Reading Papazian's O Gope recipe piqued my interest, so I decided to brew something with yarrow in it. Especially with all the yarrow in Berkeley just starting to bloom a couple months ago, it seemed like good timing. After doing some research on these forums and elsewhere, I was a little worried about the beer being overly bitter with the amount of yarrow I was thinking of using, but I went for it anyway... and I have to say, it came out great! Not too bitter, quite balanced actually, and with a great yarrow-floral aroma. I picked the yarrow and used only the leaves and flowering tops (no stems) while they were still very fresh, it's the variety that has bright yellow flowers. I added the oatmeal to try and get a creamy mouthfeel and hazy appearance. As for the kolsch yeast, I kind of just went out on a limb since I hadn't yet tried a kolsch yeast, and it seemed like it would fit in what I had in mind.
I made a 2 gallon batch (approximately):
4 lbs pale german malt
2 lbs wheat malt extract (late addition)
1 lb flaked oats
2.5 oz fresh yarrow leaves and flowering tops (mostly leaves) (60 min boil)
2.0 oz fresh yarrow leaves and flowering tops (mostly flowers) (0 min)
Mash in 6.5qt @ 150F for 60 min, sparge with 2 gal. @ 175F
WLP029 used, no starter
OG 1.052, FG around 1.014
I thought I would put this one up since there's not a ton about using yarrow on the forums here, let alone recipes, and I'm quite happy with this one! I find it quite refreshing actually, very drinkable in the summer heat. As far as the purported "potency" of yarrow goes, I haven't noticed anything drastic - maybe I haven't drank enough - though I did notice an absence of the sleepiness I usually feel from hopped beers.
I made a 2 gallon batch (approximately):
4 lbs pale german malt
2 lbs wheat malt extract (late addition)
1 lb flaked oats
2.5 oz fresh yarrow leaves and flowering tops (mostly leaves) (60 min boil)
2.0 oz fresh yarrow leaves and flowering tops (mostly flowers) (0 min)
Mash in 6.5qt @ 150F for 60 min, sparge with 2 gal. @ 175F
WLP029 used, no starter
OG 1.052, FG around 1.014
I thought I would put this one up since there's not a ton about using yarrow on the forums here, let alone recipes, and I'm quite happy with this one! I find it quite refreshing actually, very drinkable in the summer heat. As far as the purported "potency" of yarrow goes, I haven't noticed anything drastic - maybe I haven't drank enough - though I did notice an absence of the sleepiness I usually feel from hopped beers.
