Heather Ale Recipe

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ftlstrings

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I just brewed this up an hour ago and it tasted pretty good, if not quite bitter enough.

7 lb LME
1 lb Local honey
1/2 lb special aromatic malt
1/2 lb caravienna malt
1.5 oz Heather tips (45 min)
.5 grams Sweet Gale (45 min)
1 oz Heather tips (10 min)

Safale S-04 yeast

This was a quickie. Decided to not add any hops, but to put in sweet gale instead. We'll see in a week or so how it turns out. It tasted sweet (duh) at 1.065 OG, and there was very little bitterness to it. I went light on the Gale, due to ample warnings (e.g. "a little goes a long long way"), but now i fear that I may not have added enough. No worries though!

I'm debating putting in 1-2 more oz dried Heather tips in secondary to "dry hop." Any thoughts there?

I'll post when I have tasted the 'final' product.

Mike.
 
Is this a Fraoch recipe? It looks very tasty! I had Fraoch a few times about 7 years ago, but haven't been able to find it recently. I brewed an extract version once, but I ended up using some hops with it. I think the original had no hops, just used the heather for bittering.

Let us know how it turns out! I might try it again some time!
 
The wort tasted similar to Fraoch, albeit sweeter. Gave it a little heat blanket last night and it has a nice Krausen forming.
 
I made what I'm calling a Yule Gruit that is hopless and similar to your recipe. Mine started at ~1.070 and is currently sitting at 1.022. I used Mugwort at 60 min and 20 min, Heather at 60 min and flameout, and Sweet Gale at 10 minutes.

My grain bill used a decent amount of crystal malt and some roast. It doesn't taste as bitter as I was anticipating, but it is actually quite good. It tastes like the descriptions of Fraoch that I have read, although I've never had the pleasure of tasting the real thing.

I bet your brew will be pretty tasty!
 
I've not used heather (yet), but have used sweet gale & wormwood. Sweet gale has a great flavor & aroma! You could add some Wormwood or Mugwort at the begining of the boil for bittering.

You can also try a tincture of either wormwood or mugwort by soaking a teaspoon or two in few ounces of vodka for 2 weeks. Then add a drop or two to a pint, and see how you like the flavors.
:mug:
--lexuschris
 
Uff Da Picobrewery

:off: Do people in Albuquerque understand the meaning of Uff Da? :off:
 
Well, I kegged it up tonight. Not too sure what to think of it. I ended up "dry hopping" it with ~1 oz. of heather tips for a week+. I also had to put a temp blanket on it to raise the temps when fermentation took off kinda slowly.

FG ended up about 1.020. A bit sweeter than I wanted, but that's okay. The yeast cake was the firmest that I have had since I moved to Oregon. It was super firm. (technical term, there)

The beer has a peculiar taste and aroma, almost like a Hefe. The mouthfeel is appropriate, with a 'different' dry feeling to it. I really am not partial to Hefe's, as much as I want to be, so this beer is going to take some getting used to.

I am slowly writing this, taking more sips from my hydrometer tube. I like it, which is saying a lot given the old banana flavor. The dryness is almost like the tannin of a dryer white wine with just enough sweetness at the start, almost like a Pinot Grigio, but beery. really beery.


Hrrm.....
 
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