Gruit fail?

[drchris83]

Uring my last couple batches I decided I'd use the second runnings for more experimental beer, read: gruit. I didn't have access to sweet gale or labrador tea, which is why I had to omit them (that may well be my problem). My other ingredients were yarrow (handful of leaves) and sage (5-10 leaves), and for another batch I als used comparable amounts of yarrow and sage, but also a couple juniper berries, a small stem of rosemary, and a couple of leaves of alehoof. Both batches were 10l (2.64 gal).
The first one caught something and is still sitting in secondary, waiting to transform into a lambic. The other one was ready to bottle yesterday. Of course I had to sample and noticed - among a weird, hard to describe, kind of meaty, beefy smell, a certain tartness or even sourness. My questions are as follows:
1. I am reasonably certain the batch was not infected. Is this tartness characteristic of gruit?
2. Is this meaty or beefy smell the result of an unbalanced herb mixture? If so, what would be a good recipe for folks without access to gale or labrador tea?

 

[jonmohno]

All lemon in my sweet gale/healthfood store dried yarrow Gruit ale. Different,tart,quenching,refreshing light. I got a kind a potatoey smell which I noticed more with the pilsner extract I was boiling,same kind of smell. It was more potatoey maybe thinking potroast,to me. Ive read the lack of hops is due to the tart/lemonness.

 

[ChessRockwell]

a certain tartness or even sourness

That's how mine came out - sour and awful tasting. You don't realize how much hops contribute until you try something without them. Others have been successful, there's a few good threads on here...

Here's one https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/herb-information-337386/

 

[drchris83]

I wouldn't want to say it's awful tasting, just unexpected - in fact, it is kind of refreshing.
My question was: is this typical?
Btw: swmbo thought it was reminiscent of mulled apfelwein. She poured a bit I left in the carboy for fear of catching trub, microwaved it and added a teaspoon of sugar - it tasted great, even though she did get a little trub.
I simply can't imagine that's the way you're supposed to be enjoying gruit...

 

[drchris83]

Update: after some further ageing, the malt begins to shine a little more as the herbs mellow out. I'm almost tempted to crack a bottle, but will wait for another couple weeks.

 

[LexusChris]

I love me some gruit ale!

When you use herbs in beer, they will be very strong & pronounced while the beer is young. I prefer to age mine 6-months before drinking .. at 12 months they really shine!

In my experience, Yarrow will definitely give you that tart dry finish. It works great when you have a very strong malty or sweet beer to start with. (I have been using an Old Ale recipe as my base). I've also used Yarrow with meads for some really nice effects.

I've not used junipers, alehoof or cooking sage. (props for trying alehoof!, will have to add it to my list to try out!) I wonder if sage, which is often used to cook meats, is what you are associating with 'meaty' flavors?

The other trouble with gruit recipe creation, is that you can easily over-power a beer with too much of any good herb. I would wait 6 months before passing judgement. I have a gruit recipe on my recipe list to the left, which was 3 iterations before I really thought it was 'just right'. It uses sweet gale, wormwood & yarrow. Sweet gale is a wonderful herb, and I think it adds a lot to the recipe. Try to find some online.

Will be interesting to see how these 2 batches turn out in another few months!

Good luck!
--LexusChris