Dandelion Bitter
I have three half wine barrel planters already composted and ready. Even found a organic food supplier who carries Dandelion seeds. I know I could just wait for mother nature to do her trick to my yard but I figure for the 3 bucks I spent I can get a starter crop going first thing this spring and be in Dandelions till this fall. Wife thinks I am crazy but even she likes Dandelion greens in her salads now, and they are a great spinach substitue, heck even the kids are stoked about making their very own Dandelion dye tie-dyes.
We should set up a nontraditional brew exchange program. The funkier the better.
Your neighbors are going to hate you when your dandelions go to seed and blow all over their yards......
I'll harvest the propigating pods as they ripen but befor they open. And to hell with my nieghbors. Their dogs yap all the time and I haven't poisend then yet. Besides, they are going to be really p[lease about me planting 3 hops plants on our fence. Fence is set inside my property line by 2 feet. So I figure I am entitled to use it as I see fit.
My neighbors are really nice, down to earth people, and I am happy that I don't have neighbor issues. I see a lot of it at work and don't want to deal with it at home which is why I don't complain about the junked cars parked in their yard (sigh) or their escape artist goat that sometimes comes over and munches on my rosebush.... (although I did clock that goat with a bucket the first time it reared up to head-butt me) LOL
I have more trouble with the damned wild chickens.... the old neighbors on the other side moved out and did not take their chickens with them... they just let them loose. Chickens are pretty self sufficient and they keep the bugs down, but those things wreak havok on my flowerbeds.
I like the free eggs (they hide nests in my back yard), and the baby chickies are adorable in the spring time, but I rather think I am going to be making a lot of fried chicken this summer... it started out that we only had about 5 hens and a couple of roosters running loose and now the flock is about up to 20.
Nothing better than free-range fried chicken and ice cold beer on a hot summer night!
Where do you live again Jen???? I'll bring the Flower Power Dandelion Ale and watermelon... lol
LOL.. I live in Northern California. And I might just barbeque that goat, too.
MMMMMMMM.....goat!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found a recipe for those of you who were thinking about making an experimental batch of dandelion beer. It's from Zymurgy's Best Articles and Advice book.
Ingredients for 1 gallon batch:
1/2 lb young dandelion plants with taproot (do not use plants treated with pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizer)
1 lb brown sugar
1/2 oz crushed ginger root
juice of 2 lemons
1 gallon of water
1 teaspoon ale yeast.
Boil the washed roots in half the water, cool, and the rest of the ingredients. Ferment for one week and bottle.
It sounds like a good experimental brew: its easy, doesn't have a lot of ingredients and makes a 1g batch.. I'm thinking maybe you could substitute some of the brown sugar with some DME.
I'll go for a 3g batch as soon as I can gather the brerw weeds. How's this sound.
1.5# whole washed Dandelion
2# DME
1# Honey... heh heh heh
1.5oz fresh crushed ginger
Juice of 3 medium lemmons. Save zest for secondary.
Safe-Ale 05
Boil DME. At 45min add Dandelion. At 15 min add Ginger. At flame out add lemmon juice and honey. Cool and pitch yeast. Rack to secondary onto saved lemmon zest. Prime with honey and bottle.