Elderflower beer

[Uncruliar]

I am lucky enough to have an elderflower tree in my garden so I am thinking about an elderflower beer. There don't seem to be many elderflower recipes around so I wonder if anyone has one that they could share. The few recipes that I have found all seem to use either an elderflower extract or dried elderflower. Obviously I need to know how much fresh elderflower to use.

 

[kev211]

I would aim for something lighter that will really let the flower shine. Something like a blonde, since elderflower is such a light floraly adjunct it should work nicely.

One thing to consider/watch out for... To me, elderflower shares a lot of similarities with lavendar in its floral qualities. And one thing that Ive learned from lavendar is that, in beer it tastes like soap (ask me how I know).

Do you keg? If so, heres what I would do... Brew whatever beer you decide on. Make an elderflower tincture, transfer the beer to keg, carbonate and serve. In the first pint, drip a few drops of the tincture. If its good, pop the keg and add the tincture. If it tastes like soap, make a cocktail with the tincture and come back here and thank me

 

[BGHSmt7]

I made a gruit with .8oz lavender flowers at flameout in a 3 gallon batch and it was wayyyyyy too much. I just made another batch and I put .3oz in a 4 gallon batch this time and it still might be too much. Be careful with the fresh flowers.; they can become overpowering. I'd definitely recommend making a tincture.

 

[Uncruliar]

Thank you both for your replies.

Do you keg? If so, heres what I would do... Brew whatever beer you decide on. Make an elderflower tincture, transfer the beer to keg, carbonate and serve. In the first pint, drip a few drops of the tincture. If its good, pop the keg and add the tincture. If it tastes like soap, make a cocktail with the tincture and come back here and thank me

I don't keg, I bottle so I will have to work out the right amount before I add it.

I made a gruit with .8oz lavender flowers at flameout in a 3 gallon batch and it was wayyyyyy too much. I just made another batch and I put .3oz in a 4 gallon batch this time and it still might be too much. Be careful with the fresh flowers.; they can become overpowering. I'd definitely recommend making a tincture.

Are those amounts for dried flowers?

I was hoping to be able to just use fresh flowers for simplicity. However, maybe I will have to go down the tincture route.

I have also sent off an email to a local microbrewery to ask them what they do with their two elderflower beers - both delicious and not at all soapy!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Gruit, Belgian Blonde, or perhaps Scottish Ale? A wheat beer would possibly be good, too.

I have seen recipes that add Lavender, Rose petals etc. In those cases, the flowers (dried) are added at the end of the boil, after knock-out. These were for Belgian Blonde-type ales.

Hope this helps -

Ron

 

[BGHSmt7]

Correct, I used dried flowers. If you're using fresh, you could prolly get away with using a bit more since the flavor isn't as concentrated.

 

[jphalabuk]

I made one with 1 oz of dried flowers, and it was too much-I hated it.

 

[Uncruliar]

I had an email a couple of days ago from Green Jack, a local microbrewery. They use 1kg of fresh flower heads in 36 gallons of a pale ale base recipe. Which works out at about 1oz per imperial gallon.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Greg Hughes lists one in 'Home Brew Beer' that I'm keen to try.

Elderflower Ale:
6gal/23L batch; OG 1045; FG 1011; ABV 4.5%; 36.6 IBU's
4.3Kg (9lb 8oz) Pale malt
100g (4oz) Crystal Malt
16g (1/2oz) Chocolate malt
Mash at 65C/149F for an hour

Boil
56g/2oz challenger for 60mins
15g (1/2oz) elderflowers (dried) for 15mins
28g (1oz) Fuggle for 10mins
17g (2/3oz) challenger at flameout

Wyeast 1275 (Thames Valley Ale) yeast.

I'm not sure how the fresh elderflowers would substitute for the dried. Is there some part of the flower that is toxic?

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Another option is to run the worth through a strainer that has X amount of elderflowers, like a tea; might be worth a try.

 

[Uncruliar]

Greg Hughes lists one in 'Home Brew Beer' that I'm keen to try.

Elderflower Ale:
6gal/23L batch; OG 1045; FG 1011; ABV 4.5%; 36.6 IBU's
4.3Kg (9lb 8oz) Pale malt
100g (4oz) Crystal Malt
16g (1/2oz) Chocolate malt
Mash at 65C/149F for an hour

The chocolate malt in that grain bill is a bit of a surprise. The consensus seems to be that elderflower works best in pale beers. Having said that, it is a very small amount of chocolate malt.

I'm not sure how the fresh elderflowers would substitute for the dried. Is there some part of the flower that is toxic?

The leaves and stalks of elderflowers are poisonous so you have to use just the flower heads.

Another option is to run the worth through a strainer that has X amount of elderflowers, like a tea; might be worth a try.

Green Jack add their elderflowers at flame out. Running the wort through a strainer full of elderflowers might work. I guess it might give a weaker favour. Might have to try a few variations.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Running the wort through a strainer full of elderflowers might work. I guess it might give a weaker flavour.

The recipe that I have I for a Chamomile Blonde; it recommends this method using 1 cup of chamomile for 1 gallon of beer That might be a place to start for elderflowers.

 

[PitRow]

This is an 1881 recipe for Elderflower wine but I think you could draw some parallels to beer with it. Seems that it's a similar method to what we'd call flameout hop additions. I would think the same principle, or dry 'flowering' would work with most light beers.

To make Elder-flower Wine, or English Frontignac.
Boil 18 lbs. of white powdered sugar in 6 galls. of water and 2 whites of eggs well beaten, skim it, and put in a quarter of a peek of elder-flowers; do not keep them on the fire. When cool stir it and put in 6 spoonfuls of lemon juice, 4 or 5 of yeast, and beat well into the liquor; stir it well every day, put 6 lbs. of the best raisins, stoned, into the cask, and tun the wine. Stop it close and bottle in 6 months. When well kept, this wine will pass very well for Frontignac.