Does anyone have a good recipe for Heather Ale?
- Thread starter KeiranM
- Start date
Help Support The Homebrew Forum:
abeyptfc
Landlord.
is it an all grain recipe your after? I made a heather ale extract beer a few years ago and it turned out well.
I would advise to keep the grain bill simple, maybe 4kg marris otter, 250g caramalt or/crystal 40, 250g wheat,
hop wise I'd say bitter and aroma lightly with Target/Challenger/Fuggles or Bobek, and then how much heather you add is up to yourself,maybe judge by the handful, maybe a handful at the start of the boil, then a handful at 30, 10, and a few handfuls at flameout, Fraoch also uses bog myrtle aswell. I'm sure a good guy by the name of Calumscott on here made one as he sent it to me and it was cracking, I think he used some late honey in the boil aswell! ferment with a scottish ale yeast or safale 04 or something. hope that helps.
I would advise to keep the grain bill simple, maybe 4kg marris otter, 250g caramalt or/crystal 40, 250g wheat,
hop wise I'd say bitter and aroma lightly with Target/Challenger/Fuggles or Bobek, and then how much heather you add is up to yourself,maybe judge by the handful, maybe a handful at the start of the boil, then a handful at 30, 10, and a few handfuls at flameout, Fraoch also uses bog myrtle aswell. I'm sure a good guy by the name of Calumscott on here made one as he sent it to me and it was cracking, I think he used some late honey in the boil aswell! ferment with a scottish ale yeast or safale 04 or something. hope that helps.
Colin
Active Member
I haven't brewed this myself but when researching the same thing I came across a recipe from the original brewer which I copied - sorry I can't remember where from
Fraoch
Froach Heather Ale recipe from the brewer himself via Zymurgy Vol. 17, No. 4 Special 1994
Heather Ale
Ingredients for 5 gallons
6 2/3 pounds crushed Scotch Ale Malt or 6 pounds U.S. 2-row malted barley
and 10 1/2 oz. Amber malt (crystal or Cara-type)
12 2/3 cups of lightly pressed flowering heather tips
3/10 oz. Irish moss (10 minutes)
2 3/5 gallons soft water
1/2-3/4 cup corn sugar (dextrose) to prime
O.G. - 1.048
F.G. - 1.011
Mash the malt at 153 degrees F for 90 minutes. Sparge to collect up to 5
1/5 gallons. Add about one-half gallon (2/3 of total) of lightly pressed
heather tips and boil vigorously for 90 minutes.
Run hot wort through a sieve filled with 2 cups (1/6 of total) of heather
tips into the fermenting vessel. Allow to cool and ferment at 61 degrees F
for seven to 10 days. A lager-type yeast is suggested. The original yeast
for Froach Ale was a Scotch ale yeast, but after years of cold slow
fermentation it has evolved into a strain with a bottom-fermenting bias.
When the gravity reaches 1.015, usually the fifth day, remove ½ gallon of
ale, add 2 cups (1/6 of total) of heather flowers and warm to 158 degrees
F. Cover and steep for 15 minutes, then return to the fermenter.
Condition the ale as usual. For those needing a hop fix, add 1 4/5 oz. Of
6% AAU hops for the 90 minute boil to provide bitterness that will not
unbalance the flavors. Late addition aroma hops would compete with the
delicate heather.
For technical buff the numerical specifications for the bottled ale are
alcohol by volume, 4.9 %; O.G., 1.048; pH 4.1; color 9 SRM (23 EBC) and
bitterness 21 IBUs.
Zythos
Fraoch
Froach Heather Ale recipe from the brewer himself via Zymurgy Vol. 17, No. 4 Special 1994
Heather Ale
Ingredients for 5 gallons
6 2/3 pounds crushed Scotch Ale Malt or 6 pounds U.S. 2-row malted barley
and 10 1/2 oz. Amber malt (crystal or Cara-type)
12 2/3 cups of lightly pressed flowering heather tips
3/10 oz. Irish moss (10 minutes)
2 3/5 gallons soft water
1/2-3/4 cup corn sugar (dextrose) to prime
O.G. - 1.048
F.G. - 1.011
Mash the malt at 153 degrees F for 90 minutes. Sparge to collect up to 5
1/5 gallons. Add about one-half gallon (2/3 of total) of lightly pressed
heather tips and boil vigorously for 90 minutes.
Run hot wort through a sieve filled with 2 cups (1/6 of total) of heather
tips into the fermenting vessel. Allow to cool and ferment at 61 degrees F
for seven to 10 days. A lager-type yeast is suggested. The original yeast
for Froach Ale was a Scotch ale yeast, but after years of cold slow
fermentation it has evolved into a strain with a bottom-fermenting bias.
When the gravity reaches 1.015, usually the fifth day, remove ½ gallon of
ale, add 2 cups (1/6 of total) of heather flowers and warm to 158 degrees
F. Cover and steep for 15 minutes, then return to the fermenter.
Condition the ale as usual. For those needing a hop fix, add 1 4/5 oz. Of
6% AAU hops for the 90 minute boil to provide bitterness that will not
unbalance the flavors. Late addition aroma hops would compete with the
delicate heather.
For technical buff the numerical specifications for the bottled ale are
alcohol by volume, 4.9 %; O.G., 1.048; pH 4.1; color 9 SRM (23 EBC) and
bitterness 21 IBUs.
Zythos
