Scratch Brewing Co.’s Wild Carrot and Nettle clone, All-Grain

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.040  FG = 1.006
IBU = 28  SRM = 3  ABV = 4.5%

Four-time James Beard Award-nominated Scratch Brewing Company is a true American farm brewery located in the woods of Ava, Illinois, just outside of the Shawnee National Forest. Owners Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon brew what I can only characterize as “Biere de Pays,” or beer of the land. Most, if not every, beer has ingredients foraged from the woods surrounding the brewery or from their farm. Beets, sumac, lemon balm, cedar, dandelion, and in this case, wild carrot and nettle are just some of the locally foraged goodies in their brewing basket. 

Check out their book The Homebrewer’s Almanac for more from Scratch.

Ingredients

7 lbs. (3.2 kg) Belgian Pilsner malt
1.3 lbs. (0.6 kg) Vienna malt
7.5 AAU Magnum hops (or other bittering variety) (60 min.) (0.6 oz./17 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) nettle greens
8 oz. (230 g) wild carrot (also known as Daucus carota or Queen Anne’s lace) tops, roots, and flowers (45 min.)
Farmhouse yeast of your choice
1 cup corn sugar (if priming) 

Step by step

Crush the grains and mash at 147 °F (64 °C) for 60 minutes. Mash out and collect 6.5 gallons (24.5 L). Boil for one hour, adding hops at the start of the boil. With 45 minutes remaining, add the nettle and wild carrot. 

When the boil is complete, cool to the lower range of your yeast’s recommended fermentation range. After two days as fermentation is chugging along, allow the temperature to free rise to room temperature. 

Bottle condition or keg and carbonate as usual.

Scratch Brewing Co.’s Wild Carrot and Nettle clone, Extract

(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.040  FG = 1.006
IBU = 28  SRM = 3  ABV = 4.5%

Ingredients

4.5 lbs. (2 kg) Pilsner dried malt extract
8 oz. (230 g) Munich dried malt extract
7.5 AAU Magnum hops (or other bittering variety) (60 min.) (0.6 oz./17 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) nettle greens
8 oz. (230 g) wild carrot (also known as Daucus carota or Queen Anne’s lace) tops, roots, and flowers (45 min.)
Farmhouse yeast of your choice
1 cup corn sugar (if priming) 

Step by step

Heat 6.5 gallons (24.5 L) of water to a boil and then turn off heat. Stir in the malt extracts until completely dissolved and then return to heat. Boil 60 minutes, adding hops at the start of the boil. With 45 minutes remaining, add the nettle and wild carrot. 

When the boil is complete, cool to the lower range of your yeast’s recommended fermentation range. After two days as fermentation is chugging along, allow the temperature to free rise to room temperature.  

Bottle condition or keg and carbonate as usual.

Tips From the Brewer:

Marika Josephson recommends that homebrewers may substitute dandelions, spinach, or kale for the nettles if they are not available in your area. She also suggests cultivated carrots can be substituted for the wild carrot. In that case, use the lacy greens as well as the carrot itself.