Rose hips - any experiences?

[TasunkaWitko]

My youngest son and I went and gathered some wild prairie rose hips for a Belgian-Blonde-type beer that I plan to make next spring. I gathered about 2 cups of them, but am only making a gallon of beer.

They were dried on the plant, but had a very good fragrance and flavor, kind of a mix between apple and rose. I gave them a quick rinse in warm water, and they are currently in the freezer in a zip-lock bag with all of the air squeezed out.

Any insights would be appreciated -

 

[BentBrewer]

Only thing I can offer is that the hips contain vitamin C. So you'll have a certain level of tartness added to the beer.

 

[porterpounder]

Try soaking them in vodka or making a tea and adding it at packaging. The only time I used rose hips was in a mead and it tasted like soap. I never did it again, but at the time really didn't know what I was doing, so it may have been something else wrong.

 

[Vandulus]

I brew a Belgian Abbey ale with rose hips and rose petal extract. I have some in the fridge now and it's delicious. For the rose hips, I make a tea by boiling the hips for 15-20 minutes and add the tea right before bottling. The rose hips add a hint of apple flavor and a slight acidity to the beer.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, guys, and thanks for the replies so far.

I do have one recipe mentioning rose hips in a Belgian blonde ale, I checked again and it callsed for a TEASPOON of rose hips, along with a TABLESPOON of rose petals. I might wait until next summer to brew this and pick up some freshly-bloomed wild prairie rose petals to go with the hips.

In any case, it looks like the two CUP of rose hips that I have are going to be pretty excessive. I'll save a teaspoon or two for the beer and turn the rest into tea. The recipe that I have says to add them to the boil, but the idea of soaking and adding them at bottling makes sense, too. I'll see what's up and go from there.

Thanks again -

Ron