Doin' Brewin'- Fraoch (Heather Beer)

Dried Heather Tips

A while ago I read the book Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers and it triggered the herbalist/gardener in me to want to make herbal beers.  I was intrigued by Fraoch and decided I needed to seek this beer out.  Fraoch is brewed with heather, a low growing shrub, instead of hops.  Well, what an endeavor that turned out to be.  Originating in Scotland, it turns out that this beer is not readily available in the states.  But alas, after many months of search, I found one and it was great!  This is not the typical beer that a hophead would like as it is on the sweeter side with no hop bitterness, but the herbalist in me likes the sprucy flowery herbal essence.  So I decided, I needed to make this beer since it's so hard to find.  So the search for heather begins.  Do I try to harvest it fresh or buy it dried?  And either way, where do I find it?

Turns out that more and more people are trying to brew this style and finding dried heather wasn't too difficult.  I was able to find an 8 oz. bag from Austin Homebrew Supply. 

Now, how do I brew it?  I did some research and found some pretty complex recipes out there.  A fraoch is technically a gruit; a mixture of herbs used to bitter/flavor.  I decided for my first batch to make it simple, and to only make 2.5 gallons in case it wasn't drinkable.

I mashed as usual for 60 minutes.  When it came time for the boil I added one addition, 6 oz of heather tips and boiled for 90 minutes.  Then the tricky part came.  Separating wort from heather.  The dried heather is ground up in small bits and a little powdery, I could see the advantages here of using fresh heather tips as it would be far easier to remove from the wort.  I debated using a bag, but I didn't have one big enough, so I just tossed it all in.  I used a small sieve and scooped out as much as I could then ran the wort through the sieve on the way into the fermenter.  Not too bad.  O.G. was 1.040.  Fraoch are not traditionally a very big beer.  This one turned out to be 3.6% ABV.

After a week of fermenting and a week of secondary I decided to "dry heather" the night before I kegged it.  To eliminate a bunch trub I did this by boiling 1-2 cups of water.  Then seeping 2 oz of heather for 5-10 minutes after which ran it through the sieve into the secondary carboy. 

Batch Size	2.500 gal	Boil Size	2.500 gal
Boil Time	0.000 s	Efficiency	70%
OG	1.033	FG	1.008
ABV	3.2%	Bitterness	0.0 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	4.4 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	106

Fermentables

Total grain: 3.314 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	3.001 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Carared	Grain	5.000 oz	No	No	75%	20.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
heather	0%	6.000 oz	Boil	90.000 min	Pellet	0.0

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
US-05	Ale	Dry	0.388 oz	Primary

I have to say I am quite pleased with the end result.  The recipe could use some tweaking but I like it.  Very cloudy as expected with that much heather added.  The aroma is amazing, no doubt about it, there is heather in this beer.  It's a pretty thin, but it also only came in at only 3.6% ABV.  I would definitely try to get more body and more maltiness next time, but I like it for the first one because you really taste the heather, it's pretty in your face.  The heather really lingers on the palate and sours a little at the end.  Reminds me of a kombucha, basically just a fermented heather tea.  Some honey flavors to next batch would pair nicely with the floral and balance out that sourness.  I've never used honey malt, but I think this would be a good recipe to play with.  And I just got this cute little keg for my small batches, so no bottling.  Double win!

Doin' Brewin'- House Stout

Mash tun/brew kettle all bundled up for the mash

When you are a lil' brewer girl there are some things to consider about your brew set up.  Most involve lifting heavy things, which can be, well, too heavy.  Also, when I started brewing all-grain, I had limited space for equipment.  Brew-in-a-bag was the perfect option for me.  Seemed easy enough with not a lot of investment or space needed.  A giant brewpot with a spout was perfect for eliminating some lifting and pouring.  Stilts on my burner means I can drain the wort into a carboy, which is usually in a wheeled cooler, and off I go to the fermenting closet.  The only lifting that is left is to get the carboy up to the counter for transfers.  I think I can handle that.

I do a full volume mash in my kettle.  I think in the future I am going to change this approach.  I am going to make some markings in the kettle so I can do a thicker mash then fill with extra water to the appropriate level for pre-boil.  Sometimes I get some thin beers which could be a result of bad recipe design or from a super thin mash.  Either way, my kettle can barely hold all the grain and water for full volume so if I only accomplish making a little less mess, then so be it.

 Wrapped up the kettle will usually drop about 10 degrees through the 60 minutes.  I don't seem to suffer any negative consequences.  

On this cold winter day in the mountains, it seems as though a stout is in order.  I have brewed this recipe several times, tweaking bits of it here and there.  It always seems to please.

Batch Size	5.000 gal	Boil Size	5.750 gal
Boil Time	60.000 min	Efficiency	70%
OG	1.057	FG	1.014
ABV	5.5%	Bitterness	43.1 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	41.7 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	187

Fermentables

Total grain: 12.250 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	10.000 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Carafa II	Grain	4.000 oz	No	No	70%	412.0 srm
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	Grain	8.000 oz	No	No	74%	40.0 srm
Roasted Barley	Grain	8.000 oz	No	No	55%	300.0 srm
Chocolate Malt (US)	Grain	16.000 oz	No	No	60%	350.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Northern Brewer	10.6%	1.000 oz	Boil	60.000 min	Pellet	34.6
Northern Brewer	8.6%	0.500 oz	Boil	20.000 min	Pellet	8.5

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
Safale S-05	Ale	Dry	2.232 tsp	Primary

Fermenting in the closet			Transfer time

Green Flash Brewing Co- Hop Head Red

Drinking Hop Head Red transports me back to a beercation a couple years ago that I took to San Diego.  There were a couple things to learn about brewery touring for a week there.  Used to going to brew pubs that have pretty regular business hours we quickly learned that in the San Diego area there are a lot of breweries that only distribute and have tap rooms.  That means they have limited tasting hours, which are usually only Thursday- Sunday from 4-8pm.  The day we went to Green Flash Brewing Co. was the day we learned that hard lesson.  On a Tuesday after checking out the LA scene a little we were ready to hit the road and start the tour and logically start working our way down towards San Diego via Escondido, the home of Stone Brewing Co .  But first stop, Vista, CA where Green Flash was originally located.  Green Flash was our 4th stop in obscurely located industrial parks, and not a beer had been tried yet.  Denied!  But we knew we could come back on our way back up the coast.  Which is exactly what we did and I was so glad.  We got to roam around the brewery floor, samples in hand and chatted with the brewer at work.

A beautiful red color leads to a nice caramel maltiness that you can even smell on first sip.  Not a lot of hop aroma, you might think this was an Irish red, then, surprise!  Hops!  Maybe a little bitter at the end but not totally out of balance.  This is not your average red or your average IPA.