You are holding a full, open pack of JuicyFruit gum. You take one stick out, replace it with a stick of Wrigley's Spearmint gum. You close your eyes, put the pack up to your nose, and inhale deeply. Mmmmm...
You open your eyes to a sunny yellow bulb with flimsy white petals dancing around it. It's a bright, lemony, bubblegum-fruity, and slightly minty aroma... lively, and yet calming. Chamomile.
From my garden, a mix of vegetables, fruit, and herbs often feed my fermentation projects. Over the years I've let certain beneficial gypsy volunteer plants "win," like yarrow, and our star of the day - Chamomile. When I first constructed the garden, the beds, the paths, I loved the clean look, but I'm not running a public garden. I want plants for my toddler to torture and explore, without triggering deep breathing exercises. Chamomile is the perfect self-reseeding perennial that will fight back when you harvest.
She Loves Me; She Loves Me Not
Chamomile looks like a little daisy and shares the Asteraceae family - bright, bulbous yellow disc, flimsy white florets. It's not terribly fragrant, but when the yellow "bulb" is in full carnation, it will produce a sweet bubblegum scent.
It may hark back to your mother's nighttime calming tea - its' Apigenin does have the effect of binding to brain receptors that can decrease anxiety and make you drowsy. I think of my typical day - delaying stimulants, eventually reaching for the depressants, and this herb sounds like sweet relief.
If you're thinking of growing or buying it for culinary use, you'll discover that it generally breaks down into German and Roman/English species. Both are fine, but I enjoy the bigger flowers from German Matricaria chamomilla for higher yields and less labor.
Imbibing
Your local grocery story almost certainly has a little box of tea that might advertise as Sleepy or Nighttime and it probably has dried chamomile in the blend. You may even find pure Chamomile to make a 100% herbal (non-caffeinated) tea - likely the shortest distance between this blog and your glass if you want to play with it.
So let's start with tea, fermented or otherwise. Most herbal teas are very delicate and like to be brewed at rather low temperatures for extraction - around 160-170F (71-77C). As with hops, the hotter and longer you steep it, the more harsh/bitter/astringent characteristics tend to come along, with a general degradation of the volatile aromatic compounds we tend to be aiming for.
 |
| Jasmine buds and Chamomile flowers |
Calmbucha - 1 gallon
28 grams White Tea
10 grams Chamomile Flowers (fresh) -OR- 5 grams Chamomile Flowers (dried)
5 grams Jasmine (dried)
Steep for 4 minutes @ 180 degrees
To ferment: add honey or sugar to 1.012, cool to 73F (23C), pitch your SCOBY. Suggested final gravity of 1.006 and pH of 3.4, but you do you.
Notes: Light, mild, delicate and sweet floral notes, refreshing and can benefit from some residual fermentable sweetness - which means ending fermentation earlier than typical and not allowing the SCOBY, Acetobacter, etc. produce too much acetic acid. While the herbal additions can taste harsh in a fresh brewed tea, many of these compounds settle out and go away over time, which is why fermentation lends itself to a great beverage.
In beer, we get a similar contribution from chamomile. I immediately gravitate towards wheat beers, because the aromatics are sweet, floral and farmhouse appropriate. Noting the above, Chamomile makes a great whirlpool addition, particularly if you have a hop spider you can remove them after a set period.
Pharmhouse Saison (5.5 gal)
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.004
63% Pilsner
20% Spelt Malt (or sub Wheat Malt)
5% Flaked Wheat
5% Flaked Oats
7% Candi Sugar / Dextrose
Mash @ 148 for 60 mins
@60min 7g Sorachi Ace (~`8 IBU)
@30 min 14g Czech Saaz (~5 IBU)
@30 min 7g Sorachi Ace (~8 IBU)
Whirlpool @180F (82C), while chilling, add the following for 3-6 minutes (taste to desired extraction):
15g Chamomile (dried)
8g Elderflower (dried)
2g Pink Peppercorn (lightly crushed)
ALTERNATE TEA METHOD: Post fermentation, make a 180F(82C) tea using the ingredients above in enough water to steep, strain while hot, cool, and add to taste to the keg/bottling bucket. This is a safer "blending" route that I used early on to dial in the adjunct amounts. Read more on this method below.
Pitch Blaugies strain (WY3726 / Imperial Rustic) @ 68F (20C) and let free rise to 73F (22C)
WATER PROFILE:
Ca 50 | Mg 3 | Na 10 | Cl 50 | SO4 60 | NaHCO3 50
Note1: It's good for the wort to be cooling at this stage, even if it's cooling in a no-chill ambient drop. The higher temperature will ensure no bacteria survive on the adjuncts. The gradually lowering temperature will result in a more aromatic steep, rather than an astringent boil.
Note2: Amount and steep time are very subjective. I prefer to use more ingredient, for a shorter steep. Most of the good flavors and aromas are extracted within the first 90-120 seconds, after that, you're getting more of the stem-and-stick flavors. This can add an herbaceous, earthy, and astringent-bitterness that is undesirable.
Theory behind the recipe:
Floral, rustic, dry and spicy, with a slightly lemon-and-chamomile tea take on a classic farmhouse saison. We are aiming for a bright and complex floral bouquet that is primarily driven from the late flower additions, less from our hops. The flavor will have layers of fruity esters, plenty of pepper/clove phenols, and the sweetness from the flowers will ultimately be a refreshing champagne-like better-for-you beer.
Sorachi is a scandalous hop in modern brewing (Dry hop with it if you love dill), but it plays an important role here. Using it in the early and mid boil imparts a nice lemony backdrop. Czech Saaz provides a classic black pepper, herbal quality that adds some rustic depth and style-appropriate notes.
The grist is mild and focuses more on perceived mouthfeel, we want a dry but luscious body and a tight, long-lasting head that can bounce the floral aromatics our way. A simpler grist would simply be 70% Belgian pilsner, 30% red winter wheat malt, and it would be just fine. Choice of base pilsner malt is entirely up to you, something bold and rustic like Mecca Grade's Pelton is appropriate here, or a classic Weyermann pils, it's hard to go wrong. I tend to use my cheapest, closest-to-expiry pilsner here as it plays a background role. I will do another post on Spelt, but it adds slightly nutty depth without being as doughy as wheat, and purports some digestif benefits, so it's highly appropriate for the Pharmhouse.
Yeast choice of Blaugies is mainly because it lends itself to floral and fruit additions. It's a well-balanced performer that tends to be a bit more estery than phenolic, compared to other Saison strains. You could also go with Dupont or Thiriez, just keep them on the cooler end to let the flowers shine.
Lastly, the adjuncts. The Chamomile and Pink Peppercorns will do more to drive the perceptible fruity-floral notes than the Elderflower. Elderflower is quite delicate, and you don't have to use very much. A compelling reason to add these after flameout / in whirlpool as opposed to the alternate method of making a tea infusion is:
A) it's easier
B) gives more time for the harsher compounds to dissipate
C) you'll be drinking the finished beer sooner
Closing Thoughts on Chamomile
This darling flower is a welcome addition in any floral beverage, and makes me wonder what a St-Germain liqueur would be like -- apparently it exists and is called Camomilla. It may be best suited to a calming, hot beverage at the end of the day, but I've found its juicyfruit quality welcome in a light ale. Growing it is extremely easy, and it will gladly re-seed itself year after year, even take over your garden. The new growth is quite recognizable though (looks like dill) and easy to weed.
At its best, it's a pleasant and light floral-fruity contribution, at its worst it is a stuffy car ride to church with Grandma. But you have to use a LOT of chamomile to reach that point, it's one of the more forgiving culinary flowers. Compare this with lavender, lilac, peonies, hibiscus, rose petals, etc. it's easier to introduce into your recipes. It beautifully complements jasmine and elderflower, and I could see it being used with other adjuncts like ginger or cardamom, even *gasp!* lemony, floral hops. And since it Chamomile just to be here, we should probably let it speak its piece.
Comments
Post a Comment