Heresy alert - fig leaf "primative beer"

[GeneDaniels1963]

I am reading the book, The Wildcrafting Brewer: Creating Unique Drinks and Boozy Concoctions from Nature's Ingredients, by Pascal Baudar. He has some really unusual stuff. One of his premises is that in ancient times "beer" was made from about anything that could be fermented. And so he has a category called "primative beer" which covers a lot of things that are beer-ish.

Here is the basic recipe for 1 gal of primative fig leaf beer:

30 young fig leaves, washed
1 lb piloncillo (mexican brown sugar)
1 cup leftover "pear butter" (just what I happened to have on hand)
10oz toasted oats steeped for 30 min (for mouth feel and taste) [edited]
1 cup bittering tea (I am using a local wild tea)
Nottingham ale yeast

1) Boil 1 gal water, then add fig leaves and cover to steep for 2-3 hrs.
2) Squeeze out leaves and remove
3) Reheat and dissolve piloncillo
4) Pour into fermentation jug and place under airlock

The fig leaves do not add any fermentables, but they do have a significant antiseptic agency, so it takes a while for the yeast to get started, over 48 hrs. (I might try a yeast starter next time).

I did my first test taste today and it was very good, maybe not completely "beer-like," but certainly not cidery. Almost like vanilla, but somehow a little nutty. I am very intrigued. I plan to bottle carb half of it and hold the other half in a 1/2 growler for now until I see how it goes. If great, then I will bottle the rest. If not, then I will blend it.

And speaking of blending, I am really thinking about making a simple batch of ale, with the fig leaves as a flavoring spice. What kind of DME would be the best palate for this to play on?

 

[Miraculix]

Use the lightest dme you can get, ie. Pilsener or extra light. It will help to showcase the leafs.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Good thought. I am expecting that the leaves would be easily overpowered by malt flavor, although they might play well together?

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Well, it still needs to bottle condition for a few weeks. But from what I test tasted off the trubs, I can say this turned out really nice. Although, honestly it does not really taste like beer. It is clearly a cider, but the oats give it some body and that is really nice. About 6.5% ABV.

Tasting notes:

Carmel
Vanilla
Pear
It is slightly sweet, not sure why. Maybe the antiseptic qualities of the fig the leaves caused Nottingham to crap out a little early?

I will make it again, but next time I will replace some of the piloncillo with amber malt DME. I think that would give me a more beer-like beverage.

Either way, fig leaves and piloncillo sugar are a great flavor combo. (if you can't find the piloncillo, you could probably use some molasses and get similar results)

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

I am trying to brew another 1 gal batch, but a different version. This time I wanted a true ale so I used amber DME for about 50% of the fermentables. However, I think I used too many fig leaves, their antiseptic quality has stalled the ferment at 1.049 (SG was 1.080). I have tried repitching and placing on warming pad, nothing. SG did not move for 3 days. I really want a lot of the fig leaf taste, but I am going to have to do something drastic.

Since I don't have any more DME laying around, I am making up a huge starter with piloncillo, almost 1/2 gal. I will add a cup or so of the existing wort to give the starter some of the same character of the wort. Once it is fermenting nicely, I will remove 1/2 gal of the existing wort and replace with the starter. I am hoping that will get it back to fermenting.

I know it will alter the taste quite a bit from what I was originally wanting, but I don't know what else to do. I don't have time to go to the brew shop, and on Monday I leave for 2 weeks. I got to get her back to fermenting over the weekend of the whole thing is ruined.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

to resurrect an old thread...

I made the second batch of figleaf flavored primitive beer. It was overpoweringly strong of the figleaf, a strange almost vegitable kind of taste. I am not sure of the final grav, I am thinking it ended up around 7.5% ABV. I let if age since Sept, but it was still overpowering of the figleaf. So I decided to make a very plain cider and mix.

The cider just finished up at about the same ABV, so I experimented with mixing today. I ended up with a ratio of 10/6, 10 oz plain cider to 6 oz figleaf brew. It turned out nice with a taste of vanilla and something I can't quite put my finger on. It was quite drinkable flat, so I am bottle carbing the mix and I think it will be very good.

This summer I will try something with fig leaves again. But this time scale them way back, kind of like the way I like wormwood in very small quantities.

Anyway, just thought some of the forum might be interested because we all have brews that need to be "saved" from time to time. Those who are extra adventuresome might like to give this a whirl when the fig leaves are nice and fresh. But I would say no more than 10 large leaves soaked in hot water per gallon of wort.