National Homebrew Club Ireland

At the weekend I bottled an English ESB, but the priming syrup was made from a 'soup' made from steamed Whinbush flowers and 10g of Citra. Only been in the bottle since Saturday, but I've just cracked one. Still tastes raw (no surprises there), but the aroma!! I am going to harvest all the bushes round and about - it is amazing!

Quote from: ManseMasher on April 05, 2016, 05:55:59 PM
At the weekend I bottled an English ESB, but the priming syrup was made from a 'soup' made from steamed Whinbush flowers and 10g of Citra. Only been in the bottle since Saturday, but I've just cracked one. Still tastes raw (no surprises there), but the aroma!! I am going to harvest all the bushes round and about - it is amazing!

If you mean gorse or furze does it smell taste like coconut? Would you mind post a rough outline of how you made the syrup, interested in roughly how much weight of flowers you needed?

Shanna

Can I use daffodils instead?

Quote from: Simon_ on April 05, 2016, 07:43:02 PM
Can I use daffodils instead?

Absolutely not. Big no no.

http://www.poison.org/articles/2015-mar/daffodils

Quote from: Shanna on April 05, 2016, 07:41:25 PM

Quote from: ManseMasher on April 05, 2016, 05:55:59 PM
At the weekend I bottled an English ESB, but the priming syrup was made from a 'soup' made from steamed Whinbush flowers and 10g of Citra. Only been in the bottle since Saturday, but I've just cracked one. Still tastes raw (no surprises there), but the aroma!! I am going to harvest all the bushes round and about - it is amazing!

If you mean gorse or furze does it smell taste like coconut? Would you mind post a rough outline of how you made the syrup, interested in roughly how much weight of flowers you needed?

Shanna

Yes gorse, yes coconut! I/2 a carrier bag of petals, steamed for an hour. 10 g of Citra added. Cooled naturally, kept in fridge until bottling day. Brought to the boil, 100g sugar added, crash cooled to fermenting wort temperature, wort siphoned into it, bottled.

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=2679&mode=view

How have I never thought of doing a short hop boil and use the water for priming.
Cheers.

Quote from: ManseMasher on April 05, 2016, 07:51:52 PM

Quote from: Shanna on April 05, 2016, 07:41:25 PM

Quote from: ManseMasher on April 05, 2016, 05:55:59 PM
At the weekend I bottled an English ESB, but the priming syrup was made from a 'soup' made from steamed Whinbush flowers and 10g of Citra. Only been in the bottle since Saturday, but I've just cracked one. Still tastes raw (no surprises there), but the aroma!! I am going to harvest all the bushes round and about - it is amazing!

If you mean gorse or furze does it smell taste like coconut? Would you mind post a rough outline of how you made the syrup, interested in roughly how much weight of flowers you needed?

Shanna

Yes gorse, yes coconut! I/2 a carrier bag of petals, steamed for an hour. 10 g of Citra added. Cooled naturally, kept in fridge until bottling day. Brought to the boil, 100g sugar added, crash cooled to fermenting wort temperature, wort siphoned into it, bottled.

Sounds like a great option for a stout. Would be interested to know how long the coconut flavour lasts for? I did a stout with toasted coconut before. Initially I hated it but eventually the coconut mellowed & for a finish I could not get enough of it. Will definitely try this. Great thing is that there is an almost inexhaustible supply of flowers :)

Shanna

Quote from: nigel_c on April 05, 2016, 08:15:25 PM
How have I never thought of doing a short hop boil and use the water for priming.
Cheers.

Hop tea - works a treat!

Shanna, I'll keep you updated. I think in a stout it would be marvellous. In fact, it might be my second next brew (Lambic first).

One week in. Still tastes a little green, but the aroma is amazing!

Two weeks in - head retention is to the bottom, laces all the way and the aroma is like nothing I have had before. A 'whinner' in my book.

Looks good going to try this in a few months when I have time off to collect fresh flowers & brew. Is there much flavour from the flowers or is it all aroma? I would be curious to know whether the aroma drops off over time.


Shanns

The aroma on pouring is amazing, and I did a side-by-side brew, one with, one without. A marked difference. I have given some to a local brewery for their feedback. As for it dropping off as time goes by, not sure if it will last long enough to tell! What I can say is there is a definite difference in taste - the gorse brew in my opinion is better. As an experiment it has certainly worked and I will brew it again. I just hope the bushes keep flowering!

Out with the kids and loads of Gorse in Flower, I asked them what did it smell like and it doesn't apart from a hint of Vanila

Different olfactory sensitivity. I get coconut. It has worked in the brew. Subtle, but definitely there.

Kids wouldn't be familiar as not too many coconut trees around here but vanilla pods stripped into homemade ice cream they know

Quote from: CH on April 17, 2016, 07:43:37 PM
Kids wouldn't be familiar as not too many coconut trees around here but vanilla pods stripped into homemade ice cream they know

I guess they are smelling what they know. I definitely get a strong aroma of coconut off them. Might actually collect the flowers & make a syrup for future use. On the lookout for a local source but nothing so far. Otherwise off to the garden county to raid it :) Might get my mother to do a sweep of her family homestead in the Kingdom as she would probably make the syrup also.

Shanna

They've never had a Bounty?!

Some smell coconut, some smell vanilla. I remember reading something before about cucumber as well, if you can get a smell from cucumber you can get the coconut scent from gorse.

In my experience Furze/Gorse comes in two variants a bit like Elderflower:

ElderFlower: 2 variants on the nose; One smells of cat piss, one smells much sweeter. However BOTH make for a very nice white wine with no hint of Tom!

Furse: Also I think has two variants: One is defo. more coconut than other. Also IIRC it flowers twice a year! And they may be different on the same bush

HTH Will

Even though I say it myself - a cracking pint. I'll be doing this one again. A lovely floral note with a slight but detectable flavour from the flowers. Very nice!

Managed to collect a kilo or so of gorse flowers last weekend and made them into a sugar liquid. Hoping to use it up over the next few months.

Shanna

Showing Gordon Wicklow with gorse in full bloom, we stopped and crushed some, I was telling him I got vanilla but he was definitely saying coconut, pin cushioned ourselves in the process.

Quote from: CH on May 01, 2016, 07:23:25 PM
Showing Gordon Wicklow with gorse in full bloom, we stopped and crushed some, I was telling him I got vanilla but he was definitely saying coconut, pin cushioned ourselves in the process.

Must be a genetic capability. My kids got coconut all the way :) Will made a reference to the same plant being able to produce both. I did notice also that some plants had flowers that were far more aromatic than others. They could be further along in the blooming process.

Shanna