I made 40 pints on Sunday
once this batch is in the keg, I'll start another brew off. Made this lot with fair trade brown sugar from lidl, will be interesting to see how it turns out. Last year I made it 50/50 white sugar and molasses.
The basic recipe is..
40 pints of water
10 lbs nettle tips (top six leaves) roughly a large 25kg feed sack full
Juice & rind of 10 lemons
5lbs of sugar (whatever I have in the cupboard or feed shed !!)
5oz cream of tartar
Yeast (one dry sachet)
Place sugar, lemons, cream of tartar in fermenting bin.
Boil the nettles for 15 mins strain into bin, (I have to do mine in batches - two large stock pots at a time). Top up bin to 40 pints level. Sprinkle on yeast when cooled to hand hot. I leave to ferment for 10 days (though I've seen recipes when they rack off after 4 ??), then rack off into keg with extra half pound of sugar. Place in cool place, drinkable in ten days, but best left until clears.
Cheers
ETA - the piggies liked the cooked nettles