The Brewing Shed

A drink with a sting: How to make Nettle Beer

Without even trying, it would appear that we are particularly ace at growing nettles on our patch, especially in the area earmarked for ‘special projects’. And what better use of this serial weed than to make some delicious sounding Nettle Beer, er…right?

RIGHT!

First we picked  2lb of nettles, the younger the better, remembering to leave out as many insects as possible. (Note: Use THICK gloves for this or suffer the embarrassment of explaining blistered palms to your work colleagues the next morning).

We then boiled the nettle leaves in one gallon of water, along with the rind of 2 lemons for about 20 minutes, then strained the liquid onto 1lb of Demerara sugar and 4oz of Cream of Tartar. We added a brewers yeast sachet to the cooled liquid, poured on the juice of the lemons and placed it in a warm room, making sure to cover it with a towel.

In three days, we should be ready to bottle/pour down the sink. Delete as appropriate.

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