Ye Olde Gruit Ale

[lexuschris]

Hey all,

I got to sneak in a brew day this past Sunday, and decided to crack my first bottle of Ye Olde Gruit Ale while mashing... Fantastic!

When I brewed my Old Ale back in June, I pulled off 2.8 gallons for a boil without any hops... just gruit spices of wormwood & sweet gale. Officially, this was my 3rd attempt at a drinkable gruit. My 1st was so bitter, that I had to brew a batch of scotch ale to pour with it, just to cut the bitterness. So, using those figures I tried to enginbeer the right combo of bitternes to malt sweetness, and ended up with this.



Knowing that spices in beer take a while to mellow, I have been patiently storing this small batch since then. So, I wasn't sure what to expect when I poped the cap on this brew. The bitterness did not overpower the malt, nor did the sweetness cloy... The sweet gale armoa & flavor was delicate and blended well with the malt backbone. Yummm!

Now, I will be the first to admit that non-hop based beers are not for everyone. If you ever took a swig of Froach, or some other herbal beer, and hated it ... you probably won't like this little number either. However, if you can imagine a remote village in medieval England, and the local brewmaster collecting local ingredients to balance his brew .. then perhaps it might appeal to your sense of adventure and history.

I'll bring a bottle to next meeting with an appropriate warning..
--LexusChris

[Oskaar]

Chris,

After our conversation last night about different herbs for bittering I went back and looked at a couple of mead recipes in the style of Absinthe lo’ those many years ago. Here is a listing of the herbs used, and the amount per gallon that went into the mead.

Grand Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium): 24.576g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Green Anise (Pimpinella anisum): 65.536g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Florence fennel (Foeniculum vulgare azoricum): 40.96g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis): 8.193g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Roman Wormwood (Artemisia pontica): 8.192g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Dried Hyssop Flowers: 8.193g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Dried Sage Flowers: 8.10g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Garden Angelica Seeds (Angelica archangelica): 4.096g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%
Dried Veronica (Plantaginaceae veronica): 4.096g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%

Not quite sure how those will factor into beer, but you might take a batch fresh out of fermentation (preferably something light so you can taste the additions of bittering herbs more readily as a simple baseline) and make additions in lesser quantities than the ones above and add more if necessary to get the flavor you’re looking for. I’d shoot for a Final Gravity of about 1.007-1.015 in order to balance the intense bitterness that some of these herbs bring to the mix.

The mead was based on the following recipes which were converted from faux Absinthe recipes to mead recipes:

Duplais’ Swiss Absinthe of Lyon
Source: Treatise on the Manufacture of Liqueurs and on the Distillation of Alcohols
By P. Duplais
Edited by M. Arpin and E. Portier
Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1900
Translated by Artemis © 2003.

Grand Wormwood, dried 3 kg (113.56g/4oz per gallon of absinthe; 1.2g per fl oz of alcohol; 21.504g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 24.576g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

Green Anise 8 kg (302.83g/10.68oz per gallon of absinthe; 3.2g per fl oz of alcohol; 57.344g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 65.536g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

Fennel of Florence 4 kg (151.41g/3.34oz per gallon of absinthe; 1.6g per fl oz of alcohol; 28.672g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 32.768g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

Angelica Seeds 500 gram (18.93g/0.68oz per gallon of absinthe; 0.2g per fl oz of alcohol; 3.584g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 4.096g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

Lemon Balm, dried and culled 1 kg (37.85g/1.34oz per gallon of absinthe; 0.4g per fl oz of alcohol; 7.168g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 8.193g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

Petite Wormwood, dried 1 kg (37.85g/1.34 per gallon of absinthe; 0.4g per fl oz of alcohol; 7.168g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 8.192g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

Dried Hyssop Flowers 500 gram (18.93g/0.68oz per gallon of absinthe; 0.2g per fl oz of alcohol; 3.584g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 4.096g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

Dried Veronica 500 gram (18.93g/0.68oz per gallon of absinthe; 0.2g per fl oz of alcohol; 3.584g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 4.096g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)


Scientific American Recipe by Dr. Arnold
2.5 kilograms of dried wormwood (94.63g/3.34oz per gallon of absinthe; 1g per fl oz of alcohol; 19.92g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 20.48g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

5 kilograms of anise (189.27g/6.68oz per gallon of absinthe; 2g per fl oz of alcohol; 35.84g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 40.96g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

5 kilograms of fennel (189.27g/6.68oz per gallon of absinthe; 2g per fl oz of alcohol; 35.8g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 40.96g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

1 kilogram of Roman wormwood (37.85g/1.34oz per gallon of absinthe; 0.4g per fl oz of alcohol; 7.168g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 8.192g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

1 kilogram of hyssop (37.85g/1.34oz per gallon of absinthe; 0.4g per fl oz of alcohol; 7.168g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 8.192g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

500 grams of lemon balm (18.93g/0.68oz per gallon of absinthe; 0.2g per fl oz of alcohol; 3.584g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 14%; 4.096g per gallon of mead with an ABV of 16%)

You can add mugwort at approximately the same level as the wormwood (Both Artemisia sp. so they should be in the same ballpark.

I couldn't find any of my my notes on meadowsweet, but hawthorn berries, juniper berries and nasturcium flowers are in there as well.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

[oc eric]

I liked the Gruit, but the wrymword scared the heck out of me!

[lexuschris]

Wow! Some great info there Oskaar! This is a rare find in both detail & variety of herbs! Thank you for looking up these details and your suggestions on how to approach testing new flavors into beers.

Cheers!
--LexusChris

[backyard brewer]

I couldn't find any of my my notes on meadowsweet, but hawthorn berries, juniper berries and nasturcium flowers are in there as well.

JR brewed a Belgium Wit with nasturciums in it. He entered it in the OC Fair as a Wit, a spice/herb and exerimental and took a 1st, 2nd and 3rd with it..

the story of him getting caught ripping nasturciums out of his neighbors yard is spectacular.

Very interesting beer...