2pugbrews

Recipes 

I'm getting ready to brew a Belgian Wit. My recipe calls for 2.5 oz of Star Anise. I've run across opinions that this is too strong. The recipe also calls for .75 oz Coriander seed, .10 oz Grapefruit peel (zest?), and .25 oz Orange peel(zest?). The recipe also calls for the coriander to be ground and the Anise to be crushed. Does any of this sound right

__________________
Primary: MT
Secondary: Belgian Wheat
Consuming: EdWort's Apfelwein,

Suthrncomfrt1884

Recipes 

Wow. That seems like way too much. I would say stick to around .5oz of anise. Everything else looked fine.

__________________
He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven.

Another HERMS rig...

THart

Recipes 

Yeah, sounds like a typo to me. I've put as little as one star per gallon into a stout & got a very subtle but noticable effect. Don't know what that weight might be but it's way, way less than an ounce. The stuff is pretty strong. I'd agree, .5 max.

__________________
The piano has been drinking
my necktie is asleep
The combo's gone back to New York and
the jukebox has to take a leak
Tom Waits

buckheadhobo

Recipes 

Can you add Anise Seed to a secondary ferm? Or must it be boiled in the beer?
Would it be a good idea to boil the seeds in a small amount of water before adding to the beer for Secondary ferm?
Also, anyone here had an anise beer before? I think it sounds neat, but I don't want to use it on a whole batch just to find out I don't like it

Suthrncomfrt1884

Recipes 

Anise is basically a mild licorice flavor, so I'm not sure how it would taste in a Wit. I would say add around .25oz so it doesn't overpower your corriander and orange peel. I've had it in a stout and it was pretty good.

I wouldn't put anise to a secondary. It's like licorice in the aspect that it kills head retention. I would add it to the boil when there's less than 15 minutes left. You will lose aroma by boiling, but the flavor should be good.

__________________
He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven.

Another HERMS rig...

dwarven_stout

Recipes 

Gonna say someone misplaced a decimal point there. 2.5oz will have your beer tasting like black licorice. I put 3 stars (less than 1/4 oz) in at 10m boil in the imperial stout I have going now, and the flavor is mild but noticeable.

amercuric

Recipes 

I used 1.5 oz of medicinal herbs (not pot) in a brew, thinking it would taste good like the tea I sometimes brew. That brew is now restricted to being mixed with coca-cola.

Bob

Recipes 

Geez, that's a lot of anise. I use less than one star in my Wit, usually a blade or two dropped in the last five minutes of the simmer. Hell, when I brewed Wit by the 10bbl batch we used around 3 oz!

Wit needs to be spiced, and it needs to be spiced carefully. Notice the fellows adding 0.25 ounces of star anise to their beers are adding it to Stout. Stout is a bit more complex than Wit before spices are added; Wit can't take as much. Moreover, no one spice should dominate the flavor of Wit - it needs to be a broad spectrum, a blend of spice flavors.

So go easy on the anise. The coriander and peel amounts look all right to me. You may wish to add a bit of paradise seed; the black-pepper and lemon flavors help to pull the different spices together.

Good luck!

Bob

__________________
http://www.reconstructinghistory.com

MeatyPortion

Recipes 

So I don't have to start a new thread: what is the general consensus on using star anise in a pale ale for aroma? Any experiences there?

__________________
Primary
mila jovovich
Bottled
zilch
Kegged
Milk Chocolate Fusion Stout

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn