Dried elderflower

[Brewnaldo]

Seem to be able to find lots of reference to fresh elderflowers, and use of elder in wines etc but just wondering about the use of dried elderflower in beer.

I think I have 150g of it, which is for use in a pretty standard summerly blonde ale type deal. Admiral for bittering, late additions of EKG and honey amd elderflower. Just wonderi g when and how is best to add it? And also dosage rates. I dont know if I need 150g or 15g to make it come through.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Sadfield]

I use 1.5g per litre of final batch size, in the last 5 minutes of the boil.

 

[NotSure]

I sometime make an Elderflower Ale based on a Strong Bitter. I use 25g of dried Elderflowers at 10 minutes from flameout for a batch of about 22 litres. This amount works for the beer type. I tried doubling the amount once and it was too overpowering.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Cheers folks. I was toying with a dry addition, and had an inkling for way higher weight than you have mentioned so glad you replied.... Probably saved my batch before its even made

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Seem to be able to find lots of reference to fresh elderflowers, and use of elder in wines etc but just wondering about the use of dried elderflower in beer.

Well that's because they are just about the easiest things to forage - they're really distinctive and elders grow like weeds in much of the countryside. And drying will always lose a lot of the delicate aromas that you are looking to preserve by dry-elderflowering as opposed to using in the copper.

Also you need vastly more when dry-elderflowering - you get more of the delicate flavours, but the extraction efficiency is hopeless.

If you're new to it, you might be better off boiling up the elderflower separately (effectively making a tea/syrup) and then adding test amounts to see how much you want.

 

[ppsmith]

I don’t have the book to hand (lent it to a neighbour), but this is the recipe I used based on the Elderflower Ale in Greg Hughes’ Home Brew Beer.

Elderflower Ale - Greg Hughes
Brewfather

25g in towards the end of the boil. Not sure if that’s optimum or not…

I’ve brewed that (or a variation on it) a few times now, always been happy with the result

 

[Britannia]

Made a Aurora and Elderflower pale ale a couple of months ago, 11.5 litre batch, 2.2kg MO, 60 min mash, 60 min boil, 5g Admiral start, 15g dried Elderflower at 45 min, 10g Aurora at 50 min, 25g Aurora at turn off. It was really so good that I have brewed a couple more batches since.