Alder Cream Ale. Hops (optional) 0.25 lbs buckwheat honey. 5 lbs light liquid malt extract (LME) Yeast of choice 6 oz alder catkins

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Bethany McGee
5 years ago
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2 Spring Fermentation The stirring of Spring brings the return of our beloved plant friends, and with it a rekindling of our brew crew's enthusiasm for crafting brews in relationship with these more than human denizens of forest and field. The recipes in this edition include plants or parts of plants that can be found abundantly in our corner of Oregon during the Springtime, which for our purposes means late February through mid June. The plants featured are common, resilient, and vigorous powerful allies for bringing us out of the stagnation of Winter as we transition into the activity of Spring. We generally find these plants living in disturbed areas, and we know them to be species that can handle the gentle disturbance created by an ethical and responsible harvest. We ask the plants for permission to harvest, we take only what we need, and we adjust our harvest as well as our brewing volume to the size and health of the stand. We return to the same stands year after year and throughout the growing season to observe the impact of our interactions, to tend the stand, and to deepen our relationships with these plants and these places. We offer thanks to plants and place for all that they've given us. The foundation of most of the recipes in this edition is the simple infusion. The term 'simple infusion' is used by plant medicine people to refer to the extraction of a single herb into water. Some folks consider 'infusion' to be synonymous with 'tea' or 'tisane,' but for the brew crew, our infusions are distinguished from tisanes by the fact that they are steeped for prolonged periods of time, often overnight. This long steep gives us a greater extraction of the whole plant's virtues, and helps us to honor our plants friends through making sure nothing we've received from them goes to waste. Simple infusions also allow us ease in adjusting the quantities of ingredients or volume of our brews. To really feel the zing of Spring, we love to use fresh ingredients, but your brews will be every bit as good if dried herbs are what you have on hand. Either way, we hope you enjoy this exploration into fermenting the flavors of springtime in Northwest Oregon.

3 Alder Cream Ale 5 lbs light liquid malt extract (LME) Hops (optional) 0.25 lbs buckwheat honey Yeast of choice 6 oz alder catkins This rich, nutty cream ale is brewed in early Spring when the alder catkins begin to open. We like to wait for a dry, windy day, then collect the fallen catkins, selecting for the ones we find brightest and most appealing. By harvesting from the ground, we don't have to disturb the tree at all. Spend a day out in the fresh, cool air, then come inside and warm up by the stove crafting this woodsy ale. Bring two gallons of water to a boil. Add half your LME to the boiling water, stirring vigorously. When the water returns to a boil, add your alder catkins, making sure that any lingering forest debris has been removed. You can also add hops at this point if you wish. Let this mixture boil for thirty minutes, enjoying the characteristic aroma of the alder as it fills the room. Turn off the heat, then add the rest of your LME, stirring vigorously again. Once the wort has cooled to about 120 F, add your honey. Stir vigorously once more to incorp orate. Strain the liquid into a fermenter that has been partially filled cold water, then pitch your yeast! In nature alder grows along the rivers and streams, and in plant medicine alder is known to act on the waters of the body, the lymph. Alder helps us engage our lymphatic system, clearing our bodies of the debris leftover from Winter.

4 Nettle Braggot 2 pounds light liquid malt extract (LME) 1.5 pound nettles 2 pounds honey 2 oz Fuggle hops 1 pound sugar Bit of ginger Yeast of choice A favorite herb to gather and ferment, the potential zap awaiting our bare fingers as we gently snip the first pairs of leaves from the growing tops of the young nettle adds to our electrical feeling of excitement at the emerging green of Spring. As the trees begin to leaf out, make your way to your nettle patch and ask permission to harvest some growing tops, keeping your harvest to those plants which are at least as tall as the length of your hand. See if you can do your gathering in such a way that only those with a very keen eye could ever tell that you were there. Back inside, make a simple infusion by bringing water to a boil, and pouring it over half a pound of chopped nettles until submerged. Steep, covered, while carrying out the following steps. Fill your brew kettle with 2.5 gallons of water and bring to a boil. Add the remaining nettles and the bit of ginger. Return to a boil and add your LME and sugar. Return to a boil once more, then add 1 ounce of your hops. Boil for twenty five minutes then add the rest of your hops before boiling for another five minutes. Turn off heat, then strain and add your nettle infusion. Cool to about 110 F, add your honey, then shake carefully to integrate. Add water to the fermenter to achieve desired volume and pitch your yeast.

5 Dandelion Dirty Blonde 7 lbs light liquid malt extract (LME) 3.3 pints simple infusion, an overnight 6 oz rice syrup steep of dandelion flower tops ½ cup roasted dandelion roots 1 pound fresh dandelion flower tops 0.8 oz fresh roots dandelion roots Teaspoon bee pollen Yeast of choice One of the first plants to bring new life to early Spring is the dandelion. Ale made from this weed of a flower brings new and much needed life to your spirits after the dark days of winter. For best results, use both flower tops as well as roots. We prefer to use a mix of raw and roasted roots, it helps add more flavor and body. Add two gallons of water to your kettle and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, add half the LME while sirring vigorously to avoid scorching. Bring back up to a boil, then add dandelion roots and boil for 15 minutes. Add flower tops and boil another 15 minutes. While stirring, add rice syrup, remaining LME, and the strained fusion. Cool to ~120F. Fill a 5 gal fermenter half full with cold water then strain wort into the fermenter. Add the bee pollen, a natural yeast nutrient. Now you're ready to pitch your yeast. We prefer US 05 for this brew. Dandelions are an ancient and versatile food and medicine. A common plant, their long taproot pulls nutrients from deep within the soil. Dandelions are one of the first sources of pollen available to insects in the early spring. Dandelions support blood and liver health, are a great source of nutrients, and increases the body's ability to absorb iron.

6 Dandelion Short Meade 6 pounds honey 1 tablespoon bee pollen 1 lbs sugar Yeast of choice 3 quarts simple infusion, an overnight steep of dandelions We made a meade in the last edition of Easy Alcoholic Beverages. We like to make meade because it's easy. Just add honey, water, nutrient, yeast, and shake! The thing about meade is that it takes a long time before you can enjoy it, sometimes more than a year! This time, we're making a short meade, also known as a session meade. This is a mead with a lower alcoholc by volume that is carbonated, similar to a beer. Ready in days or weeks, it can be enjoyed in less time and in higher quantity. Fill a 5 gallon fermenter one quarter to half full of water. Add sugar and honey, then shake to integrate the must. Next, add the infusion and shake. Fill the fermenter to desired volume and gently shake again. Finally, add the yeast. Since we're making a short meade, any type of beer yeast will do. We like US 05 for the crisp, neutral finish and high attenuation it provides. Dry yeasts from Safale/Fermentis, like US 05, have the added bonus of being gluten free. While in contemporary times dandelions have been considered a weed, biologists and historians agree that the common variety found in yards all over the United States was likely brought over on the Mayflower intentionally.

7 Strawberry Melomel ~0.5 pounds strawberries per gallon Meade A classic flavor of Spring sliding into Summer, strawberries adorn many of the hillsides around the rural community where we forage and brew. A simple infusion of a different kind, this recipe makes the most of the strawberries' fresh, fruity flavor by cold infusing a finished meade. If you are one who prefers a brew with lots of fresh fruit flavor and aroma, creating an infused mead by racking a finished or near finished meade onto freshly picked strawberries is a great way to achieve this goal. Begin by processing your strawberries in the way you see fit, then add them to your fermenting vessel. You can contain your strawberries in a bag within the fermenter, or you can leave them free floating. Using a bag makes for easier separation of berries from meade later on, while letting the berries float freely allows for greater extraction of the fruits' flavor and aroma. Taste your brew as the fruit infuses over the following days, straining when it reaches your desired flavor and strength. Note: If you want a foraged fruit to infuse, wait until Summer and replace the strawberries with wild berries, like dewberries and blackcaps in the early Summer or blackberries and huckleberries later on. If you are lucky enough to come across an abundant patch, infusing a small batch of meade with tiny wild strawberries would be quite the sacred and special treat.

For more of our brewing adventures, visit us on the web

8 For more of our brewing adventures, visit us on the web at: fermentemptations.com This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

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