Sacred and Herbal Healing Mr. Beer

[bneshe01]

Someone gave me a Mr. Beer kit and I've been reading the Buhner book and decided to try an experiment. Not too optimistic about how this will turn out though.

Mugwort heather pale ale
Mr beer west coast pale ale hme (expired 10/13)
1 oz dried mugwort
1 oz heather
1 cup honey
1/2 cup dme
Irish moss
Boil all 45 min
Reconstitute to 2 gallons
Nottingham ale yeast

 

[TheHappyHopper]

Sounds interesting. I'm not sure what flavor the mugwort or heather give to the beer (especially when paired with the hops in the HME), but I have read that have successfully been used in beers before. As long as the HME isn't actually expired to where it has legitimately gone bad (as opposed to "expired" because it is past it's "best by" date), then I bet it ends up drinkable.

 

[bneshe01]

A little thin/lite. Should have used more DME perhaps. Not a bad flavor. I like gruits in theory but never had any that many that tasted any good (Faroch heather ale being the exception). Didn't even expect this to be drinkable so I'll count it a success.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

The nottingham ale yeast attenuates highly (ferments around 80-85% of wort), This can hurt your body, leaving a thinner beer. I'd recommend mashing carapils, but since you aren't all grain, maybe try a lower attenuating yeast like S-04 which ferments 70-73%, leaving more body, but making less ABV.