No hop beer recipes?

I've got a friend that enjoys brewing and drinking home brew. he recently discovered he has a hop allergy. anyone got a recipe with no hops thats drunkable.

can you use some sort of an alternative to bitter the beer? if not you could try doing some recipes with almost no hop profile to them and just skipping out on the hops

only thing off hand that i'm pretty sure has no hops is an authentic sahti beer

I'm in a similar situation - I've taken it upon myself to try to brew something without hops (same thing; friend has an allergy), and so far the best suggestion I have from another friend is a book called Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers. They've brewed several batches (they say successfully with yarrow, although I have not tried it). I have yet to pick this book up, but plan on experimenting with it.

I've read that you can use spruce tips instead of hops, but have never tried it.

beer w/no hops = gruit.
There should be some other threads/ recipies.
good luck

Check this site out: www.gruitale.com/intro_en.htm

Very informative and provides some great hop alternatives with some neat history and recipes!

+1 on the gruit. It's not for everybody, but I did two batches that were very nice. Yarrow certainly works, and if you can get sweet gale and marsh rosemary those help as well. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers is a good resource but I wouldn't use it as your only source. And don't mention that book around here too much

lowtones84 said:

+1 on the gruit. It's not for everybody, but I did two batches that were very nice. Yarrow certainly works, and if you can get sweet gale and marsh rosemary those help as well. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers is a good resource but I wouldn't use it as your only source. And don't mention that book around here too much

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I gather it's just fine as a recipe source, provided you don't mistake it for history.

Yeah, look up recipes for gruit.

If you can find it, there is a fantastic commercial example of gruit being sold.

Fritz Briem 13th Century Grut Beer

i've heard that settlers to new word [USA] used acorns for bittering but I don't know how they will work as a preservative. I appreciate the links and book info.

TennesseeJed said:

i've heard that settlers to new word [USA] used acorns for bittering but I don't know how they will work as a preservative. I appreciate the links and book info.

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Yeah supposedly that's why the pilgrims landed on Plymouth rock instead of Virginia. They ran out of beer and the first thing they used was acorns

teucer said:

I gather it's just fine as a recipe source, provided you don't mistake it for history.

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Right - this is simply one source for ideas.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/795

Scott Mansfield talks with the BN about brewing with ginger. Apparently it provides a pretty tasty beverage.

I believe this is his actual website where you may be able to find recipe's:

http://strongwaters.net/

Hope this helps!