Rosemary and Bay Ale

[awl23]

Had my first attempt at brewing beer this morning (have made wine and cider before).

The recipe is from Andy Hamilton's book Booze for Free

1kg Malt Extract
10 Large Rosmary Sprigs
20 Bay Leaves
500g Sugar
250g Golden Syrup
Packet of Ale Yeast
13 Litres of Water
2 tbsp Golden Syrup for priming

Really simple. The malt extract, bay and rosemary boiled for 30 mins then the sugar and syrup added. Cool the wort and pitch the yeast.

Pictures and more details here for those who are interested http://twohoundsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/rosemary-and-bay-ale.html

OG was 1.040 and calculations show it will be about 5.3%

 

[RobWalker]

your final gravity will be higher than that because of unfermentable malt sugars. it's good to see this done as i've been tempted by some of his weird recipes!

for future - try to find some real brewing malt extract, and maybe a better yeast. looking forward to your results! :

 

[awl23]

Thanks for the advice Rob

What yeast would you recommend?

 

[awl23]

Quick update on this

3 days in. It looks and smells like beer. Must have done something right

 

[awl23]

This didn't get much interest first time round but here is an update.

So it has been over a month since I started the Rosemary and Bay Ale. I have to say that I'm really impressed by the results.

So roughly 14 days after the ale was sealed in the fermentation bin, the hydrometer showed that it was ready to bottle. Approx 1.010 reading. Not quite 1.000 due to unfermetables in the malt extract.

To each bottle I added 1 teaspoon of golden syrup, a tedious task but made easier by using a squeezy bottle of syrup. The ale was syphoned into the bottles and sealed with crown caps.

I used one plastic coke bottle as a test bottle to reduce the risk of bottle bombs by testing how much carbon dioxide was being produce by the feel of the bottle.

The bottles where the left for 1 week in a warm place, helped by the British summertime which has since finished

After 1 week the bottles where then moved somewhere cooler. The test bottle was now hard at this point so it was looking promising.

After about 12 days, I transfered a couple of the bottles to the fridge ready for tasting. The ale had cleared very well and the moment of truth arrived. As the first bottle was opened i was greeted with the lovely sound of a hiss. Brilliant.

First hit of flavour you get is the heat from bay, almost gingery . Confirmed also by my father-in-law. The rest of the ale is a refreshing pale ale which goes down far too fast.

Really please with the result of this and the reception from people who have tried it has been great.

Will defiantly be making this again.