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Lemon Balm Ale

Homebrew Beer Recipe

aj
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Submitted by aj on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 22:56
Style (BJCP): 
Gruit
Volume in US Gallons: 
6 gal
Extract Ingredients: 

6 lbs Dark Brown Sugar
11 oz Light DME (Dried Malt Extract)
2lb 4 oz Fresh Lemon Balm (leaves and tops)

US-05 Dry Yeast (one satchel).

Extract Instructions: 

Prepare fermenter w/ 3 gal clean water. Rinse and drip dry (or salad spinner) balm and remove leaves and tops from stems. Chop coarsely and set aside. (This much balm filled two large salad bowls and then some.)

In brewpot, heat 3.5 gal H20 to boiling. (Make sure you have room left in pot for Balm.) Turn off heat and add Dk. Brown Sugar and DME, stirring until dissolved.

Turn heat back on. Add 1 lb 10 oz of Balm and return to boil. Boil 10 minutes.

Turn off heat and add remaining (10 oz) of Balm.

Cool to below 80F, strain into fermenter, and pitch yeast.

(To convert from 6 gal to a 5 gal recipe just multiply all measurements by 0.8).

Final Gravity: 
1.018
Original Gravity: 
1.050

Restricting the amount of nutrients (DME) should encourage this to finish sweeter. I also like fermenting at cooler temps (e.g. basement) so I can bottle it before it gets really dry. Shooting for a final gravity above 1.016 will give a sweeter brew.

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Comments

Lemon Grass vs Lemons

Submitted by Gruit Guy on Mon, 01/25/2010 - 20:12.

How does it taste?

I recently had the Winter Warmer at Boston Beer Works and that Gruit including lemon grass. When I asked about it they said they wanted a lemony flavor but chose not to use lemons or lemon rind. I like the lemon grass flavor but thought they put too much in their gruit. How is the balance in yours? Does it have a tea like quality? Also one last thought if you want to have your ale finish with a sweeter note you may want to consider using specialty grains (that won't ferment out completely but leave some unfermentable sugar) or use a sweet herb like stevia or an additive like Maltodextrin. Those might be safer than letting too much sugar being left in the bottle which may cause over carbonation or exploding bottles. It has only happened to me once but it does happen.

Thanks

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