Brewing Beer Without Hops

in the Portland brew dogs episode they brewed a Berliner wies and used foraged herbs instead of hops. can't watch the vid at work but will later

 

It's called gruit.

 

So, I take it he's weighing out the minimum legally-required hops at 2:37-2:45, when he also mutters "...slightly less than goes in Bud Light..." and you can hear the pellets hitting the scale?

Without hops, it can't be labeled and sold as "beer" in the US, as per the TTB's Beverage Alcohol Manual (Vol. 3 - Malt Beverages, Chapter 4):

 

Tradish ale, no?

 

That did sound like pellets being weighed, and the Mylar bag in the picture is a give away. He could be using low AA hops.

I had his redwood tip beer in 2009 at the Oakland NHC. I liked it, it was bitter.

 

Luckily you don't need a lot of hops for a Berliner Weisse.

 

Working for Tips is delicious!

 

Moonlight Brewing only kegs beers as far as I know. It is a small operation, just out side of Santa Rosa CA. It can be found in the Bay Area at some places that they self distribute to.

 

I'm actually brewing a sour in the next week or so that will have no hops at all but I'll be using a cultured sour mix and bottle dregs. A lot of your spontaneously fermented beers are hoped quite heavily to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria and fungi but they use hops aged for quite some time because aging hops lowers the alpha acids and lactobacillus and pediococcus bacteria have a hard time in anything above 8-10 IBU'S. And generally bitter hoppy flavors don't do well in sours.

 

I had this beer recently and it kinda blew me away, kinda like a schwarzbier with some earthy spice but it definitely had the bitterness of a decently hopped beer.

 

Or heather ale! And sahti!

Look at this guy! Reading books and stuff!

 

hmmm...this isn't bottled, so I guess labeling is not an issue: http://prismbeer.com/portfolio/death-march/

I wonder if Yard's Tavern Spruce still has some minimal amount of hops to meet that requirement, their webpage isn't clear. http://www.yardsbrewing.com/ales/ales-of-the-revolution/poor-richards-tavern-spruce

 

Yes use other bitter ingredients such as myrrh which would add a nice earthy bitterness!

 

To

make it seasonal don't forget the gold and frankincense

 

That would be interesting! And I was actually think of gentian root, too for bittering!