My latest endeavor into beerdom was a recipe I hobbled together after some research into brewing with rose hips. I’d wanted to make a rye beer, and over dinner one night Rosie asked me if I could incorporate roses into a beer. After a bit of research, I found that rose hips make a pretty interesting adjunct, and decided to try it out with an Irish red rye ale.
With the guidance of brewmaster Neil, I assembled the recipe for an extract beer with a pound and a half of grain:
The mesh bags allow the grains to steep like tea, imbuing the beer with their character without hanging around long enough for the tannins to seep in during the boil (because, remember: There are no ingredients in beer).
This is my fourth batch of homebrew, but the first based on a recipe I put together myself. Here’s the secret formula:
Rosie’s Red Rye
• 7 lbs Amber malt extract syrup
• 1/2 lb Crisp crushed crystal malt (60L)
• 1/2 lb Flaked rye
• 1/2 lb Flaked barley
• 1/2 oz Northern Brewer hops (45 minutes)
• 1/2 oz Northern Brewer hops (30 minutes)
• 1/2 oz Summit hops (10 minutes)
• 1 tsp Irish moss
• Liquid Irish ale yeast
• 3 oz dried rose hips
It’s sitting in the primary fermenter now. This is what it sounds like:
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