any easy hop alternatives for bittering etc for gruit style?

[wilsoa1111]

hi guys, the experimental gruit recipe kinda peaked my interest -as did the mini BIAB- and i have a few bits and pieces leftover from a big order but running low on hops so was wondering if these teabags would be any good in a beer in staggered additions -maybe with a few extra nettle ones in their or as part of a mix as im kinda scared of just picking some lowlevel plants out from amoungst the dog business around the town:
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/ ... =267030516
says:
Nettle leaf and dandelion root cleanse and nourish the skin.

Fennel seed and peppermint leaf add a delightfully sweet flavour.

Aloe vera juice and licorice root are refreshing.

then maybe some black malt for a bit of colour and dark sugar for maltiness to get approx 4%? maybe a nice unusual beverage?

or do u think im better off waiting till nxt order and spend the £2.20 on some proper hops?

 

[Duncs]

It's worth a go for the price of the tea bags and a bit of malt. You never know, you may be on to the next big thing in brewing :nah:

 

[wilsoa1111]

Right finalised my recipe- going for a porterish style:
Recipe: hopless'ly drunk ale
Brewer: Andrew wilson
Asst Brewer:
Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 9.2800 l
Post Boil Volume: 7.2800 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.0000 l
Bottling Volume: 4.4858 l
Estimated OG: 1.04489 SG
Estimated Color: 47.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 0.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 89.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.7500 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 65.9 %
0.0600 kg Black (Patent) Malt (985.0 EBC) Grain 2 5.3 %
0.0500 kg Smoked Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 3 4.4 %
0.2000 kg Molasses (157.6 EBC) Sugar 4 17.6 %
0.0500 kg Dememera Sugar (3.9 EBC) Sugar 5 4.4 %
0.0280 kg Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 EBC) Sugar 6 2.5 %
5.00 Items nettle tea (Boil 60.0 mins) Spice 7 -
2.00 Items cleanse teabags (Boil 20.0 mins) Spice 8 -
57.00 g cocoa powder (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 9 -
2.00 Items cleanse teabags (Boil 0.0 mins) Spice 10 -
1.0 pkg London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318) [124. Yeast 11 -
1.00 Items cleanse teabags (Secondary 3.0 days) Spice 12 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 1.1380 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 2.4428 l of water at 75.0402 C 66.6667 C 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (3.1584l, 4.7400l) of 75.5556 C water
Notes:
------
concept: dark chocolate mint smoked beer- bitterness from nettle, aroma and spice from cleanse teabags (essentially nettle and mint) with molasses suagr ferment and split of molasses/treacle at bottle need 13g treacle at bottle min for 5l
bittering: need a whole 28g pack to bitter 5gallons so will use 5 nettle tea bags to bitter and 2 fancy in late ie 20mins 2 fancy at flameout and one fancy as a dry hop

cocoa powder tricky as kills head must rack off below liquid to keep head retention

KEEN to get any thoughts