Nettle Beer

[ni9e]

I've noticed while taking the dog for a walk that nettles are starting to grow so i'm gonna be trying this nettle beer as I have been reliably informed it makes a tasty brew :thumb:


900g (2lb) Young Nettle Tops
4.5lt (8 pints) Water
450g (1lb) Demerara Sugar
2 Lemons
25g (1 oz) Cream of Tartar
15g (½oz) Brewers or Wine Yeast


Wash and drain the nettles.
Finely peel the lemons, removing only the outer waxy layer, squeeze the juice.
Place the nettles and water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil, boil for 15 minutes. (This may be done in batches if you do not have a large enough saucepan.)
Strain the liquid into a large container with the lemon rind and juice and cream of tartar, stir well.
Allow to cool to about 21°C (70°F), remove a little of the liquid and mix with the yeast, stir the yeast mixture into the liquid.
Cover the container with a clean cloth (ensuring that the cloth cannot come into contact with the liquid) and secure with string or elastic.
Leave in a warm place 21°C (70°F) for 3 days.
Strain the liquid into strong bottles and cork.
Secure the corks with wire, leaving a little play (for possible expansion)
Store the bottle in a cool dark place.
If the corks begin to rise, release the wire slightly and re-secure.
The beer should be ready to drink after one week.

 

[Wez]

Sounds interesting ni9e

 

[princesspopup]

hiya
when u say corks, what exactly do you mean? are u using glass beer bottles? do u corks like used for cider?
cheers
pp :

 

[commsbiff]

Hmm.. I may well have to try this one. Good luck and let us know how it goes. :thumb: I've seen similar recipes adding 7.5g gnd ginger too. I think I'll try it with PET bottles. And use all the nettles I can get my hands on to make up to 20 litres :)

 

[ni9e]

hiya
when u say corks, what exactly do you mean? are u using glass beer bottles? do u corks like used for cider?
cheers
pp :

That was just the recipie that I quoted I will be using PET bottles just in case it is lively as I dont want bottle bombs lying round the house :grin:

 

[princesspopup]

cheers good to know
:thumb:

 

[falafael]

Wine in pet bottles, are you serious!!, there is no reason to use plastic bottles for this recipe, and if they were to 'blow', which would seem very doubtful, then why don't you use a stabilser to prevent secondary fermentation!!!!

 

[commsbiff]

This one's a nettle BEER mate. I'm guessing it wouldn't stay in the bottles for very long before being downed :drink:

 

[falafael]

odd mate, it don't look much different to a recipe for wine!!
be interesting then!

 

[GlentoranMark]

I'm going to give this beer a go at the weekend.

One question though when bottling, does this need a teaspoon of sugar?

There's no mention on this recipe or another one I've viewed.

I will be putting the beer in 2L plastic Coke bottles.

TYIA

 

[Vossy1]

Sorry this has been missed Glen
It's been missed above, but there is a difference between standard ale yeast and wine yeast.
If using a 'standard' ale yeast then prime with table sugar or refined glucose as required, as the PET bottles will be able to take the pressure.
I'd be very wary of treating this recipe as a 'beer' recipe and then using wine yeast, as wine yeast tends to attenuate a lot higher/lower (depending on your thoughts) figure.
If you were to use a wine yeast, and then racked this at 'normal' beer finnishing attenuation figures, with priming sugars, you could face the problem of 'bottle bombs'...which is not a good idea :shock:

Bottle bombs are bottles with too much gas in them which then explode. If in doubt plastic is safer than glass as it will not splinter.