour in an amount of water somewhere between a pint and quart. Add the resulting hops tea to the fermented ale to taste.

Cheers,

Bob