Gonna brew a honey basil ale and have a question...

Hey everyone...

I'm going to begin the brewing process for my third brew...a honey basil ale. Take a look at the recipe below...I have all of the ingredients. Except, I have fresh basil, and not SWEET BASIL.

The question I have is, should I steep the basil, or should I just toss it in?

RECIPE: http://www.tastybrew.com/newrcp/detail/507

Since the recipe calls for fresh basil I am sure what you have will be fine. The recipe states to add the basil at 5 minutes to end of boil so just toss it in at the right time and you should be good to go.

let us know how it turns out!

I can't really comment on the differences that different varietals of basil will give you, but the recipe says to toss it into your kettle five minutes before flameout. That's pretty standard for herbal additions.

Edit: too slow, kept for posterity anyway

So...you would just chop the leaves up and toss them in? No tea bag?

ColoradoBrewMeister said:

So...you would just chop the leaves up and toss them in? No tea bag?

Click to expand...

The recipe doesn't mention chopping them, so I wouldn't even do that.

You would leave the stems on and all?

sure, depending on how it smells after a few days, i might dry hop it as well with them... have you tried the bison brewing version of this? it was amazing, my SWMBO had it months ago and still talk about it

ColoradoBrewMeister said:

Hey everyone...

I'm going to begin the brewing process for my third brew...a honey basil ale. Take a look at the recipe below...I have all of the ingredients. Except, I have fresh basil, and not SWEET BASIL.

The question I have is, should I steep the basil, or should I just toss it in?

RECIPE: http://www.tastybrew.com/newrcp/detail/507

Click to expand...

Cannot connect to database.

If you bought the basil, it's probably sweet basil. It's the most common. Other varieties (bought or planted) would be called by their name (e.g. "Thai Basil").

This is my recipe from tastybrew. This is my wife's only beer request that I keep on tap - as long as she has the HBA, it's all good! Though she has requested a belgian witbier... which is ready to keg.

As to the basil - I just toss it in with 5 min left, stems and all. Most times I leave it in through the cooling, though I've taken it out at flame out. I've not noticed a significant difference either way. I keep bumping up the honey malt - last batch (mid february) I had 1.5 lb honey malt - and might bump it up again for the next.

On a related note - everyone who has it loves it!

I've not tried adding honey yet - though that might prove interesting and good.

Enjoy!

and... the store I go to has the sweet basil - my preference - though I'm sure others (just basil) would be fine.

fwiw too...

Kegged:
CDA
Honey basil
ESB
Scottish Wee Heavy
Empty Keg

Primary:
Imperial IPA (own recipe)
IIPA/CDA blend (experiment)

Secondary:
Barleywine
Belgian Witbier

Forgive the newbie question, but is this considered a partial mash brew?

Bembury... no worries! I haven't posted here but for today but have taken and contributed much from other sites.

Yes - this is a partial mash. Last summer I converted over to all grain. I use Denny Conn's cheap and easy mash tun, found a couple kegs, and never looked back. Aside from making, IMHO, better beer - the cost is way less. my average price per 5-6 gallons is somewhere just over $20. I reuse yeast cakes, buy hops in bulk, buy grain in a 55lb bag... if you haven't - you should consider all grain! It's easier than people think!

Marc0, Awesome of you to post on this, being that it was your recipe. Stick around the forums, its an awesome community. The honey basil ale sounds pretty interesting too, I may have to try it. Can you describe the taste/style any more? I read the description on the recipe page, but I'm not familiar with "Pooh Brew".

Also, would have to agree about the all grain. You can definitely make a batch for cheap if you buy bulk and reuse yeast. BIAB (brew in a bag) is actually a great all grain method also, that you only need 1 big pot and a burner. No mash tun or anything else. Very quick and efficient. Its been taking my attention away from my keggle/mash tun setup, just because its easier to setup & cleanup.

Marc0 - thanks for chiming in! I am currently formulating a recipe with basil and have a few questions for you if you have the time to answer.

1 - I am curious if you grow your own basil or if you buy it from somewhere. I grow mine, so I am looking for how to measure/weigh the basil. My leafs are much smaller than stuff you buy from the store.

2 - how "basily" is the beer? Is it mostly in the nose, or flavor? Do you notice any sweetness or bitterness from the basil?

Thanks again!

@chapa - a friend gave me the recipe and he got it from this brewstore up here in WA that i don't know if is still open. anyway - that was their name for their particular version of the recipe. i changed it a little as i've made it and then gone all grain. as far as the taste - (i'm not an expert taster at all ) i suppose i'd describe it as a 'lighter' brown ale with varying sweetness from the honey malt (last ag batch i did had 2 lb of honey malt). the basil is there start to finish - mostly on the nose but also on in taste. not overpowering at all - but a pleasant aroma and taste through the whole glass. i wouldn't say the basil contributes muchin the way of sweetness or bitterness. imho - it is a little 'green' upon kegging but after a couple weeks under pressure it ages very nicely - not green as in bad - but as in needs to age a bit. it's good on the first pour and just gets better.

@aseg - i buy it from a local grocery store. i never seem to time it to brew when the farmer's market is running downtown but the basil i get is great. it's live - roots and all -in the bags. weighing/measuring - scale at the store, though i've got it down to needing a bunch and a half (not helpful i know but that's about the size they sell). i also got a cheap balance from target to wal-mart or somewhere. it measures in oz and g and has a nice bowl on it. i want to say it was about $20. extra basil i use to make pesto. see above for taste.

Wow, this sounds delicious. Honey and Basil are two flavors I love. DO you know of any recipes for this that use extract? I'm only on my first brew and haven't made it to partial mash let alone AG.

Thanks!

the original post on this thread has a link to the recipe i posted at another site. at that site it is the partial mash recipe - very easy to do!

My wedding IPA, I'm calling it: Hoppin 'N To It

I'm interested in an AG version. Anyone have a link to a recipe?

i'll put my AG version of it on this thread soon...

Cool thanks, I went ahead and bought the grain today, used all the recommended specialty grains from the OP's recipe and took a guess at 7# of 2-row to replace the extract. In curious to see what yours looks like

Be careful!!

I bought some basil at the store last summer assuming it would be sweet and it was NOT sweet basil, it was very spicy and powerful. (My ratatouille was quite good still, but awfully powerful)

Just make sure you get the sweet kind, it makes a world of a difference!

I would like to give this a shot. I've never done a partial mash though.

They aren't that hard and you dont need much extra equip. If you look in the stickies in beginners brewing, Deathbrewer has a thread with very detailed instructions on how to partial mash. Be careful though, once you see how easy it is, all grain is next

Ps- any chance of seeing that AG recipe? I'm getting ready to brew in an hour or so and would love to be able to compare notes

I've only brewed extract recipes thus far, but I'm looking to explore a bit beyond those parameters. When reading the recipe from the link, I see that it calls for:

71.4 % 5.00 Light Dry Malt Extract
14.3 % 1.00 Canadian Honey Malt (Gambrinus in original recipe)
7.1 % 0.50 Wheat Malt
3.6 % 0.25 Dextrin
3.6 % 0.25 Flaked Barley

I've located (I think) most of the ingredients through the various supply stores. The directions say, "Tea of Honey malt, dextrine, wheat malts, and flaked barley. Mash at 155 for 40 min raise to 168 over 30 min." Could someone help translate these for an heretofore extract brewer? Thank you!

sorry all.. sidetracked with a list from SWMBO yesterday and never made it back (she's enjoying a glass right now while i'm enjoying my CDA). here's what i brewed last time:

Marco's Honey Basil Ale
9.00 lb 2-row
2.00 lb honey malt
0.61 lb wheat malt
0.60 lb dextrin
0.61 lb flaked barley

mash at 154 F for about 90 min (i hit 155)
sparge with 170 F and collect wort

bring to boil and:

add 1.00 oz Goldings (5%) for 90 min
add 1.00 oz Goldings at 30 min left
add 1.00 oz Goldings at 15 min left
add irish moss at 10 min left
add 2.00 oz fresh sweet basil at 5 min left

I put my chiller in at 15 min left or so, cooled to about 78 F and siphoned to my bucket and left basil in keggle, pitched into my bucket with US-05 (i've used WLP001 - california ale - and like it as well).

primary for 7 days, brewed my iipa and pitched that on the honey basil yeast cake.
secondary til empty keg.

The directions say, "Tea of Honey malt, dextrine, wheat malts, and flaked barley. Mash at 155 for 40 min raise to 168 over 30 min." Could someone help translate these for an heretofore extract brewer? Thank you! Bembury
Curious about those things too.

Part of my hold up with going all grain and even partial mash is time. I have a three yearold son and partial mash appears to add 90 minutes to brewing and at this time, any additional time spent on beer making might upset my wife. That said, I would like to try partial mash and eventually all grain. Right now, time constraints prevent that. My son is getting more interested in brewing with me, so maybe in the next year so I will be able to try it.

So, I have been trying to work out an extract Honey Basil brew inspired by this. I was thinking of something on the paler side though.

I was thinking something along the lines of:

Specialty Grains
.75 lbs Gambrinus
.25 lbs Briess Carapils

60 minute boil
fermentables
3 lbs of pilsen LME
3 lbs of amber DME or 3 lbs of pale light DME, haven't decided yet.
1 lb of wheat DME
1 lb honey

hops
2 oz East Kent Holdings
1 oz 60 mins .5 oz 30 mins .5 oz 15 mins.

2 oz fresh sweet basil 5 mins of boil

WL cali ale yeast

the way i used to do the partial was to put the grains in a plastic mesh bag and put that in my boil kettle with water at 155 and hold it there for at least 40 min and then raise the temp to 168 for 'mash out'. i then washed the grains with about a half gallon of boiling water (a tea kettlefull) until the color ran mostly clear. i did my partial batches on the kitchen stove (now i've been kicked to the garage or the deck - depending on the weather) for a long time until SWMBO started to complain about the smell of boiling wort . it does add time to the process, but IMHO, i found partial mashes to be significantly better than extract. the other thing i found was that i really liked using dry malt extract over liquid malt - for me the flavor is much better using dry malt.

fwiw... i'd probably go with the light DME over amber

i bumped up the hops a bit (i'm a hophead and i'm slowing converting my wife) - though this is not supposed to be a hoppy beer. the goldings compliment the basil nicely.

i usually toss in the whole basil... stems and leaves (never noticed that much difference when i use just leaves and i can save some of the leaves for pesto)

@ENS - if your wife's a beer drinker... tell her this one is for her! if she likes it (as mine does) it mitigates some of the time - as long as you keep her in beer! i started including my son on brewdays when he was about 3 (he's now 7 and knows some of his beer styles - though in his mind beer is gross - which is just fine for now - it's just fun to have him involved) ... he'd add hops or irish moss or whatever to involve him. as far as the recipe... go for it! let us know how it turns out.

thanks..
I am going to try it as an extract and see how my wife likes it. I was thinking of this as a beer for my wife. I try to brew her beers, like you said. She likes beer, it's not her favorite alc bevy. She likes craft beer though. Never catch her drinking miller or bud.

I let my son pour in the hops and stir. Haven't let him do the extracts yet. I can only imagine a cloud of malt blowing in the wind.... lol

The other day, I found some grass in my wort when I was racking to the primary. I saw him thinking about it, but I thought thwarted all attempts.. I guess not. I can only hope it will add to the flavor.

I am trying to play with the recipe on beersmith now.. first time on beersmith. I don't totally get the grains yet. I don't see gambrinus or briess carapils.

I like the amount of hops and I think with the 60 minutes, will lower the hoppiness a tad. I think the pale is what I am going to use too.

I was also wondering what a small amt of lemon or lime zest would do to the flavor. I know those flavors go well with basil.

This looks really good. I think i am going to do this as my first AG batch. I just built a mash tun out of a 10 gal rubbermaid drink cooler and am stoked to use it.

For any of you who have said you wanted to try this one... have you and did you like it?

Basil and garlic are two things I can not get enough of. I'm so brewing this.

I brewed a lemon basil pale ale. I'm bottling it some time this week. When I racked to secondary, it was a little overwhelming. That said, it was magically good. I'm eager to see what a little more age will do for it.

getting ready to brew an extract version tonight. I had to slightly alter my recipe.
my specialty grains are the same,
.75 lb of gambrinus
.25 lb of briess carapils
-
fermentables
3 lbs pilsen lme
3 lbs wheat dme (change from pale light dme)
1 lb briess dme
1 lb honey
-
hops
2 oz willamette
-
flavorings
fresh sweet basil
lemon and lime zest
-
WL American california ale yeast.
-
instructions
steep specialty grains for up to 25 mins to 160-170*
turn off burner, remove and drip out the water.
-
heat wort to boil.
turn off burner
add fermentables
-
bring to boil
add 1 oz of hops - 60 mins
add .5 oz hops - 35 mins
add .5 hops - 15 mins
add basil and zest - 5 mins
- cool to less than 80*
bring wort to 5 gallons
add yeast

brew in process

let me know how the extract version of this goes, quite interested for me woman myself too!

I think you could skip the gambrinus, as well as the honey. I put honey in mine and it just made it odd. Also - I used 4 oz fresh lemon basil leaves @0, which I think was 2-3 oz too many. . Age seems to be helping though.