Looking for: Dandelion beer recipes

[pgenius]

Has anyone come across a good dandelion beer recipe? I really enjoy Fantôme's Pissenlit and want to make something like it for myself.

Cheers!

 

[llazy_llama]

Dandelion wine is the closest I can do. Sorry.

If you're interested, the recipe is here: Dandelion Wine

And the episode of Basic Brewing Radio where he talks about the recipe, his process, and the finished product is here: http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr05-08-08dandelion.mp3

If that's not close enough, I hope it at least gives you a decent starting point. Good luck!

 

[ClassicXJ]

damn it... I have a book about growing hops and herbs for homebrewing and I just let a guy at work borrow it. But I know it has a dandelion beer recipe in it. If you can't find one then let me know via PM and I'll get it for you.

 

[Saprobic]

I have been doing some research on this recently and have found 2 recipies that look promising.
I will be trying the first one early next week.
I'll let you know how it works out.

Winemaking Ingredients: Dandelion Beer - Wine Making Guides
8 oz / 225 grams young dandelion plants
1 lb / 450 grams demerara sugar
1/2 oz / 15 grams root ginger
1 large lemon
8 pints / 1 gallon water
1 oz / 25 grams cream of tartar
1/4 oz / 10 grams brewer's yeast

Winemaking Method: Dandelion Beer - Wine Making Guides
This is very much a springtime recipe, when the dandelion plants are young and the leaves fresh. Dig up the dandelions plants, taking care to keep the roots intact. Wash them thorougly to eliminate all traces of soil, and remove any fine, fibrous roots, leaving a clear carrot-like taproot.

Add the dandelion plants (including leaves) into a large saucepan, together with the water, ginger (roughly chopped) and the rind of the lemon. Bring to the boil and leave simmering for around ten minutes. Strain into a fermentation bucket, adding the sugar and the cream of tartar, mixing thoroughly. When cooled, add the activated brewing yeast and the juice from the lemon. Cover and leave to ferment for three days, stirring once a day. Strain and bottle, using strong bottles with screw-tops. Drink just one week later.


Dandelion Beer
• 200-500g dandelion plants
• 1-2lb sugar
• 25g yeast
• 1-2 lemons
• 1 gallon water
• 25g cream of tarter
• 10g root ginger
Boil the dandelion plants with the ginger and the rind of the lemon for no more than 15minutes; strain and add to the sugar and cream of tarter. Leave to cool at room temperature, add the yeast and lemon juice. Ferment for 3 days, strain, bottle and leave for a week in a cool place.

 

[Saprobic]

Well I have bottled the first batch of dandelion beer last night. Smells godawful. But fingers crossed it'll get nicer after a week in the bottle.

 

[Montanaandy]

If anyone needs any dandelions I have thousands of them for the taking here in Montana. All you have to do is come pick them Montanaandy

 

[RoaringBrewer]

I have been doing some research on this recently and have found 2 recipies that look promising.
I will be trying the first one early next week.
I'll let you know how it works out.

Winemaking Ingredients: Dandelion Beer - Wine Making Guides
8 oz / 225 grams young dandelion plants
1 lb / 450 grams demerara sugar
1/2 oz / 15 grams root ginger
1 large lemon
8 pints / 1 gallon water
1 oz / 25 grams cream of tartar
1/4 oz / 10 grams brewer's yeast

Winemaking Method: Dandelion Beer - Wine Making Guides
This is very much a springtime recipe, when the dandelion plants are young and the leaves fresh. Dig up the dandelions plants, taking care to keep the roots intact. Wash them thorougly to eliminate all traces of soil, and remove any fine, fibrous roots, leaving a clear carrot-like taproot.

Add the dandelion plants (including leaves) into a large saucepan, together with the water, ginger (roughly chopped) and the rind of the lemon. Bring to the boil and leave simmering for around ten minutes. Strain into a fermentation bucket, adding the sugar and the cream of tartar, mixing thoroughly. When cooled, add the activated brewing yeast and the juice from the lemon. Cover and leave to ferment for three days, stirring once a day. Strain and bottle, using strong bottles with screw-tops. Drink just one week later.


Dandelion Beer
• 200-500g dandelion plants
• 1-2lb sugar
• 25g yeast
• 1-2 lemons
• 1 gallon water
• 25g cream of tarter
• 10g root ginger
Boil the dandelion plants with the ginger and the rind of the lemon for no more than 15minutes; strain and add to the sugar and cream of tarter. Leave to cool at room temperature, add the yeast and lemon juice. Ferment for 3 days, strain, bottle and leave for a week in a cool place.

Both of those appear more "dandelion wine" to me, than beer. There is no malted grains being used in either recipe...

I would say you are going to need to wait a heck of a lot longer than 1 week for dandelion "wine" to be ready. Probably more like 6 months+. I know my grandmother usually lets hers go for about 1 year...

EDIT: This is one of the better how-to's I have seen on making this - http://www.donosborn.com/homebrew/dandelion.htm. It was linked above, but wanted to reiterate if you want to make dandelion wine, it goes more like this...

 

[Saprobic]

Yeah neither are really anything like a beer really, but not much like a dandelion wine either. I have my doubts about the timeline asa well but as my experience level is pretty much nill I am going by the word of the recipe. I hope your wrong about the timeline but can't say I'll be blown away if that proves to be the case.
Thanks for the link.

 

[LunarRN]

Yeah neither are really anything like a beer really, but not much like a dandelion wine either. .

Broaden your mind when you hear or read the word BEER.

Beer is fermentation of starchy material that comes from grain or other plant sources. I know we of the modern world naturally associate the word BEER with malted barley and other adjuncts, but we cannot forget our past. Roots, tubers, stalks, seeds have all been fermented and still are fermented to produce a beer.

 

[Saprobic]

Yeah fair enough. In any case the brew is tasting pretty decent at this point but could still benefit from a little more time. But as it stands I will definitly be doing this again next year.

 

[LunarRN]

Yeah fair enough. In any case the brew is tasting pretty decent at this point but could still benefit from a little more time. But as it stands I will definitly be doing this again next year.

So, can you give us a rating? Is it bitter, sweet, just right? I want to make this recipe but I won't if it is a bitter beer.

Thanks

 

[amcclai7]

Yeah fair enough. In any case the brew is tasting pretty decent at this point but could still benefit from a little more time. But as it stands I will definitly be doing this again next year.

what kind of yeast did you use?

 

[Saprobic]

Sorry been away from this one for ages now. Yurned out great continued to improve for a year. Last bottle was the best. Just a touch of sweetness. Mostly dry. I used lavalin 1180 I think for yeast.

 

[Saprobic]

Oh and for the bitter fella if you don't want bitter this is good as is. I am going to try hopping next time. I prefer more bitterness than it has on its own.

 

[amcclai7]

Oh and for the bitter fella if you don't want bitter this is good as is. I am going to try hopping next time. I prefer more bitterness than it has on its own.

A Small amount of hallertau or something that's not too overpowering. I also wouldn't think a long boil would be good b/c it would boil off a lot of the dandelion flavors.

So just to get this straight, you pull the plant up by the root before the flower stalk has even shot up?

Finally, what does the cream of tartar do?

Thanks!

 

[Saprobic]

I use the root and leaves and flower pedals. The root provides sugars, the leaves some flavour and the flower some residual sweetness. I go a little overboard I think but I have fun with it, I pull up the plants I plan to use roots from early in spring before they flower. Then I freeze these roots for a week or two until the flowers start to show up then I pull a bunch more.
I am a lot less knowledgable about hops than I am about the rest of the process so I appreciate the recomendation on the hop type. I'll see if I can get some of those. I was thinking of adding a small amount for the last 15 minutes of the boil. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[amcclai7]

That sound reasonable. You're not going to get a lot of bitterness with the hops being boiled for that short of a time but you should still get enough bitterness and flavor to make a big difference.

I suggested hallertau b/c they are not overpowering (used in euro lagers) and i think any super strong citrusy hops would not work. (although maybe you would like that in this setting)

Another option would be to go with the very floral casade hops. Perhaps all the flowery-ness would be awesome, idk.

 

[Saprobic]

Cool. Oh just noticed I skipped a question. The Cream of Tartar is for head retention apparently. Can't say that this brew has great head retention as it is though so not sure how much this is doing.

 

[amcclai7]

I am about to go outside and start pulling dandelions. One more question. Did you prime with sugar before you bottled in order to get some carbination, or did you just go straight from fermentor to bottle?

 

[amcclai7]

I use the root and leaves and flower pedals. The root provides sugars, the leaves some flavour and the flower some residual sweetness. I go a little overboard I think but I have fun with it, I pull up the plants I plan to use roots from early in spring before they flower. Then I freeze these roots for a week or two until the flowers start to show up then I pull a bunch more.
I am a lot less knowledgable about hops than I am about the rest of the process so I appreciate the recomendation on the hop type. I'll see if I can get some of those. I was thinking of adding a small amount for the last 15 minutes of the boil. Does that sound reasonable?

And another question, sorry. Do you use the entire flower top, or do you pull the yellow parts off and discard the rest? In addition what about the milky flower stalks, are they discarded? and also the small pre-flower buds, can they be used?

Finally, in your orginal recipe it calls for anywhere for 200-500g of dandelions and 1-2lbs of sugar. Those are pretty big ranges. Where did you actually settle with each of these ingredients? Thanks a ton!

 

[DannPM]

Iirc, from what I've read Fantome picks the flowers, dries them, lets them steep in water for days making a sort of dandelion tea (assume camden is added here), and then doses the beer with this tea.

 

[passedpawn]

I've made a big chamomile beer, I wouldn't think it would that much different.

<-- See my Recipes pulldown. Lots of pics and such. Chamomile looks a lot like a bunch of little dandelions.

 

[amcclai7]

Oh and for the bitter fella if you don't want bitter this is good as is. I am going to try hopping next time. I prefer more bitterness than it has on its own.

So anyway I just did this one tonight. I used 400g (14oz) of dandelion plants and 1.5 lbs of sugar for each gallon. The first gallon was standard but the second gallon I hopped with hallertau. I used 1oz. About half or more went in a few min before the dandelions and boiled for 20-25min and the others went in at 5min and flameout. Each gallon was kept seperate and went to its own fermentor.

I tasted it and I have to say I am very hopefull about both. The hops were quite assertive but they always are when you taste a batch before pitching the yeast (lav 1118). In time, I think the hops will calm down and make a great drink.

I am also thinking about priming and carbing some of the hopped version's bottles to get more of a beer feel.

Also a question for anyone out there: the orginal recipe says to bottle after 3days but since this is basically a wine I was thinking about using a secondary for a while. Any thoughts?

 

[ironcash]

Here are a couple recipes I found in The Homebrewer's Garden by Joe and Dennis Fisher. I haven't tried either of these yet, but I think I am going to try a variation of the first recipe here soon. Since 'tis the season.


Dandelion Bitter
Yield: 5 GALLONS INITIAL GRAVITY: 1.045-1.056 FINAL GRAVITY: 1.014-1.018

½ lbs toasted malt
½ lbs 60°L British crystal malt
3.75 lbs Cooper’s Bitter kit
2 lbs Munton & Fison plain light dry malt extract
1 lbs dandelions, leaves, blossoms, and roots
1 oz East Kent Goldings hop plugs for flavoring
½ oz Willamette whole hops for flavoring
½ oz Willamette whole hops for aroma
Wyeast 1028 London ale or Whitbread ale yeast
2/3 corn sugar for priming

1. Clean the dandelions very thoroughly in several changes of water, removing any twigs or other debris.
2. Add the malts to 1 ½ gallons cold water and bring to a slow boil over 30 minutes. Strain and rinse with ½ gallon 170°F water. Add the extracts and return the mixture to a boil. Add dandelions and boil for 45 minutes.
3. Add East Kent Goldings hops for flavoring. Boil for 15 minutes. Add ½ ounce Willamette hops for aroma to the last 2 minutes of boil.
4. Strain hot wort into a fermenter containing 1 ½ gallons of chilled water. Rinse hops with ½ gallon boiled water. Top up to 5 gallons
5. Pitch yeast when wort cools to 70°F
6. Ferment at ale temperatures (65 to 70°F). When primary fermentation slows, add ½ ounce Willamette dry hops to fermenter.
7. Bottle with priming sugar when fermentation ceases (7 to 10 days.) It should be ready to drink in two weeks.


Dandelion Stout
Yield: 5 GALLONS INITIAL GRAVITY: 1.065-1.070 FINAL GRAVITY: 1.013-1.019

½ lbs black patent malt
2/3 lbs 60°L British crystal malt
½ lbs chocolate malt
1/3 lbs roasted barley
1/3 lbs wheat malt
4 lbss Alexander’s hopped malt extract syrup
3.3 lbss Northwest dark malt extract syrup
¾ lbs Munton & Fison plain light dry malt extract
1 lbs dandelions
½ oz Eroica bittering hops, AA 11% HBU 5.5
½ oz homegrown Cascade flavoring hops
1 package Whitbread ale yeart or YeastLab A05 Irish Ale
½ cup corn sugar for priming

1. Clean the dandelions very thoroughly in several changes of water, removing any twigs or other debris.
2. Add the crushed malts to 1 ½ gallons cold water and bring to a slow boil over 30 minutes. Strain and rinse with ½ gallon 170°F water. Add the extracts and return the mixture to a boil.
3. Add ½ oz. Eroica hops and dandelions. Boil 40 minutes. Add ½ oz. Cascade hops and boil 20 minutes.
4. Strain hot wort into a fermenter containing 1 ½ gallons of chilled water. Rinse with ½ gallon boiled water. Top up to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast when wort cools to 70°F
5. Ferment at ale temperatures (60 to 70°F). Bottle with priming sugar when fermentation ceases (1 to 2 weeks)
6. Age 3 to 6 weeks before drinking

 

[dwarven_stout]

I did a dandelion saison recently, which turned out fantastic. I dried the flowers and then removed the petals (so that no bitter green parts would get into the beer). Recipe is here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/dandelion-saison-307356/