Home made gruit

[Kristian Ferencik]

So I made my firsr ever batch of gruit, using malted barley, mugwort, junniper berry, cinamon and honey, and fermented it for 2 days (wanted to do it early medieval style)

What i got was a cloudy, pale yellowy liquid that smells like gone off fruit and candy with a sour citrusy, fruity taste and a sweet, sour, and tart after taste with a ghost of grassy bread. Its also sharp, like it was cut with 50/50 vinegar and balsamic vinegar.

 

[Jay_B]

I've never tried such a thing, but the helpful folks here will probably want to know what type of yeast was used, malt type and how it was prepared (mash, steep etc.), was the wort boiled? What are the details of how it was fermented?

 

[fluketamer]

hi welcome to homebrewtalk.

that looks frightening and sounds like it tastes the same.

why did you make that?

are hops not available?

if its that sour i woudl think it might be infected with lacto. or whatever sour bacteria i forget

you could prolly make it palatable by adding a lot of sugar to counter act the sour but why?

unfortunately , i dont think that will be very drinkable.

how did you make that, need more details.

 

[Kristian Ferencik]

I've never tried such a thing, but the helpful folks here will probably want to know what type of yeast was used, malt type and how it was prepared (mash, steep etc.), was the wort boiled? What are the details of how it was fermented?

I used Youngs ale yeast, I just got barley from a local farm, malted it for 5 days and steeped it in what i suppose was 70'c of water for an hour, boiled the wart with the herbs and spices and honey for an hour transfered to the clean fermentation jar, mixed the yeast in a pint of warm water, added it to the fermentation jar, and fermented it in my wardrobe for 2 days.

 

[Kristian Ferencik]

hi welcome to homebrewtalk.

that looks frightening and sounds like it tastes the same.

why did you make that?

are hops not available?

if its that sour i woudl think it might be infected with lacto. or whatever sour bacteria i forget

you could prolly make it palatable by adding a lot of sugar to counter act the sour but why?

unfortunately , i dont think that will be very drinkable.

how did you make that, need more details.

Actually it tastes pretty nice, like that citrusy beer that brew dog made.

I didn't use hops cause back in traditional gruit, they didn't make it with hops, I wanted to try it the old traditional method and this is what I got. A tea spoon of honey cut right through the vinegary note.

 

[dmtaylor]

Interesting. I've made many gruits but not quite like yours. It will taste better after it ferments about another week or two. I know in eastern Europe they like to drink kvass (spelled KBAC in Cyrillic) that's only been fermenting for 2 or 3 days but I had not heard of people doing the same with gruit which is more a western Europe thing as far as I can recall, similar but different. Hope you find something you enjoy as I have.

 

[Kristian Ferencik]

Interesting. I've made many gruits but not quite like yours. It will taste better after it ferments about another week or two. I know in eastern Europe they like to drink kvass (spelled KBAC in Cyrillic) that's only been fermenting for 2 or 3 days but I had not heard of people doing the same with gruit which is more a western Europe thing as far as I can recall, similar but different. Hope you find something you enjoy as I have.

Depends on the era, go back a thousand years, it was very common for your alewife to ferment a beer for only a couple of days.

 

[TexasTea]

Where do you obtain your gruit herbs?

 

[TexasTea]

Depends on the era, go back a thousand years, it was very common for your alewife to ferment a beer for only a couple of days.

Yep, my chinese mother in law used to make rice wine all the time but normally just let it ferment a day or two for boozey rice. It was sweet, not a lot of alcohol. Many years later I made one with the wine yeast they sell in the Chinese grocery store (red yeast rice type) and Thai rice and let it go to completion (about 20% alcohol). I liked that one alot. I make it all the time and let it go for 30 days.

 

[Kristian Ferencik]

Where do you obtain your gruit herbs?

Amazon

 

[dmtaylor]

Where do you obtain your gruit herbs?

https://wildweeds.com/

 

[Dgallo]

@BrewMan13 hands down makes the best gruits I’ve ever had. Maybe he’ll chime in

 

[BrewMan13]

@BrewMan13 hands down makes the best gruits I’ve ever had. Maybe he’ll chime in

Thanks man! It's not fully traditional in that I use a small amount of hops and not much in the way of "classic" gruit herbs in the beer you're thinking of. I found that using only mugwort for the bittering didn't give the results I wanted. The base beer is an imperial oatmeal stout so it can handle all the herbs. Besides mugwort, it also has *deep breath*: orange peel, chicory, chamomile, lemon grass, licorice root, sarsaparilla, molasses and vanilla.

 

[MehNahMehNah]

@BrewMan13 I find Chicory root and licorice root goes nice in a stout. I make a breakfast stout but still use hops as well (UK Phoenix and HBC 472) to accent the novel flavors.

Surprised no one has mentioned George (Butch) Heilshorn's 'Against All Hops' book yet.

 

[TexasTea]

Surprised no one has mentioned George (Butch) Heilshorn's 'Against All Hops' book yet.

Thanks, I'll look for that one.

 

[BrewMan13]

@BrewMan13 I find Chicory root and licorice root goes nice in a stout. I make a breakfast stout but still use hops as well (UK Phoenix and HBC 472) to accent the novel flavors.

Surprised no one has mentioned George (Butch) Heilshorn's 'Against All Hops' book yet.

Someone literally just donated this to our brew club library. Definitely going to check it out!