brewing 2ne1

A log on homebrewing by a band of merry persons.

May 28, 2009 7:34pm
Nettle Ale 7/5/09 Adapted a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe for Nettle Ale but doubled the recipe using 6 litres of frozen nettle tops. My version is below: 12l water 6 litres of nettle tops. What’s a litre of nettles? Well, they had been washed and then gently pushed into a litre jug to measure them out. In this instance they were actually frozen as I didn’t have time to make the ale at the time I picked the nettles. Juice of 2 lemon, strained Juice of 2 orange, strained 1,5kg caster sugar 60g cream of tartar 10g yeast Method Boiled the water in a large pan. Added nettles (frozen) and brought back to the boil, then turned off heat and left to infuse for over an hour until. I seem to remember it still being pretty hot. Scooped out the bulk of the leaves with a spoon that had holes in (what are they called?), squeezing all the juice of each spoonful back into the pan. Strained the liquid through a muslin into a pressure barrel, squeezing the muslin at the end to get the maximum amount of liquid into the bucket. Added the sugar, stirring as I added to dissolve the sugar; as the liquid was still pretty hot this didn’t take too long. Then I added the cream of tartar, lemon juice and orange juice. When the liquid had dropped to tepid I sprinkled the yeast on top. To my shame I can’t remember whether I sealed it or not. I think I just left the lid on loosely. The SG was ~1.045. I left it in a warm place to completely ferment out and clear a little (8 days). Removed scum from the top of the liquid and siphoned the ale (SG 1.005) into sterilised 0.5l bottles adding 1/2 tsp sugar to each. I used swing-top bottles as they are easier to re-use. Left for at least another week or two in a cooler location to clear. Can be left at least a further 6 months before drinking. In retrospect, I think I might leave the next batch longer in the barrel to clear for longer before bottling. Generally, Hugh’s instructions seem to bottle too early while it’s still very cloudy and still fermenting (like his explosive Elderflower Champagne) dylski

Nettle Ale

7/5/09

Adapted a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe for Nettle Ale but doubled the recipe using 6 litres of frozen nettle tops. My version is below:

  • 12l water
  • 6 litres of nettle tops. What’s a litre of nettles? Well, they had been washed and then gently pushed into a litre jug to measure them out. In this instance they were actually frozen as I didn’t have time to make the ale at the time I picked the nettles.
  • Juice of 2 lemon, strained
  • Juice of 2 orange, strained
  • 1,5kg caster sugar
  • 60g cream of tartar
  • 10g yeast

Method

  1. Boiled the water in a large pan.
  2. Added nettles (frozen) and brought back to the boil, then turned off heat and left to infuse for over an hour until. I seem to remember it still being pretty hot.
  3. Scooped out the bulk of the leaves with a spoon that had holes in (what are they called?), squeezing all the juice of each spoonful back into the pan.
  4. Strained the liquid through a muslin into a pressure barrel, squeezing the muslin at the end to get the maximum amount of liquid into the bucket.
  5. Added the sugar, stirring as I added to dissolve the sugar; as the liquid was still pretty hot this didn’t take too long. Then I added the cream of tartar, lemon juice and orange juice.
  6. When the liquid had dropped to tepid I sprinkled the yeast on top. To my shame I can’t remember whether I sealed it or not. I think I just left the lid on loosely. The SG was ~1.045. I left it in a warm place to completely ferment out and clear a little (8 days).
  7. Removed scum from the top of the liquid and siphoned the ale (SG 1.005) into sterilised 0.5l bottles adding 1/2 tsp sugar to each. I used swing-top bottles as they are easier to re-use.
  8. Left for at least another week or two in a cooler location to clear. Can be left at least a further 6 months before drinking.

In retrospect, I think I might leave the next batch longer in the barrel to clear for longer before bottling. Generally, Hugh’s instructions seem to bottle too early while it’s still very cloudy and still fermenting (like his explosive Elderflower Champagne)

dylski
Comments (View)
blog comments powered by Disqus
Page 1 of 1