Sweet gale

[supermoth]

Yesterday I brewed a gruit using only sweet gale. Following what I'd seen online in a few places, I started with 4 grams at 60 minutes for a 3.5 gallon batch. Midway through the boil I couldn't taste any evidence of the herb in my wort, so at 20 minutes I added another 10 grams. I tasted my original gravity sample and it still tasted like sweet wort with no herbs. I've also read that this herb interacts well with alcohol, so I'll be adding more when fermentation is done. However, I'm worried that my beer will taste like fermented wort with no herbal flavor. I'm surprised, because I've read that this herb is potent in small quantities. Have any of you worked with sweet gale? Any words of advice?

 

[LexusChris]

I've used sweet gale in my gruits, but never by itself. I usually have wormwood & yarrow going on as well.

For my 5 gallon recipe, I only use 0.5g in the boil for 15 mins, and another 0.5g dry in the secondary. So, only 1.0g in total.

It is a pleasent & aromatic herb, so I could see going with more than that, especialy if that was the only herb in the gruit.

As for why you are not tasting it in the wort, perhaps the high sugar content of the unfermented wort is masking the herb. You may find out that post-fermentation, it shines through strongly.

Also, the long boil may have reduced a lot of the aromatics too.

I'd wait until after primary fermentation is done, then taste it. From there, you can decide how much to dry-'hop' with. I would err on the lighter side (1/2g or so) and sample it after a few days again.

Good luck!
--LexusChris