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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  • 14 Uses for Black Walnuts
  • Wild Ramp Pesto Recipe
  • Fermented Cranberry Salsa Recipe
  • How to Bottle Hard Apple Cider
How to Make Nettle Beer Recipe | Homestead Honey (2024)

FAQs

How do you 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.

Does nettle beer contain alcohol? ›

Light, refreshing an slightly herbal, nettle beer is slightly alcoholic and great served over ice. It's also super easy to make. You won't need any specialist equipment, just a clean bucket and a few weeks to let your brew ferment and fizz.

How long does nettle tea last? ›

Wash the quart sized mason jar used for steeping then pour the nettle tea into the clean jar. Enjoy over ice immediately or heat in a small saucepan for a warm beverage. Store any remaining beverage covered with a lid in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Can you make beer with honey instead of sugar? ›

The real strength of honey is that it adds potency and lightness to beer, as other sugars do, yet smoothes out the roughness that inevitably comes from adding sugar. We've found that honey also seems to knock the bitter edge off the hops while allowing some of the more subtle hop character to come through.

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.

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.

How do you infuse stinging nettle? ›

Simple Herbal Infusion
  1. Boil water in a jug then let sit for 1-2 minutes to cool slightly.
  2. Place the herb into your chosen vessel.
  3. Pour the boiling water over the dried nettle.
  4. Cover with a lid or saucer.
  5. Leave to infuse for 10 - 15 minutes. ...
  6. Strain and drink warm, or pour over ice.

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.

How much alcohol is in nettle beer? ›

- 500ml. A member of our Standard beer range, find out more on our Nettle IPA page.

What are the health benefits of nettle beer? ›

Not only is nettle beer inexpensive to make, it is believed to help alleviate rheumatic pain, gout and asthma. Making the wort: Boil nettle leaves (and dandelion root (or) ginger root) in 4 litres of water for 30 minutes.

How do you make beer stronger? ›

Adding more malt extract either hopped, liquid or dry will increase the ABV of your beer and improve the flavor as well. This is the best option to add more ABV to your beer. We offer deluxe refills on the website which pairs a standard refill with two LME's to help boost up the flavor and ABV.

Is it OK to drink nettle tea everyday? ›

Whether you forage for your own leaves or buy it in a more convenient teabag form, having a cup of nettle tea every day offers a range of health and nutritional benefits, from reducing blood pressure to offering protective anti-inflammatories and antioxidants.

How many cups of nettle tea per day is safe? ›

There's no one recommended portion size for nettle leaf or nettle leaf products, though the Arthritis Foundation suggests these amounts for arthritis benefits: 1 cup of tea three times a day. Up to 1,300 milligrams a day in capsule form. As a tincture (a solution in alcohol), 1-4 milliliters, three times a day.

What to avoid with nettle tea? ›

Possible Interactions
  • Antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs (blood thinners) Stinging nettle may affect the blood's ability to clot, and could interfere with blood-thinning drugs, including:
  • Drugs for high blood pressure. ...
  • Diuretics (water pills) ...
  • Drugs for diabetes. ...
  • Lithium. ...
  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Does honey ferment into alcohol? ›

Mead, also called honey wine, is traditionally an alcoholic beverage obtained through yeast fermentation of diluted honey.

What happens if you add honey to beer? ›

Honey is almost entirely fermentable so it won't add any body to the beer, only a small amount of honey flavor and a lot of alcohol. The resulting beer will be very thin unless you use a lot of malt.

Does honey dissolve in beer? ›

room temp, yes honey will dissolve if the beer is cold. Heat the honey jar in a warm water bath, which will make the honey soft and runny, and it'll dissolve into the beer/wort in a jiffy.

Is mead healthier than beer? ›

Because honey, which is easier for the body to process than alcohol, is used to make mead, it is thought to be healthier than beer and wine. Additionally, mead contains the nutritional advantages of honey. Honey has inherent bacterial and antimicrobial properties.

References

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