Tarragon RyePA

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cepster

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Hi all! After being the most patient woman on the planet, SWMBO asked me if I could brew something up for her. I, being both the gentleman and the guy who's looking for any excuse to brew, am more than willing to oblige :ban: That said, she really loves the spice tarragon so I thought I would try to incorporate that in to a brew. Soooooo, here is a recipe for a Tarragon RyePA. I wanted to give it a nice red color (seems to fit with rye) - so that's why I included carared. I also wanted some nice citrusy hops to balance out the earthiness of the tarragon, if anybody is wondering about the hops. I would love to use citra, but I'm not counting on being able to find any. My LHBS has been out of stock for months.

So, if anybody has any comments or criticisms I would greatly appreciate it! I'm still fairly new to recipe creation, so if it looks like I'm doing something stupid please let me know :eek:

Specs
Batch Size: 5.5Gal
Original Gravity: 1.053
SRM: 9
IBU: 50.4
ABV: 5.1%

Mash at 150 for 60 min
60 min boil
Average brewhouse efficiency: 68%

Grain Bill
64% - 8lb 2 Row
16% - 2lb Rye Malt
08% - 1lb Victory
04% - 8oz Carared
04% - 8oz Flaked Rye
04% - 8oz Crystal 40

Hop Schedule
.75oz Summit pellet (18%AA) - 60Min
.5oz Amarillo pellet (0.7%AA) - 30Min
.25oz Summit pellet (18%AA) - 10Min
.5oz Amarillo pellet (0.7%AA) - 1Min
2.0oz Cascade pellet (5.5%AA) - Dry Hop 7 days

Adjuncts
.5tsp Irish Moss - 10Min
2oz Fresh Tarragon at Flameout
2oz Fresh Tarragon - In secondary for 7 days (dry tarragoning?)

Yeast
WLP023 - Burton Ale -- 1L starter with stirplate

Online: http://hopville.com/recipe/1296395/american-pale-ale-recipes/tarragon-ryepa
 
Sorry to see no responses here. Going through my spice cabinet I took a whiff of the Tarragon and thought that'd be a great spice to use in a brew. Ginger is also on my short list.
 
I brewed a tarragon IPA a while back and it turned out really well. Let me share some insights.

I find tarragon to taste a lot like fennel and to pair well with grapefruit. Therefore, I added dried hyssop (a flower that tastes like fennel) to the boil, along with fennel seeds. I also used very grapefruity hops (Citra and cascade).

The grain bill is sort of up to you. I used a blend of Munich and 2 row to keep it simple but malty (no crystal or anything). Ended up at about 1.060 OG.

I boiled the hyssop and fennel seeds for 30 minutes. I used one ounce of each.

I used pacman yeast because I like the fruitiness+body it gives. Any American ale yeast (at low fermentation temps) would be fine. I've learned to stay away from English/Belgian yeasts when playing with new ingredients because the overload of esters and flavors usually results in a perfumy soapy mess!

At kegging it sort of tasted like a weird Aquavit / IPA hybrid. But then I dry hopped with an ounce of Citra and with a package of fresh tarragon and it tasted really good! It's amazing how the fennel/hyssop didn't really come out directly, but led to a very supportive backbone for the fresh herb flavor!
 
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