Nettle Ale

We hate nettles.  They pop up everywhere, sting you and generally piss us off.  Our revenge is make this splendid ale from them then feed the residue to the pigs and chickens.  The only time to make this ale is in the spring when the nettles suddenly appear and before they flower.  Any other time and it doesn't really taste the same.

Ingredients for a 23Ltr batch

5kgs of Nettle tips, the top 10cms or so (2 bin bags full)
2kg spray malt
700g sugar
Juice and zest from 5 lemons
60g hops (fuggles pellets)
Ale yeast (1 packet or 7g)

Instructions

Drag K out on a wet Sunday morning with a bin bag, heavy gloves and a pair of secateurs to pick the nettles, she loves it, well for about 10 minutes then her sense of humour begins to fail so you have to work quickly.  We work outside using a gas burner and a large pot as it takes a while to get all the nettles into the water.  As soon as you get them home get 22 litres of water boiling, carefully dissolve the malt and then drop the nettles into the pot stirring furiously to get them all submerged.  Get the pot to a low boil then add 30g of hops and stir in. After another 15 minutes add the remaining 30g hops then keep at a low boil for another 15 minutes while you rub dock leaves on all your nettle stings and blubber into a beer.  This is a good time to get the keg cleaned and sterilised with your Chemipro OXI.  When the time is up turn off the heat and add the sugar and lemons stirring to dissolve/mix.

Position the sieve and muslin over a fermenting bin and carefully pour the liquid into the bin whilst avoiding K's hands although she will be so covered in Nettle stings she won't really care. Avoid squeezing, instead have a sip of beer and watch it drip til bored.

Set aside the cooked nettles as the pigs love them as do hens and chickens.  Jug the liquid into your keg and top it up to 23 litres with cold water.  It may take some time to cool but when it has, pitch the yeast.  We use S-04 Ale Yeast which is great, all you have to do is stir the hooch, sprinkle it on top in a pretty pattern, seal the top and fit the airlock.  Remember to label the keg with what's inside and the date.  After a week or so depending on the room temperature it should either have stopped bubbling or indicate as being ready when you test with the Hip replacement or whatever it's called (see Beers Ales and Ciders home page).  Then you can proceed to the bottling phase.  Nettle ale needs at least 2 weeks in the bottle before sampling.