How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (2024)

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.

How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (2)

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.

How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (3)

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.

How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (4)

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!).

Yield: 1/2 gallon

How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (6)

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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).
  6. 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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How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (7)

More homesteading inspiration!

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  • Fermented Cranberry Salsa Recipe
  • How to Bottle Hard Apple Cider
How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (2024)

FAQs

How to make beer with honey? ›

To carbonate a 5 gallon batch of beer with honey, you can typically replace 5 oz of priming sugar and use 1 cup of honey. Bring 16 oz of water to a boil. Add the 1 cup of honey to the boiling water and stir vigorously. Add this honey solution to the bottom of your bottling bucket, then rack your beer on top of 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? ›

Nettle IPA 5.3% abv.

How much honey to use in beer? ›

The percentage of honey to use should be between approximately 2-10%. Adding too much honey will not only increase the needed fermentation time, but also give the beer a decidedly mead-like character.

How much honey to add to 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.

Is nettle safe to drink? ›

The leaves have hair-like structures that sting and also produce itching, redness and swelling ( 2 ). However, once it is processed into a supplement, dried, freeze-dried or cooked, stinging nettle can be safely consumed. Studies link it to a number of potential health benefits.

Is nettle poisonous to humans? ›

Stinging nettle is generally considered safe when used as directed. Occasional side effects include mild stomach upset, fluid retention, sweating, diarrhea, and hives or rash (mainly from topical use). It is important to be careful when handling the nettle plant because touching it can cause an allergic rash.

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.

Can you juice raw nettle? ›

When it comes to juicing, nettles are treated the same as leafy greens. It works best in a single auger, twin-gear, or mechanical juicer. Only collect young leaves for juicing. Make sure to harvest with scissors and gloves.

How much nettle per cup of water? ›

With fresh leaves, experiment with the ratio of nettle to water you prefer, but a general reference is two cups of water for every cup of leaves. Here's how: Add water to the leaves. Bring the water just to a boil.

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.

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 to make beer stronger? ›

Generally, the higher the sugar content of your wort, the more alcohol you get in the end. Depending on your brewing method, grains alone might not do the trick so you will probably have to add extract or sugars to the boil.

What drink has the highest alcohol content? ›

Polmos Spirytus Rektyfikowany

Proof: 192 (96% alcohol). This Polish-made vodka — the name translates to rectified spirit — is the strongest spirit for sale in the U.S. “It's like getting punched in the solar plexus,” one sampler told the New York Post.

Can honey be used to make beer? ›

Honey also adds subtle floral notes and aroma to beer, thanks to the various pollens and nectars used by bees in its production. Honey is an all-natural substance, and is best for brewing in its raw, unheated and unprocessed state. At this point all of its vitamins, antiseptic qualities and nutrients are intact.

Is there a beer made from honey? ›

Honey Weiss, Jacob Leinenkugel Company

Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss is as vibrant in color as the honey that is used to make it. The American wheat beer is inspired by the classic German-style weiss beer but strays from German beer purity laws with the addition of honey.

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%.

What is a beer with honey called? ›

Historically honey beer was also called a braggot, which is a term derived from the Welsh word for malt. Honey beer can have different flavors and aromas depending on the type and amount of honey used. Mead has been made for millennia.

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