I'll add that while I'm no expert, a quick search turns up a lot of information on yarrow having antimicrobial properties. It's widely known as a topical treatment for wounds, likely because it's somewhat effective at fighting infection.
When "dry yarrowing" your proper sanitation went out of the window. Hops are antiseptic, yarrow is not. I guess the higher alcohol amount killed everything sitting on the flowers, so you're lucky.
I have tried it myself, it is just not working like hops do. But I created some fine sours this way.Yarrow may well be antiseptic, as per it's long history of medicinal use for wound healing. I've used it myself in that capacity to stop bleeding and promote healing.
I have tried it myself, it is just not working like hops do. But I created some fine sours this way.
This counteracting malt sweetness thing is a myth. Fermented malt is not very sweet anyway.When you say it's not working like hops, do you mean that it's not providing enough bitterness to counteract the malt sweetness?
This counteracting malt sweetness thing is a myth. Fermented malt is not very sweet anyway.
But what I actually meant was that yarrow does not work against souring as hops do, so you will most likely create a sour beer, at least after some time.
Go ahead! Ive brewed probably 20+ batches of yarrow beer and every single one soured. The ones that were "dry yarrowed" soured in the shortest time.I'll look into it a bit more to see what if any preservative qualities the yarrow has. I know that its strongly antimicrobial, so at the very least I feel assured that I won't infect it by 'dry-yarrowing' the flowers.
There is a huge difference between the "antimicrobial" effect of a poultice, and a very dilute tea. If you use Yarrow as a poultice, you might apply a half-ounce directly to a wound - so the concentration of whatever antimicrobial agents are present is quite high. When you add an ounce of yarrow to five gallons of beer, you are making a very dilute tea with a much, much lower concentration of those agents.
So don't expect Yarrow to have much effect on souring bacteria. It doesn't work the way hops do. As far as I can tell, it has no effect on Lactobacillus.
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