Dandelion Ale/wine...?

[Shifty11]

With spring establishing itself across the country, I am interested in making a dandelion beer or wine. I have two questions...

1) can I freeze the flower heads to later use and not ruin them?
2a) do the stems need to be cut off; only use the head of the flower?
2b) for the flower head, do I keep the green base of the flower head on or only use the yellow pedals?

Cheers!

 

[RPh_Guy]

1. Yes, freeze them.

2. Use only the petals.

3. Have fun collecting

 

[thedevilandgod]

I made a dandelion ale about a year ago. You can use whole dandelions (root and all!), but it’s best for the sixty minute addition. That’s how I did it, and it definitely added more complexity (earthy) than it would have been without.

 

[trevelynzx]

None of these replies make any sense.

 

[OpenSights]

I started my first dandelion wine attempt. Used just the flowers with the green, no stems, leaves or roots. Let it go with wild yeast for about 4 days then pitched champagne yeast. Researching into it more, only the petals are good to use.

Oh well. Going to let this one ride and pick some more before the next mowing.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

See this thread, which started with a recipe for nettle & dandelion, but which also has a "pure" dandelion recipe I came across :

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/welsh-nettle-beer.654937/#post-8591230

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I made a dandelion gruit once, with dandelion leaves providing the bitterness, instead of the hops. It turned out great.

 

[JimRausch]

I did a 1 gallon batch of Dandelion wine 3 years ago. It called for 7 cups of dandelion blossums, and yes, just the yellow petals, no green. That is a chitload of dandelions. I did harvest them into ziplock bags and froze them until I accumulated enough. But never again, unless I hire neighborhood kids to do the harvesting for me. I opened 2 bottles a year later and wasn't terribly impressed. I guess it's time to see how it aged.