Bedtime brew

[joshesmusica]

I feel like I came up with a concept for a beer, but have no idea if it's been done before, or if it will even work.

I often have a difficult time sleeping. I don't like the idea of pills, but I thoroughly enjoy the idea of beer.

My idea is to make a strong saison or belgian strong ale or like duvel. nice and crisp, but the idea would be to get a bit of the warmth from the alcohol in it. Then have quite a bit of mid- to late-hops (because I don't want to boil off too many of the important oils and acids) since they also supposedly induce drowsiness. Then use chamomile in some way, shape, or form. Likely late, again, so as to not boil off most of its properties. Then I would likely serve it at around 8-10C (46-50F).

What do you think? Could something like this be pulled off? Has something like this already been done? Got any solid recipe ideas to go off of?

 

[Teromous]

Chamomile is actually pretty popular in some Witbier recipes. If you want to increase the hop presence like you mentioned, you could do a White IPA style beer which is essentially a hoppy Witbier.

 

[joshesmusica]

not really looking for as much hops as an ipa. not so bitter. mainly just a little aroma, and making sure those compounds survived the boil. same with the chamomile.

 

[Steady-Hopper]

Alcohol prevents oneself from getting a proper REM sleep. When I drink a few beers, I often feel tired but get little quality sleep; I would suggest an alternative option. That being said, a hoppy, low abv, chamomile saison sounds rather nice.

 

[madscientist451]

Agree with alcohol not providing quality sleep. Also drinking a beer before bed will make you want to get up and hit the bathroom.
I usually try to stop drinking a few hours before I go to bed and drink some water as well.
Experimenting with herbs and other unusual ingredients is a great idea and is what home brewing is all about, so go for it.

 

[joshesmusica]

ok, so opposite of what i would've originally believed, if i really want to make this happen it'll basically be a slightly alcoholic tea. so a session saison with hops and camomile.
now to find a sessionable saison...

 

[FoCobrewguy]

My lady drinks the sleepy time tea from celestial with like 3 to 4 hop pellets from leftovers I have. She says it works great to help her sleep and wake up feeling better. What about steeping tea in the boil or slightly before to get the whole blend of herbs in the beer?

 

[ong]

You could also use Teamaker hops to provide some of those alleged medicinal qualities without much bittering.

 

[fimpster]

I just had an idea!! Ambien IPA!