Nettles, also known as Stinging Nettles, are delicious and versatile wild plants. Their signature sting disappears when the nettles are cooked, so they can be harvested as greens, drunk as a mineral-rich tea, or even used to make this delicious nettle beer recipe.
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Although nettles are so widely distributed that they are easy to wild harvest, when we arrived on our homestead, we could not find any stinging nettle, although we were wildly successful in foraging for wood nettles. I started some stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) by seed and planted them in a few moist and shady spots.
When I received a copy of Wild Drinks and co*cktails, by Emily Han,I was immediately drawn to the nettle beer recipe. With plenty of nettles growing in the backyard, I harvested the tender tops and began making this simple fermented beverage. Here’s the recipe, adapted with permission from Wild Drinks and co*cktails.
Recipe for Stinging Nettle Beer
Ingredients
8 ounces of fresh nettle tops or 4 ounces dried nettles
1/2 gallon water
1/2 cup turbinado or raw sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon ale yeast
How to Make Nettle Beer
Step One: Harvest the top few inchesof fresh nettles – you will need 8 ounces for this recipe (I made 1/4 recipe). Be sure to wear gloves to avoid getting stung! If you do not have fresh nettles, you can make this recipe with dried nettles.
Step Two: Place the nettles and water in a pot and bring to a boil on the stove. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Step Three: Line a strainer with a fine mesh cloth (cheesecloth will work great) and strain the nettle liquid into a large bowl or crock. Be sure to squeeze the cheesecloth to extract all of the liquid from the nettles. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
Cool the liquid to room temperature and then add the lemon juice, then sprinkle the yeast on top of the liquid. Cover the bowl or crock with a towel and let it sit at room temperature, out ofdirect sunlight, for three days.
Step Four: After three days, strain your nettle beer through a fine mesh sieve and funnel it into bottles, leaving at least one inch of headspace. We like to reuse Grolsch beer bottles for this purpose (you can sometimes find them at thrift stores, or on Craigslist).
The author advises placing the beer in cool storage for one week and “burping” the bottles daily. However, we opted to not burp the bottlesto maximize carbonation. If you do not burp the bottles, be sure to check on them daily to ensure your bottles will not over-carbonate and explode!
Step Five: After one week, transfer to the refrigerator and drink within one year. Enjoy the lemony-tangy refreshing flavor of your homemade nettle beer!
If you’d like to try your hand at making other wildcrafted and seasonal beverages, check out my posts on how to make homemade sodaandhow to make shrubs, and my book review of Wild Drinks and co*cktails (and other inspiring homesteading books!).
Tangy and mineral rich, this wild harvested and fermented nettle beer recipe is a delicious drink, reminiscent of hard cider, and easy to make at home!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Additional Time3 days
Total Time3 days 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 8 ounces of fresh nettle tops or 4 ounces dried nettles
- 1/2 gallon water
- 1/2 cup turbinado or raw sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon ale yeast
Instructions
- Harvest the top few inchesof fresh nettles – you will need 8 ounces for this recipe (I made 1/4 recipe). Be sure to wear gloves to avoid getting stung! If you do not have fresh nettles, you can make this recipe with dried nettles.
- Place the nettles and water in a pot and bring to a boil on the stove. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Line a strainer with a fine mesh cloth (cheesecloth will work great) and strain the nettle liquid into a large bowl or crock. Be sure to squeeze the cheesecloth to extract all of the liquid from the nettles. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
- Cool the liquid to room temperature and then add the lemon juice, then sprinkle the yeast on top of the liquid. Cover the bowl or crock with a towel and let it sit at room temperature, out ofdirect sunlight, for three days.
- After three days, strain your nettle beer through a fine mesh sieve and funnel it into bottles, leaving at least one inch of headspace. We like to reuse Grolsch beer bottles for this purpose (you can sometimes find them at thrift stores, or on Craigslist).
- After one week, transfer to the refrigerator and drink within one year. Enjoy the lemony-tangy refreshing flavor of your homemade nettle beer!
Notes
The author advises placing the beer in cool storage for one week and “burping” the bottles daily. However, we opted to not burp the bottlesto maximize carbonation. If you do not burp the bottles, be sure to check on them daily to ensure your bottles will not over-carbonate and explode!
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FAQs
Ingredients
- 0.25 lb. toasted malt.
- 0.3 lb. wheat malt.
- 6.5 lbs. English mild ale malt.
- 0.5 lb. unpasteurized raw honey.
- 5.5 AAU Willamette hops.
- (1 oz. of 5.5% alpha acid) (60 min.)
- 0.5 oz. fresh basil leaves.
- 0.5 oz. Willamette hops.
Gather enough nettles to fill a 10litre bucket with herb, pack it in. Boil a pot of water and pour it over the herb, then top the bucket up with unchlorinated water. Leave it in a warm, sunny spot – I use the greenhouse during cooler weather. Sit a lid loosely on it.
How do you make nettle drink? ›
Simply add the nettle leaves to the water and bring to the boil. The tea can be made stronger or weaker by adding more, or less, water. Once the water has been simmering for a few minutes strain the mixture into a cup, being sure that no nettles go through the strainer.
How much alcohol is in nettle beer? ›
- 500ml. A member of our Standard beer range, find out more on our Nettle IPA page.
Can you make beer with honey instead of sugar? ›
A Honey beer can be sweet, but not always. Honey's carbohydrates are more than 95% fermentable and adding honey early in the brewing process will yield a product with no residual sweetness.
What is beer made with honey called? ›
Mead (/miːd/), also called hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%.
How do you prepare stinging nettles for consumption? ›
Sautéing – Sauté until they look fully cooked, usually about 5-8 minutes. Steaming – place nettles in a colander and steam for 5-10 minutes. The stinging substance in nettles (formic acid) is neutralized with heat and once it is dried.
What does boiling nettles do? ›
Quickly blanching them in a pot of boiling water will deaden the sting. But leave them for too long and - like spinach - the leaves will wilt too far, and start to lose flavour, texture and goodness. Treat the cooked nettle leaves as you would treat cooked spinach leaves.
What to do with dried stinging nettles? ›
The dried leaves and flowers can be steeped to make a delicious herbal tea, while its leaves, stem and roots can be cooked and added to soups, stews, smoothies and stir-frys. However, avoid eating fresh leaves, as their barbs can cause irritation. Currently, there is no recommended dosage for stinging nettle products.
Who should not drink nettle tea? ›
Avoid if you're pregnant or breastfeeding because there isn't enough information on its safety. Use with caution if you're elderly because of the potential of causing low blood pressure. And use stinging nettle with caution if you have diabetes because of the potential that it may lower or raise blood sugar levels.
Packed with a variety of polyphenolic compounds and pigments, nettle leaf detox drinks reduce liver inflammation. A regular cleanse with nettle leaf detox drinks can help lower blood pressure and improve the heart's antioxidant defenses.
Is nettle tea good for kidneys? ›
Nettle tea benefits the kidneys by increasing urine output and uric acid removal. Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, it improves kidney function and urinary flow. Nettle tea is a natural diuretic that promotes proper fluid flow in the kidneys and bladder, preventing kidney stones from forming.
Is nettle beer good for you? ›
Aside from making a somewhat pleasant drink, stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are a great source of vitamin C and apparently help alleviate rheumatic pain.
When to pick nettles for beer? ›
Nettle-Picking Tips
Nettles are best when very tender, so pick in the spring when the nettles are just coming up or later in the season. Pick the young leaves from the tips. Use rubber gloves or pinch the leaves hard, so you don't get stung.
How do you use honey for priming beer? ›
Use 1 cup of honey per 5 gallon batch to replace the priming sugar, follow the same procedure outlined in your beer recipe kit instructions to prime your beer and put it in beer bottles. Boil the honey in 8-16 oz. of water and pour it into the bottom of your bottling bucket and rack your beer into the honey solution.
What does honey beer taste like? ›
Mouthfeel and Taste
The wheat gives this beer an easy, slightly sweet fullness in the mouth and smooth draw across the palate, before the honey dries it out at the back. Astringency is slight and the 7.0% alcohol stays well hidden.
What's the difference between mead and honey beer? ›
By definition, beer is made by fermenting sugars taken from malted grains while wine is made by fermenting sugars taken from fruits. In contrast, mead is made by fermenting the sugars in honey. Since honey is neither a grain nor a fruit, mead does not fall into the categories of beer or wine.
How much honey to raise ABV? ›
To make a dry 5% ABV mead, the BatchBuildr predicts you will need 0.98 lbs honey, and recommends a 1.034 SG to start. For the 10% ABV dry mead batch, you'll actually need 2.02 pounds of honey and should have an SG of 1.071. For the 15% dry mead, you'll need 3.13 pounds of honey and an original gravity of 1.110.
