Using HERBS in Beer changed the way I brew [+Cream Ale Recipe]

Herbs, flowers, plants. They can carry a powerful and potent flavor and aroma. When used correctly, they can amplify and lift a regular old beer into something unique and highly enjoyable. But when used improperly, they can overpower and destroy your brew. Today, we'll take a look at these floral adjuncts and how you can use them to make your next great beer. I'm Trent Mucho, and this is The Brew Show. Let's talk herbs and beer. Brewers have used herbs and beers for centuries. In fact, before hops were used in beers, a mixture of herbs were common to add a bitter, floral balance to that sweet wort. Today, we might call this a gruet. But nowadays, herbs don't get the love like they used to. They're looked at with a negative lens of being an unneeded adjunct. Maybe that's because people brewed with too much of a given herb, imparting an overwhelming, almost synthetic flavor to the beer. Or maybe it's just because it's a bit of an unknown world to some brewers. I mean, there's hundreds, if not thousands, of culinary plants and veg that are used in cooking, and it's hard to know what flavors you might get from adding an herb. I'm not here to go over every single herb that can be used with brewing, but my hope is to highlight a few that are pretty common and that really deserve a chance to be brought into your brewery. Not only that, but I'll go over how to add herbs, when to add them, and best practices for the best results. And of course, at the end, I'll share a recipe for a lavender tarragon cream ale that's highly crushable and an excellent summer sipper. Let's jump in to start with some specific herbs to consider using. First, let's define what an herb is. Any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring food, medicine, or perfume. Technically speaking, spices are a little different than herbs, although in many ways, they can be used in a similar manner. You can think of herbs as the soft bits of a plant, and spices are usually the hard bits that are crushed for their flavor extraction. I might throw some spices on this list, so don't at me if not all these are technically herbs. But I'll try and keep it focused on some that I enjoy and some that interest me the most. If you have a favorite herb that you like to use in beer or cider, be sure to let me know in the comments. Here are some ideas and what flavors you can expect to get from them. Basil, has a slight bitterness and spicy quality, although quite a distinct flavor, so go easy. Borage, has a cucumber-like flavor and aroma, very delicate and very easy to grow. Cinnamon, a spice that adds a lot of warming flavor and a big aroma punch, perfect for fall or winter beers. Coriander, sometimes called cilantro. Typically, we're talking about the seed coriander, not the plant, which is actually an herb, but coriander can add a citrus flavor and amplify those notes when paired with the right beer. A whipped beer is a perfect place to add some. Dandelion, it can be quite bitter and harsh if overused, but it's been used to make wines and add a strong punch of bitterness. Elderflower, sweet and fruity flavor, very commonly used in the past in beers, really pumps up the fruit character in a fruit adele. Ginger, a lot like cinnamon, this adds a lot of warming flavor. Fresh adds the strongest punch, but dry can also work. Hibiscus, one of the first recipes on this channel was a hibiscus saison. It adds a lot of color and has a strong citrus flavor, perfect for pairing with hops that express similar flavors. Juniper, the piney flavor of gin. Juniper can be quite pungent, but really enhances an IPA if pine is what you desire. Lavender, an often feared herb due to its intense bouquet and association with soap, but when used right, it adds a delightful and smooth flavor that tastes nothing like it smells. Mint, you know it, but did you know there's a ton of varieties like pineapple mint and chocolate mint? Get crazy with it and try a unique variety to pair with your style of choice. Chocolate mint stout, anyone? Nasturtium, you might have seen this one in the garden. It's an edible flower that has a peppery flavor and aroma. Plus, it grows like a weed in the garden. Oregano, there are many varieties of oregano that have different flavor profiles, but it generally has a distinctive taste, often associated with Greek and Italian food, but it can pair nicely with certain hops. Rose hip, these are actually the seed pod of a rose flower and have been used in beers for a long time. They add a slight citrusy flavor and a tiny bit of red color, too. Rosemary, one of the most common early beer herbs. Has a strong piney flavor and aroma and can easily be subbed in for a hop addition. Sage, this one always reminds me of the smell of Thanksgiving, but its herbaceous quality pairs nicely with hops and can make a delicious IPA. Spruce tips, a favorite amongst early American brewers for its distinct flavor, bitterness, and woodsy characteristic, making it an excellent replacement for hops. Tarragon, has a strong licorice flavor and aroma, but used with a soft touch, it can really add a subtle nuance to the beer. Thyme, it has a distinctive flavor with spicy notes and a bit of woodsiness, one that I'm definitely curious about using more in the future. And yarrow, another one of the most popular herbs for early beers, pre-hops. Varieties of yarrow grow across the US and it adds a strong bitterness and sage-like flavor. I've had a yarrow beer at a brewery and it blew me away with how drinkable it really was. Where you source or how fresh you want the ingredients is up to you. I find that the fresher the herb, the more delicate yet complex the flavors can be. But the drier the herb, the more concentrated the overall flavor can be. Now that we have some ideas on what to use, let's talk about how and when's the best time to use them. The easiest way to think about when to add herbs can be broken down into brew day, secondary, and in the keg. Really when we're talking about brew day, we're mostly talking about late kettle additions. For many of the herbs, the idea is to extract some flavor and aroma by adding it while the wort is still hot, steeping the plant matter and pulling out those flavors, but not boiling it too long as to volatilize off those delicate aromas. Some of the herbs I mentioned were good for bittering additions, so adding them earlier can be beneficial. But just know that these herbs aren't a perfect sub for your favorite hop. They'll add a different kind of bitterness that's unique and when and how long you boil for will change that extraction, so there's definitely some room for experimenting there. The next best place to add herbs is going to be in secondary, which is kind of a loose term here. In the past, secondary would mean any time after primary fermentation is complete or when you rack into a secondary fermenter for aging. But nowadays, we don't really do secondaries, so I'm really just referring to any time you consider dry hopping, whether that's just before primary fermentation is over or as it's wrapping up. Tossing some herbs into a hop sock and adding it in is a great way to get a good flavor punch, although it is a bit of a risk for oxidation and potential bacteria infection, so use caution if you do this. Lastly, if you do keg, adding the herbs into a purge keg before transferring in is another great way to add a boost of flavor and aroma. And the longer it sits, the more extraction you'll get, up until a point. Tough part is, if you want to cap the amount of flavor extraction and pull the herbs out, you can't really do that without opening the keg and risking oxidation again, so it takes precise dosage up front to get it right. So those are some ideas on when to add, but how do you do it? I think there's two preferred methods for getting herbs into your beer. One is using the raw ingredient and steeping it, whether that's hot side on the brew day or cold side later, like a dry Erbian. Or two, making a tincture and carefully dosing the entire batch. The benefit to option one is that you're using the raw ingredient. And if you can nail how much you want to use, it's super simple. Just toss it in at the end of the boil, preferably in a hop stock or a spider like this, and you're good to go. But it's hard to know exactly how much to use. Most of the time, you won't nail it on the first batch. Worst case, you overdo it and the flavor overwhelms. But in the better case scenario, you underdo it, which means you can use option two to bring more of that flavor to life. Making a tincture sounds like a weird science experiment, but it really isn't. It's the process of taking a high proof alcohol, but even some cheap vodka can work, and then steeping your flavor, in this case an herb, in the alcohol for a few days, up to a few weeks. During that process, the alcohol helps extract the flavors and infuses with it. From there, you can do a dosage test where you measure out portions of your drink and then dose each one with different rates of your tincture. I've shown this many times in this channel, and it's a great way to accurately flavor your brew. Once you have the dose, you can just scale it up to your whole batch. However, you don't get many of those delicate flavors that you can get from using the raw ingredient in the other option. But if you do try the first option and you feel like you're not getting enough of what you want, then you can always try the tincture. And the cool part is, you might not use all that tincture, and you can save it to use in future projects. But the key for both of these methods is to start small, then work your way up. You can always add more flavor, but you can't take any away. And nobody wants soapy flavored beer. Test it, brew it, make notes, and brew it again if you have to. Brewing with herbs is a bit of an experiment, so expect that you might need to tweak it to make it perfect. Now let's take a look at this in practice. I've got a lavender tarragon cream ale recipe that I've been dying to make for this summer. The idea originated from a beer I had at Ninkazi Brewing in Eugene, Oregon, back when I took my road trip up there last fall. It was one of their experimental pilot batch beers, and it really took me for a wild ride. The lavender was subtle, but had a floral sweetness, which was contrasted against the sharper, licorice flavor from the tarragon. But neither were overused. They were just accented against the crisp, clean background of a delicious cream ale. Big thanks to Northern Brewer for supplying all the ingredients for this recipe. Really appreciate their continued support of this channel. And if you're in need for supplies, be sure to check them out. My recipe starts with 7.5 gallons of water for my five-gallon batch. I adjusted my water profile so it looks something like this. Sort of a typical American lager profile. The grain bill was super simple. 80% two-row and 20% flaked corn. My plan was to mash at 150 for 45 minutes. After the mash, I brought the wort to a boil. And then the first hop addition was 0.2 ounces of warrior at 60 minutes. This gives us the base bitterness. Then at 15 minutes, I added one ounce of willamette to round out the flavor and bring up the total IBUs to about 20. Then at the end of the boil, it was time for the herb additions. I'm just going with dried herbs, although these are both highly accessible herbs to grow. I'm not a huge licorice flavor guy and the tarragon was pungent. So I decided to go for a two to one lavender to tarragon ratio. At flame out, I tossed in about two tablespoons of lavender followed by one tablespoon of tarragon. And it was smelling super floral. I then chilled things down, got the wort into a fermenter and then pitched a good yeast starter with WLP 080 creme ale yeast blend. Because creme ale. Actually, I've never tried this one before, so I wanted to give it a go. I also added some clarity fern to help with clarity later on. Original gravity was 1.046. I fermented this at about 65 degrees for one week before transferring into a keg and carving it up. I then let it chill out in the kegerator for a couple of weeks. Final gravity came in at 1.008, making this one about 5% ABV. I did make a tincture for this one using the same ratio of herbs, but after tasting this beer fully carved up, I actually liked the way it tasted, a lot. It had those subtle herbaceous notes without being overpowering. And it still tasted like a creme ale, but it had a unique twist on it. The fruity floral thing I got from the herbs really played nicely with the style and made me excited to use even more herbs in the future. If I were to brew it again, I think I might add a little bit more of the herbs, maybe bump up to three tablespoons of lavender and one and a half tablespoons of tarragon, but nothing drastic. Overall, I'm very pleased with how this came out and happy to have it on tap right now. So you think you'll try giving herbs a go for your next beer? If so, let me know which combo of beer style and herb you think would make a perfect pairing. And if you're interested to know even more about adding flavor to your brews, check out this comparison I did between extract and real fruit additions. Some pretty interesting results.