Hi all, I'm carbing a new wit (about a month old) at the moment and (at least right now) it's way heavy on coriander. Pity realy. Tastes great at first, then follows up with a harsh peppery flavor.
Any magic coriander-canceling ingredients out there? If there aren't any shortcuts and it doesn't mellow out soon, I was considering brewing up another batch w/ no coriander and blending the two. Worth while? Or should I just try to get it right next time and write this one off as a lesson learned?
For the curious, I believe that the recipe called for one ounce coriander for a 5 gal batch. From a recent unfortunate experience that Deathweed had, I was pretty gentle on the crush (I thought).
Mine that was like that mellowed with time, but it as still kinda overpowering Adding more orange to it helped balance the flavors, I just racked on a can of frozen OJ, but you could still tell that it was a wee bit heavy on the corriander.
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It's only about a month old, so still young. I've done a couple of other wits in the distant past and didn't recall it being quite so "pronounced" at this point, so that was where the concern was coming from. I'm happy to give it all the time it wants if it'll help.
Coriander should be used in small doses. It is overpowering. I love it in Wit's and have let my wits age for awhile to let the taste fade some.
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Primary: IPA
Secondary: empty
Keg 1: American Wheat
Keg2: German Ale
Next up: Christmas Old Ale, American Wheat AG, need suggestions
Have you tried a commercial wit (like a Blue Moon)? Maybe what you perceive as overpowering is actually right in line with the style...
Just a thought.
I wish that was the case! I like Blue Moon, but Hoegaarden was my first love. I've made AHS's Belgian Wit and Hoegaarden clones in the past and had very good results. This was a clone someone put together of Hoegaarden that I was trying for the first time (http://www.beertools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7968).
It starts out very similar to Hoegaarden's White Ale... Orange flavor is noticable, but appropriately subtle in my opinion. For a second, you think "Wow, this is good!". Then your taste buds just get molested by a bittery pepper taste and all thoughts of it being good are quickly retracted.
I went ahead and threw it back into the fermentation cabinet last night. Maybe time will tame it some.
Just wanted to report back that I've let this sit for another month... roughly half of that at ferm temps, and the latter at serving temps. After sampling this eve, I was able to go ahead and pull (and drink!) a whole pint of it. Still a LITTLE too bitter on the finish, but it's a night and day difference from what it was a month ago. If it can shake off just a little more bite at the end, I'll be very pleased. If not, it is at least very drinkable now and off of the "potential dump" list.
Sooooo... To back up the advice I was given above, coriander definitely fades with time if you find yourself in a similar situation.
I'm headed to Belgium in a few weeks... I'll try to learn how the pros do it while I'm there.
Coriander OD
If there aren't any shortcuts and it doesn't mellow out soon, I was considering brewing up another batch w/ no coriander and blending the two. Worth while? Or should I just try to get it right next time and write this one off as a lesson learned?
Adding more orange to it helped balance the flavors, I just racked on a can of frozen OJ, but you could still tell that it was a wee bit heavy on the corriander.
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