AG#2 - Elderflowers?.. Hmmm

[Kevin Wood]

Well, with AG#1 (Rauchbier) http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=24471 bottled and maturing (and tasting damned fine at the moment), I started to think about AG#2. Lovely though the Rauchbier is turning out, it's clearly not going to be a session beer and I'm determined that it won't get drunk too early. Time for something more light and summery, perhaps?

I came across a SMASH recipe online - just Maris Otter and East Kent Goldings. Something nice and simple to practice with that would help me start to appreciate how a few different hops taste, I thought. Then I saw the dried elderflower on the shelf in the LHBS. :hmm: Recalling how I used to adore Cheriton Village Elder, the deal was done, and simple started to go out of the window.

Found a few suggestions online on how to use elderflower and kind of dipped an oar in somewhere in the middle:

4.5kg Maris Otter
Mashed at 66°C for 90 minutes

25g EKG @ 60 minutes
25g Dried Elderflower @ 10 minutes
4g Irish Moss @ 10 minutes
25g EKG @ 5 minutes

Safale S04

It went a lot smoother than AG#1. More enjoyable and less stressful! Even managed to experiment with a recirculating setup for the last half of the mash, running the wort down into a kettle and then pumping back to the top of the MT using my flojet pump, with the kettle element just being "tickled" at about 20% duty cycle when required to keep the temperature up.

Ended up with 24L @ 1050 - a bit stronger than I'd aimed for but never mind.

Rehydrated the yeast properly this time instead of just sprinkling the packet in, and that appears to have paid dividends, as the following morning there was already a nice krausen on top. The FV smells gorgeous at the moment. Fingers crossed it tastes as good. :pray:

 

[pittsy]

sounds interesting , i like elderflowers , i like beer , together :wha: curious how this turns out . keep us posted :

 

[rich27500]

My attempt to make a badger golden champion clone with dried elderflowers was hopeless! It never cleared and had a horrid aftertaste. It put me off so please let me know if this works. Would love to try again but am reluctant to waste good grain. Around the same time I had issues with another beer so it may not have been the elderflowers at all! Like I said good luck and let us know how it goes

 

[Equinox101]

Sounds a really good brew to me, there was an elderflower ale at the gbbf last year I'll have to dig out my program to remember what it was called, I tried it in between the chocolate orange stout and the chocolate vanilla stout :
Would love to know how this turns out.

 

[Kevin Wood]

It's still in the FV at the moment. I will be sure to update you when I've had a taster. :thumb:

Certainly smells good.

 

[Pearlfisher]

It's still in the FV at the moment. I will be sure to update you when I've had a taster. :thumb:

Certainly smells good.

I added 100g of fresh elderflowers boiled for 10 mins to a kit I'd been fermenting for 4 days last week , I've kegged it now ,but it smells like cat pee! :sick:

 

[Andyhull]

Ooops,

You picked the wrong flowers, there are litteraly hundreds of varietys of elder trees/bushes and some of them (most it seems) have this horrible smell to them.
You need to chech them before picking by smelling them, you will be able to tell the good from the bad.

I made an elderflower wine a good few years back and after looking after it for months threw it down the sink, i had picked the wrong ones too.

Im sorry to say but that niff won't go away.

Andy

 

[Pearlfisher]

thanks Andy , wish I'd have known earlier . :cry:

 

[Kevin Wood]

Well, it dropped to 1014 in the FV and when I racked it off it had the most lovely elderflower aroma. It had cleared nicely and it tasted very promising.

It's been in the King Keg conditioning for a week now. Took a sample last night to "ensure the keg was still holding pressure (honest)" and perhaps it has lost a little of that aroma? Anyway, it's going to be very drinkable. Quite a thin beer, as was to be expected, with just a hint of bitterness. My target was to brew something summery that SWMBO would drink, and she really doesn't like too much bitterness. Maybe I've succeeded?

Summery - pah! temperature this morning 8.5 degrees C and miserable. To think I had the FV in a bath with ice packs when this was fermenting. :lol:

 

[critch]

Sounds a really good brew to me, there was an elderflower ale at the gbbf last year I'll have to dig out my program to remember what it was called, I tried it in between the chocolate orange stout and the chocolate vanilla stout :
Would love to know how this turns out.

would that have been josephine butler elderflower ale?

'cos i make that

i found that 30-35g elderflower in 5g worked well, jo butlers got about 32.5g equivalent

 

[Kevin Wood]

Well, I was serving at a beer festival on Saturday and one of the beers up for grabs was Bowman Elderado. I had a taster, purely for research purposes, of course, and found it to be a very close match to what I've ended up with. Came home and tried mine again and yes, pretty much spot on. A bit stronger than the Elderado's 3.8% but otherwise very close.

Mine hasn't cleared very well yet since being racked off into the king keg but clarity was good out of the FV so I have high hopes. :pray:

 

[alanywiseman.]

It's still in the FV at the moment. I will be sure to update you when I've had a taster. :thumb:

Certainly smells good.

I added 100g of fresh elderflowers boiled for 10 mins to a kit I'd been fermenting for 4 days last week , I've kegged it now ,but it smells like cat pee! :sick:

Did you pick Rowan flowers instead? I am on the phone at the moment but will post a pic of them later.

 

[rich27500]

Out with dad who knows these things yesterday. You have to smell flowers only use ones that smell of bananas

 

[alanywiseman.]

It's still in the FV at the moment. I will be sure to update you when I've had a taster. :thumb:

Certainly smells good.

I added 100g of fresh elderflowers boiled for 10 mins to a kit I'd been fermenting for 4 days last week , I've kegged it now ,but it smells like cat pee! :sick:

Did you pick Rowan flowers instead? I am on the phone at the moment but will post a pic of them later.

Are these the flowers you picked?

 

[Kevin Wood]

Well, a little update on this one. It's turned out to be exactly what I wanted - A nice refreshing Summer ale with a hint of elderflower. A success. :thumb:

It hasn't fallen entirely clear but it's acceptable, and, I think, still improving slowly in that respect but it's a great pint for sitting outside in the sun by the barbecue of an evening. All I need now is some sun. :wha:

Kevin

 

[pittsy]

was keeping an eye on this , i think i'm sold i like the idea , may have to try this 1 :thumb:

 

[Pearlfisher]

I added 100g of fresh elderflowers boiled for 10 mins to a kit I'd been fermenting for 4 days last week , I've kegged it now ,but it smells like cat pee! :sick:[/quote]

Did you pick Rowan flowers instead? I am on the phone at the moment but will post a pic of them later.[/quote]

Are these the flowers you picked?

[/quote]


They were definitely elderflowers and I've been smelling every trees flowers since and they all smell the same ,none smell of bananas. :?