Adapted from Pascal Baudar’s The Wildcrafting Brewer.
Not much maple syrup flavour remains after fermenting. This beer tastes a lot like a straightforward ale—dandelion is quite bitter. Experiment with sugars. I’ve substituted syrup for molasses, which resulted it a more porter-like beer.
I like to add something slightly floral like spruce tips or yarrow or chamomile to offset the dandelion.
Pick dandelions just before the flowers open—though you can add a few flowers to the recipe, too.
So far I’ve found I haven’t had to prime before bottling as fresh dandelion residue continues to ferment once bottled.
This ferments to about 3.8 – 5% ABV.
To learn more about the basics of home brewing, equipment, and terminology, check out Charlie Papazian’s The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing.
Makes about 1 gallon of beer.
Wild Yeast
Before you make your beer, you’ll have to make a wild yeast. Learn how on the Wild Yeast page.
Ingredients
- 1 gallon de-chlorinated water
- 1 lb maple syrup
- 1/2 lb fresh dandelion greens
- 14 g dandelion root, toasted/dried
- 6 g dried spruce tips
- 1/2-3/4 cup wild yeast
Brew the Beer
- Clean dandelions. Separate leaves from roots.
- Chop dandelion roots. Roast in oven at 300˚F, stirring often, until the root is dark and crispy (about 15-20 minutes or so).
- Combine ingredients in a big pot—reserve 2 g of spruce tips.
- Bring to a boil. Boil for 25 min. At 25 min, add remaining spruce tips. Boil for 5 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool wort to 21˚C (70˚F).
- Strain. Pitch wild yeast.
- Pour into fermenting vessel and add an airlock. Ferment in a warm place (15-27˚C) until bubbling subsides significantly (about 10 days after active fermenting starts).
- Bottle. Enjoy after 1-3 weeks.
