Bittering without hops?

[Brewing Clamper]

I know this has been brought up before, but hey, what hasn't? Anyway, I've had Moonlight Brewing's Porter that used redwood tips instead of hops, and I've heard some of you use spruce tips. I was wondering what other herbs and/or stuff you've used to bitter a beer without hops. I have about 3lbs of indian corn I got from a local organic place and I was thinking of trying something similar to the chicha from the show everyone is talking about. No, I'm not gonna chew it or spit in it. I was going to germinate the grain. At first I considered hops but then I figured it would be a good opportunity to use other ingredients. So what's your take? What have you used? What do you recommend I use? What's your pin number? Etc.

 

[Edcculus]

Search for "Gruit"

 

[dcp27]

havent done it myself, but juniper berries and wormwood can be used too

 

[king]

I used dandelion root in a little 1 gallon 2nd runnings batch that I did not to long ago. It definitely bittered really well. Almost too much because now the beer just tastes like dandelions. So use liberally. I got it in the bulk section at whole foods. Hope this helps.

 

[shamrockdoc]

havent done it myself, but juniper berries and wormwood can be used too

+1 on this search a Finnish beer called Sahti. They use juniper branches inside the mashtun to filter the wort. Then in the 15-20 min boil use juniper berries and juniper twigs for bittering. Those crazy Finnish bastards!