You may have heard of dandelion wine, but have you ever made dandelion beer? Here's some info on making one – including two dandelion beer recipes!
Though most people consider the dandelion an obnoxious weed, the whole plant is actually edible: roots, leaves, and flowers. Dandelion is medicinal as well, sometimes taken in the form of tea for its detoxifying qualities.
For those interested in traditional and rustic pseudo-beers, a dandelion beer may give a hint as to what an early American settler would have made in the absence of hops, using the ubiquitous dandelion to help provide bitterness and flavor.
A number of American craft brewers have given dandelion new life by putting it in some of their specialty beers:
- New Belgium made a Dandelion Ale as part of the Lips of Faith series. Their version used pilsner malt, dandelion greens, grains of paradise, and Belgian ale yeast.
- Fonta Flora, a newer brewery in Morganton, North Carolina, brewed a dandelion brettanomyces saison.
As you can see, there are many ways to interpret the style of dandelion beer. The key component, as with any beer, is balance.
A Note on Harvesting Dandelion
It should be easy enough to find dandelions. Just be sure that the location you’re pulling the dandelions from hasn’t been sprayed with pesticide or herbicide, is far enough away from any cars and pets so as to avoid contamination.
A Traditional Dandelion Beer Recipe
This recipe, from Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, is a traditional dandelion beer recipe from 1931. Though the fermentable sugar in this case is from sugar, feel free to use malt extract instead for more body. Sugar beers tend to finish a little thin. The flavor is hard to describe: floral, yet not in the way hops can be floral. "I served this beer at a homebrew festival a couple years ago – it’s strange, but some people really liked it." Be warned – the beer will stain a plastic fermenter, so I recommend a glass carboy or stainless steel fermentor.
Ingredients (two-gallon batch)
2 oz. dried dandelion
2 oz. dried nettle
1 oz. dried yellow dock root
1 gal. water (plus 1 gallon preboiled and cooled for topping off)
2 lbs. sugar
2 tbsp. dried ginger
Fermentis SafAle US-05
Directions
Boil the dandelion, nettle, and yellow dock root in water for 15 minutes. Place the sugar and ginger in your glass fermenter, then strain the “tea” over the sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then add enough preboiled, cooled water to bring the total volume to two gallons. Addyour yeast and stir into the wort. Ferment until complete, then bottle.
A Modern Dandelion Beer Recipe
The Dandelion Bitter from the Homebrewer’s Garden offers a recipe a little closer to what most of us consider beer.
Specs
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.012 – 1.016
Color: orange-brown
Ingredients (five-gallon batch)
1/2 lb. Biscuit Malt
1/2 lb. 60L crystal malt
3.15 lbs. Briess Gold Malt Extract Syrup
3 lbs. Briess Pilsen Light DME
1 lb. dandelions: leaves, blossoms, and roots at start of boil 60
1 oz. Kent Goldings hops at 15min from end of boil
1/2 oz. Willamette hops at 2min from end of boil
1/2 oz. Willamette hops (dry hops)
Wyeast 1028: London Ale Yeast or Fermentis SafAle™ S-04
2/3 c. Corn Sugar for priming
Muslin Mesh Grain Bag for steeping grains.
Directions
Clean the dandelions thoroughly. Pour grain into a mesh bag, and tie the open end in a knot. Steep for 30 min at 150° - 160°F. Remove the bag, drain, and discard. Stir in the malt extracts and bring to a boil. Boil for one hour, adding dandelions and hops according to the schedule above. When the 60-minute boil is finished, cool the wort to approximately 100°F as rapidly as possible by using a wort chiller, or put the kettle in an ice bath in your sink. Fill the primary fermenter with 2 gal cold water, then pour in cooled wort. Leave any thick sludge in the bottom of the kettle. Add more cold water as needed to bring volume to 5 gal.
When wort is 70˚F or below, pitch yeast. Ferment at 64-70˚F. At the end of primary fermentation, add the Willamette dry hops. After secondary fermentation, bottle with priming sugar and condition for two weeks.
Have you ever brewed a dandelion beer? Or, do you have a dandelion beer recipe you’d like to share with us? How did it turn out?
FAQs
The flavor is beery, mildly floral, with an interesting bitter note. The mouthfeel will be thinner than commercial beers', but careful, it packs a good punch. Start drinking dandelion beer seven days after fermentation takes off, up to three weeks later. After that, the flavor degrades.
What alcohol is made from dandelions? ›
Dandelion wine has been likened to mead, with a hint of honey taste to it. This wine should be served chilled, and although it won't technically spoil, if it is aged too long it may not taste quite as good.
Is root beer made from dandelions? ›
Ingredients in early and traditional root beers include allspice, birch bark, coriander, juniper, ginger, wintergreen, hops, burdock root, dandelion root, spikenard, pipsissewa, guaiacum chips, sarsaparilla, spicewood, wild cherry bark, yellow dock, prickly ash bark, sassafras root, vanilla beans, dog grass, molasses ...
Is dandelion wine good for the liver? ›
This drink is not only tasty, but is said to have liver-cleansing properties as well!
Is Dandelion and Burdock the same as root beer? ›
The earliest record of a Dandelion and Burdock drink is the 13th Century, Middle Ages. Brewed as a root beer, traditionally formed by a fermentation process, of extracts of roots, herbs, bark, flowers, leaves, and berries, as well as adding a herbal element.
What did Native Americans use dandelions for? ›
In the past, dandelion roots and leaves were used to treat liver problems. Native Americans also boiled dandelion in water and took it to treat kidney disease, swelling, skin problems, heartburn, and upset stomach.
Why do dandelions make you wet the bed? ›
The French name for dandelion is pissenlit (“wet the bed”), which refers to the plant's use in traditional medicine as a diuretic. Dandelions do contain several diuretic compounds, and limited studies in humans have confirmed their therapeutic efficacy.
What medicine is made from dandelions? ›
The leaves, flowers, and root of the plant have traditionally been used in Mexican and other North American medicine. Today, dandelion is promoted as a “tonic,” as a diuretic, and for a variety of conditions, including infections and digestive symptoms.
Why was sarsaparilla banned? ›
Safrole was found to contribute to liver cancer in rats when given in high doses, and thus it and sassafras or sarsaparilla-containing products were banned.
Does sassafras tea lower blood pressure? ›
Sassafras is thought to have natural diuretic properties ( 5 ). Diuretics are substances that increase your urine production, helping your body excrete water and salt ( 6 ). Diuretics are often used to treat issues like high blood pressure and fluid retention, especially in those who have chronic kidney disease ( 7 ).
Is Sassafras Legal? In the United States, MDA is considered a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning it has no federally recognized medical purposes and is illegal to own, use, or distribute.
What not to mix dandelion with? ›
What other drugs will affect dandelion?
- lithium;
- an antibiotic, such as Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Noroxin, and others;
- a blood thinner or medicine to treat or prevent blood clots;
- a diuretic or "water pill";
- heart or blood pressure medication; or.
- a sedative such as Valium.
Who should avoid taking dandelion? According to the Northern New England Poison Center, regularly consuming dandelions or taking dandelion supplements may not be suitable for people who are taking certain medications, such as lithium, diuretics, blood sugar-lowering medications, or blood thinners.
Can you drink dandelion everyday? ›
You can drink dandelion tea every day. “Recommendations are two to three times a day,” says Geib. “Start your day with a cup of dandelion root tea and build it up slowly. Its diuretic properties can increase urination, so go gentle and let your body adjust to it first.”
What is the flavor of dandelion? ›
The dandelion greens are quite bitter, but work well with the subtle fish. They are also very healthy for you; ounce for ounce, they have more vitamin A, iron, and calcium than broccoli. Harvest new dandelion growth in spring; older, bigger leaves are too tough and woody, and their flavor is harsh.
What is dandelion tea supposed to taste like? ›
The dark coloring and deep and smoky-tasting notes of the dandelion root are comparative to coffee but you can also brew dandelion leaves and stem to create a lighter floral palate. As you can see, this herbal tea can be super versatile and come loaded with lots of essential nutrients and vitamins to give you a boost.
What does dandelion wine taste like? ›
Dandelion wine is frequently compared to mead in terms of flavor, and this analogy holds some weight. The taste of dandelion wine is slightly bitter with a dash of honey-like sweetness. This beverage is best served chilled and is appropriate for any setting or climate.
What other beer does Blue Moon taste like? ›
If you like the taste of Blue Moon—or Hoegaarden, another popular example—and want to broaden your horizons, start looking for (and asking for) witbier, weissbier, or hefeweizen at your local bar or beer store.
