Brewing beer with flowers is nothing new—dozens of beers can be found on the market that have one or more types of flowers as an ingredient. But while many of us already grow flowers, we might not have pegged them as something we would put in our beer. It’s not that different from adding other ingredients to your homebrew, and I have some suggestions for growing, harvesting, preserving, and brewing with them.
Growing
Growing the lushest flowers possible is ideal to get the most flavor from your petals. Unfortunately, nutrient-deprived soils and pests can get in the way of this. While fertilizers and pesticides might seem like the quickest, easiest route to having beautiful flowers, they also run the risk of introducing harmful chemicals into the plants you will eventually consume. Fertilizers can also have the tendency to promote more foliage than flowers. Visit your local garden store for recommendations on compost, which soil works best with your environment, and safe forms of pest deterrents.
Harvesting
The best time of day to harvest the flowers is in the morning after the dew dries, but before the daytime heat kicks in. Do it before the buds fully open because they retain the most intense oil concentrations, which will give you the most flavor. That’s unfortunate for the overall aesthetics in your garden but is a bonus to your beer! The upside is that proper harvesting can also encourage new growth in the plants. Be sure to select blooms that are free from damage and wilting and collect a little more than you actually need, just in case you have a mishap somewhere in the process. Discard all traces of stems and leaves, which could add a vegetable flavor to the beer.
Preserving
Preserving the blooms before they go bad is key because you’re likely not going to have enough in one day’s harvest to use for an entire batch of beer. If you don’t properly preserve the blooms, you run the risk of mold, dust, and other undesirable effects. Drying flowers is the best way to preserve them. Do not use a preservative or desiccant, which can be toxic. Right after harvest, gently wash the freshly cut blooms, then put them in a salad spinner to remove most of the water, and lightly pat them dry with a paper towel. Next you can air-dry them by hanging or racking them or use a dehydrator..
Brewing
I recommend three methods for adding flowers to your brew: at the end of the boil, creating a tincture with vodka, or dry-flowering in a secondary. Adding flowers to the mash will destroy the flavor of the delicate flowers and likely decrease some of the color characteristics, too, so it’s best to put them in at the later stages—you might test different stages and times to determine the most desired outcomes.
Sanitation is key! Adding the flowers at the end of the boil will kill any microbes that might still be attached, so it’s a safe bet. Creating a tincture in vodka will also kill any lingering microbes while preserving the flower’s characteristics, so when the time comes, you can add the tincture to the secondary or at bottling. Each flower is unique so you should research the amount of flowers to use—you could end up with a bland, understated effect, or something that singes your nose hairs.
Dry-flowering is the same concept as dry-hopping, but unlike hops, which have an antiseptic quality to them, flowers need an extra step. Boil them in a few cups of water, drain them (reserving the water in a sanitized bowl), then transfer the petals to a hops bag. Insert a few sanitized marbles into the bag, tie a long string to it, then tie the string to the handle of your carboy. Let the bag sink. Pour in the reserved flower water. Again, you’ll want to research the specific flower you’re using to determine the best amount of time it should remain in your secondary.
Next week, I’ll describe some of the flowers you can use in your beer! And if you'ree looking for beers brewed with flowers to sample, you can read more about them here.