Allergic to Hops

[Flyin' Lion]

A buddy of mine just found out that he is allergic to the hops in beer and his favorite style is IPA. What kind of styles are out there that contain no hops and does anybody have a recipe (extract) for a NO hop beer?

My original thought was for him to switch to stouts (my favorite) but I think even the low hop profile in a stout is too much for him.

All suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[Brewtopia]

You can brew a Gruit

Gruit Ale (5 gallon batch)
Malts/Sugars
3 lbs. Dark caramel dry malt extract
0.5 lb. Light brown sugar
0.5 lb. Dark brown sugar
0.5 lb. Homemade invert candy sugar (medium color)
1 lb. Honey
Yeast
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen
Hops
No hops, of course, but here are the herb additions in a 75 minute boil:
1 oz. Dried Mugwort at 60 minutes
1 oz. Dried Yarrow at 60 minutes
2 g. Dried Sweet Gale at 10 minutes
0.2 oz. Dried Marsh Rosemary at 10 minutes

Or a Heather Ale

Heather Ale

Ingredients for 5 gallons

6 2/3 pounds crushed Scotch Ale Malt or 6 pounds U.S. 2-row malted barley
and 10 1/2 oz. Amber malt (crystal or Cara-type)
12 2/3 cups of lightly pressed flowering heather tips
3/10 oz. Irish moss (10 minutes)
2 3/5 gallons soft water
1/2-3/4 cup corn sugar (dextrose) to prime

O.G. - 1.048
F.G. - 1.011

Mash the malt at 153 degrees F for 90 minutes. Sparge to collect up to 5
1/5 gallons. Add about one-half gallon (2/3 of total) of lightly pressed
heather tips and boil vigorously for 90 minutes.

Run hot wort through a sieve filled with 2 cups (1/6 of total) of heather
tips into the fermenting vessel. Allow to cool and ferment at 61 degrees F
for seven to 10 days. A lager-type yeast is suggested. The original yeast
for Froach Ale was a Scotch ale yeast, but after years of cold slow
fermentation it has evolved into a strain with a bottom-fermenting bias.
When the gravity reaches 1.015, usually the fifth day, remove ½ gallon of
ale, add 2 cups (1/6 of total) of heather flowers and warm to 158 degrees
F. Cover and steep for 15 minutes, then return to the fermenter.

Condition the ale as usual. For those needing a hop fix, add 1 4/5 oz. Of
6% AAU hops for the 90 minute boil to provide bitterness that will not
unbalance the flavors. Late addition aroma hops would compete with the
delicate heather.

For technical buff the numerical specifications for the bottled ale are
alcohol by volume, 4.9 %; O.G., 1.048; pH 4.1; color 9 SRM (23 EBC) and
bitterness 21 IBUs.

What kind of reaction does he have to the hops? The reason I ask is, when I drink IPA's or any other high IBU beer, I start sneezing like a mad man. I'll walk the 8 blocks to my house from Elysian Brewery after a night of drinking their IPA and sneeze all the way home. Fortunately, I love to sneeze almost as much as I like hoppy beers so it works out well for me.
If he experiences serious side effects from hops however, I would be careful with giving him even a low IBU beer.

 

[runhard]

John Palmer and Randy Mosher both discuss in their books different bittering agents that preceded hops but Brewtopia's suggestion should produce a fine beers. No need for your friend to give up beer, he'll just need to give up mega-swill and learn to brew. Keep us posted on what recipes you try and find your friend likes and dislikes.

 

[Hopfan]

A buddy of mine just found out that he is allergic to the hops in beer and his favorite style is IPA. What kind of styles are out there that contain no hops and does anybody have a recipe (extract) for a NO hop beer?

My original thought was for him to switch to stouts (my favorite) but I think even the low hop profile in a stout is too much for him.

All suggestions are greatly appreciated.

If that happened to me, I'd be on the roof with a sniper rifle.

 

[the_bird]

Yuri was talking about experimenting with cranberry juice (the high-test natural stuff) as a bittering agent.

 

[Flyin' Lion]

Thanks Brewtopia for the reply, have you ever brewed this yourself? What whould you say it tastes like?

He gets a rash on his face and has problems with his sinuses, He has no interest in brewing his own beer so I figured that I would try brewing a batch for him.

 

[zoebisch01]

Artemisia Absinthum aka. wormwood is really bitter, along the lines of what Brewtopia suggests. It is very easy to grow and very bitter. You would really need to experiment with amounts and I am assuming tiny additions would be sufficient. I can send you a small amount dried if you'd like. It is in the garden, I think it is still doing alright even in the freeze, if not come spring I can send some. Just pm me. You could try to replicate an IPA, of course it aint gonna be the same. I wonder if something like hop extracts would bypass whatever he is allergic to? Just a thought. I also have the Yarrow. And I think I am growing Mugwort this year, or was it Motherwort....can't recall what seed I collected atm...

All those herbs are pretty decent and have floral characteristics, or at least some type of interesting flavoring. That is the real trick...trying to give it a floral characteristic. I have read of using Chamomile (Rogue has one but I think it has hops too).

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

Check out this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11294&highlight=gruit

You'll want to research Gruit beers. They're an entire world unto themselves.

 

[dibby33]

A buddy of mine just found out that he is allergic to the hops in beer and his favorite style is IPA. What kind of styles are out there that contain no hops and does anybody have a recipe (extract) for a NO hop beer?

My original thought was for him to switch to stouts (my favorite) but I think even the low hop profile in a stout is too much for him.

All suggestions are greatly appreciated.

That is no good.
For future generations he should not breed.

 

[Flyin' Lion]

Check out this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11294&highlight=gruit

You'll want to research Gruit beers. They're an entire world unto themselves.

D'oh, rookie mistake not searching first. Thanks CC.

 

[Erbium:YAG]

I can understand what your buddy is going through. A couple of years ago a friend of mine had an episode after drinking some Hop Devil where the room started spinning, next thing you know he's running through the neighborhood in his underwear, fell asleep in front of a church on a Sunday morning and to top it off he pissed himself. Lucky for him though it wasn't a reaction to the hops, he just had way too much to drink. Sorry for the sarcasm. I couldn't resist. That really sucks. If that happened to me, I'd probably be on the roof right next to Hopfan.

 

[Brewtopia]

Thanks Brewtopia for the reply, have you ever brewed this yourself? What whould you say it tastes like?

No, I haven't tried brewing these myself. I've had a couple of commercial examples of Heather Ale. One being the Fraoch Heather Ale which I remember as being very, floral, herbal with a slight spiciness. And Roots Organic Brewing's Heather Ale down in Portland. It was very floral, almost perfumey in it's character and sweeter than the Fraoch. Both interesting beers but not something that I'd probably order again. I've never had a Gruit, just read about it in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing. It may be worth it to you to pick up Randy's book. I find it to be a great resource for just reading about the properties of different herbs, spices, fruits, etc. and how they might be used in the brewing process.

 

[Cheesefood]

Wine, mead, cider.

 

[Desert_Sky]

If that happened to me, I'd be on the roof with a sniper rifle.

I would be right there next to you

 

[Genghis77]

Allergy to hops should present little problems. Simply take an antihistamine prior to drinking. The antihistamine should also allow the alcohol to give a better buzz. Novahistine is a highly recommended OTC antihistamine.

 

[Brewtopia]

I would be right there next to you

I would actually make sure I stood directly in his sights!

 

[Spyk'd]

I'm still planning to brew my gruit, probably May. I ended up getting some marsh rosemary and yarrow from Wild Weeds. The mugwort and sweet gale can be had from Midwest.

That's the exact recipe I'm using Brewtopia. You must have come across the same website. Of course, I am tweaking mine as well and taking out the brown sugar!



I'll post my adventure in my original thread when the time comes.

 

[Flyin' Lion]

Wine, mead, cider.

I actually did suggest these as alternatives, but would like to have something more similar to "beer."

 

[terrapinbrewer]

i wonder how lime peels work....

 

[Yuri_Rage]

A lot of lambic styles call for aged hops that have little to no AA content. I wonder if those would be acceptable...

 

[eschatz]

Woah! sucks to your assmar!

 

[idkid]

Wine, mead, cider.

What about trying BMC! I hear its low on the hops as well!

(sorta)

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Are you sure he is allergic to hops as a food product? If he is allergic to hop pollen (lupilin) as in a hay fever like responce or skin alergy then he is probably not allergic to it as a consumed product.

I'd double check with the Allergist. I didn't even know they had an allergy test for hops.

Not to mention the chemical changes to the hop oils in a boil. This sounds kinda far fetched to me. How was this allergy determined?

 

[mrfocus]

I actually did suggest these as alternatives, but would like to have something more similar to "beer."

Apfelwein has been known to please many people.

Also, I would look into stuff like coffee and chocolate, as well as coffee and chocolate malt. Seems to me that if you balanced it perfectly, the bitterness from those would be fine (although hard to balance).

 

[MediaMikes]

Thanks Brewtopia for the reply, have you ever brewed this yourself? What whould you say it tastes like?

He gets a rash on his face and has problems with his sinuses, He has no interest in brewing his own beer so I figured that I would try brewing a batch for him.

I have the same problem, but it's nothing that a zyrtec won't fix. I will never give up beer or the hops in it. You might have him try that, it works for me. I still get a tint of the redness, but the zyrtec helps a great deal.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

I a weird reaction too-

I usually get reall dizzy and try to get the wife naked. Its weird

 

[MediaMikes]

This is really odd, I have those as well. Except mine is the GF. Come to think of it it seems to affect her the same way too. I think we may be on to something here fellas.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Have you with "allergies" to hops actually seen an Allergist?

Not trying to be an A-hole here, but there is a reason their are only about 8 common food allergies.

Without a specific allergy test I would be very inclined the food allergy is not to hops but to something else. And I do know a thing or two about allergies.

 

[Chaos_Being]

I a weird reaction too-

I usually get reall dizzy and try to get the wife naked. Its weird

LOL!

I'm intriqued by the descriptions of Gruit...I may have to try that, just for the hell of it sometime.

 

[Bobby_M]

I had my first Gruit at a homebrewclub meeting and I was both repulsed and intrigued for the entire 12 sips I got in the tasting cup. I think I said "this is so weird" repeatedly. I'd drink it.