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Heather Ale
Anyone ever ty to make a heather ale? Only example I know of is froach. Apparently it either substitutes hops with heather flowers or simply adds them in the boil at some point. Very interesting beer I would highly recomend picking one up if you have never tried it. Any way I would like to try and brew my own (extract). So if anyone has any recipies or ideas where to obtain heather flowers please let me know.
I dated a girl named Heather for 4 years. Man I hated that girl but couldn't get out.
Although she did buy me my first beer kit.....
brewchez wrote:
I dated a girl named Heather for 4 years. Man I hated that girl but couldn't get out.
Although she did buy me my first beer kit.....
Does she have a good heather ale recipe? Do you still have her number? 
Actuallly i found a couple of recipes on the net however they seem to vary quite a bit. I mainly wanted to know if anyone had any good advice as far as brewing something along the lines of froach. So you know fresh floweres vs dried tips time in boil with or without hops ect..
I have never brewed a beer with Heather tips, but I had one at a place called Roots Organic Brewery in NE Portland earlier this year. VERY good! I just brewed my first herbal beer about a month ago using a combination of basil and lavender, a few ounces in the last 15 minutes of the boil, and it is aging very nice.
So no, I don't have a recipe, but here are my recommendations:
Start off light. Use extra light or light malt extract, and go easy on specialty grain. For example, 7# of LME and perhaps only 1/2# of crystal 10L or munich... be creative. You are going to want the Heather tips to stand out, which is why I say to go easy on the LME and specialty grain at first.
As for obtaining Heather tips, well, my local homebrew shop carries it... but that doesn't help you. I know you can buy them online... you just have to search. I don't recall the price, but they were cheap, a few bucks for a couple ounces when I looked.
Yes I am being vague on a recipe so you can be creative.
Perfect!! thats exactly what I was looking for any advice on whether to use hops along with it?
I have never bought or used Heather tips, but my suggestion would be to use 1 or 2 oz in the last 15 minutes of your boil so you get some flavor and aroma.
That said, no I do not recommend using hops. Why? Because you are probably going to want to know exactly what the herbs taste like, and hops are just going to cover it up. My suggestion is to first get a feel for the herbs, know their taste, then if you like it, make another batch with hops. The last thing you want to do is cover up the taste of your experiment.
Extract recipe idea:
7# extra LME or regular LME
1/2# crystal 10L (give a little sweetness)
1/2# carapils (body and head retention)
1 or 2 oz Heather tips @ 15
Here's a recipe for Froach Heather Ale from Clonebrews. I've never made it but someone who frequents my LHBS says its pretty good.
5 gallons
OG 1.050-1.053
FG 1.011-1.013
IBU 17
SRM 6.5
3.30 lb light LME (John Bull)
3.25 lb light DME (Muntons)
4oz Crystal 55L
.5oz Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 lb heather blossoms (60 min)
.5oz EKG (15 min)
.25 lb heather blossoms (15 min)
1 tsp irish moss (15 min)
.25 lb heather blossoms (5 min)
Strain your cooled wort through .25 oz heather blossoms into your primary fermenter.
Wyeast 1728 Scottish ale yeast or Wyeast 1084 Irish ale yeast. Ferment at 68F.
This is the recipe from Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: (never tried it)
Heather Ale:
6 pounds US two-row malted barley
10 1/2 ounces amber malt
12 2/3 cups lightly pressed flowering heather tops
3/10 ounce irish moss
5 gallons water
yeast and nutrient
Mash the malt at 153 degrees F for 90 minutes. Sparge to collect 5 gallons. Add about one half gallon lightly pressed flowering heather tips and boil for 90 minutes.
Run hot wort through a sieve into the fermenting vessel. Allow to cool and ferment at 61 degrees for 7 to 10 days. When gravity reacheds 1.015 remove 1/2 gallon of ale add two cups of heather flowers and warm to 158 degrees F. Cover and seep for 15 mintues then strain and return to the fermenter.
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