ale without hops

[baldyman]

Complete newby here so please bear with me. Now i am normaly a cider drinker and i have made a few brews of this with good results. I also like the taste of fermented malt as in a mild beer what i dont like is the bitter aftertaste of the hops. Is it possible to make a brew from malt extract alone , if so anyone suggest a recipe bearing in mind my dislike of bitterness. (im sure im going to get hate mail after this post).
Thanks in advance Dave

[boingy]

Yep, I'd agree with that. Something low-hopped would probably be better than no hops at all but feel free to experiment. You could always split a batch across several FVs and try different hop levels in each.

[KevP]

Beer was made for centuries without hops, it didnt keep well, but was easy to brew, not saying its a great brew but it sufficed for many.

[Bryggmester]

Yes, ale was brewed without hops but it had all sorts of other weird and wonderful additions, to try andmake it less bland. I seem to remember juniper berries being mentioned as well as all sorts of herbs.

[Waffty]

Ale without hops is pretty aweful. IMO you need some hops even if it's just a small amount, it's a bit like salt in food, even if you don't like the salty taste it would be very bland without just the right amount.

I'd pick a mild recipe and try that, you could even reduce the hops by 25% but i'd be carefull of leaving them out altogether.

A simple mild recipe loosely based on Sarah Hughes mild (but half the strength) would be something like

2kg pale malt extract
450g crystal malt

13g Goldings (90min)
15g Fuggles (90min)

10g fuggles steeped.

that would be quite a mild, mild.

Chris,

Do you have a full strength version of this brew, as being a local (about 4 miles from the Beacon House, in Sedgley, where it's brewed) I'd really like to knock up a copy one day, as whilst mild doesn't usually float my boat, Ruby dark mild, is no run of the mill mild.

thanks.
Darren

[baldyman]

Thanks for all your comments people. I think i will have a go at chris's recipe. Thanks again . Think i will enjoy this forum.
Dave

[Hoodlum]

i'll bet you didn't get any hate mail either huh?