Brewing Tinctures
BREWER'S CORNER : Using herb tinctures in brewing is something I first came across in Randy Mosher’s book, Radical Brewing. Even though it might seem unorthodox for some, it is definitely worth considering when wanting to play with the tastes and flavors of unfamiliar ingredients.
Herbal tinctures are potent, spirit based, liquid extracts. The basic idea is to isolate, liquefy and sterilize the principal character of spices and herbs through alcohol. The herbs are soaked from a week to a month (or more) in a high concentration spirit (40% to 95%), thus allowing the herbs to release most of their properties; flavors, aroma and active constituents. This alcohol solution can be kept for a much longer period of time than the dried herbs in themselves. In the process, the herbal concentrations are used towards the end of the secondary fermentation or at bottling. This gives the brewer a chance to sample a test run of fermentated wort mixed with varying combinations of herbs and spices. By so doing, the brewer has more flexibility on the exact quantity and ratio for each spice or herb used.
What you will need
- Brewing herbs : Dried or fresh gruit herbs. Here I'm preparing Yarrow, Sweet gale, Labrador tea and Mugwort tinctures.
- Spirit: 40% to 95% ethanol (80 to 190 proof). This can be vodka, rum, gin, etc., or high concentration grain alcohol (Everclear, Global, etc.). NEVER use rubbing, isopropyl or wood alcohol.
- Wide-mouthed glass jars or bottles.
- Unbleached cheesecloth or muslin. Coffee filters.
Step by step
- If necessary, seperate dried leaves from branch and stock. Here's some Sweet gale which require a little more cleaning. I'm keeping only the leaf material for the tincture though I'll usually use the whole branch when I brew it in with a boil.
- For each container, fill with the crushed herb and pour the alcohol until entirely covered. I'm using Global 94% though you could use any spirit, vodka, gin, etc. It's advised to use a stronger alcool as it maximizes extraction process.
- Seal the container airtight and put the jar in a dark place.
- Shake the jar every day for a week to a month’s time.
- You'll notice with time that the liquid will slowly become darker. Here's my Gruit Tinctures after 3 months.
- You can now discard the vegetable matter and keep only the pure liquid tintures. Transfer the tincture through a cheesecloth or strainer to another container.
- You can also run the tincture through a coffee filter, some herbs will require several filtrations.
- In the end, the filter will catch all the grime and you have strong tincture on your hands.
