Adding Oranges to sorghum beer?

ParkourCat · 12-25-2011, 01:17 AM

I tasted my beer today. 1 week in primary.

It screams "put some oranges in me"

So I wanted to do as I am being told.

The beer needs a few more days to finish fermentation.

When I move it to secondary how do I best add that flavour profile to it?

Do I get 4 or 5 oranges, juice them and pasteurize them and then just add the liquid to my secondary?

It like the summer flavours it has, kinda like a Hefe with some citrusy something on top- on a sunny day.

Any suggestions?

Happy Xmas!

**Stauffbier** · 12-25-2011, 04:56 AM

I'm going to put orange in my secondary on a chocolate stout. The way I'm going to do it is;
1) I made candied orange peel (got recipe in foodnetwork.com)
2) I'll mix the orange peel with vodka for 2 days
3) I'll drop the mixture in my better bottle and rack on top of it

I figure between all of the sugar and vodka, sanitation should be a non-issue. This isn't a proven method that I know of, it's just an idea I came up with..

plumbob · 12-25-2011, 05:26 AM

My sorghum steam beer that I made for my wheat allergic relative for the holidays finished out very tart, a lot like a wheat beer... Honestly it reminds me a lot of Blue Moon, if it were hopped with Saaz.

I think you are on the right track with orange peel, some citrus flavor to go along with the tart character would do it a lot of good.

spaced · 12-25-2011, 08:22 AM

Do you mind sharing the recipe plumbob? Always been interested in steam beer.

ParkourCat · 12-25-2011, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plumbob

My sorghum steam beer that I made for my wheat allergic relative for the holidays finished out very tart, a lot like a wheat beer... Honestly it reminds me a lot of Blue Moon, if it were hopped with Saaz.

I think you are on the right track with orange peel, some citrus flavor to go along with the tart character would do it a lot of good.

Absolutely. I'd like the recipe too if you dont mind.

plumbob · 12-26-2011, 04:41 AM

I'm not entirely happy with it mind you. It really needs some malto dextrine and possibly some oats or something to give it some body. It has a very very weak head to it. Only my first shot at a GF brew.

5 Gallon Batch

6 lbs White Sorghum Syrup
1 lbs Amber Candi Syrup (homemade, not sure on exactly how dark it ended up so far as SRM goes)
1 oz Saaz @ 60min
0.5 oz Saaz @ 30 min
1.5 oz Saaz @ 0 min

Fermented with S-23 for 3 weeks @ 60-65F, 2 day rest @ 72F (not sure if it was needed, just head some bad stories about S-23), 3 day crash @ 32-45F. No secondary, bottled with 160g of Amber Candi Sugar. Ran about 5.5% ABV before bottling.

Again, I'm not overjoyed with it. It also really needs some serious aging, came out extremely green and only now are the hops coming through nicely. Tasted it prior to bottling and if someone had sat a bottle in front of me and made me guess what it was I would have said cider (must be that sorghum twang I've been told about). It has a wonderful aroma which I am very pleased with. Bitterness it right on for me, it is a fairly light beer. Just desperately needs some work on head retention and body. With some work I think it would be a nice hot day mowing the lawn kind of brew.

Moral of the story, don't brew it exactly like I did; the OP is right GF brews scream for citrus. Malto dextrine, orange peel, lactose, oats, orange flower honey, orange juice; I'm going to experiment with a all of them in a few 1 gal batches to see if I can get it the way I want it.

I'm also going to give a Roasted Oat stout a whirl sometime in the next few months when I have an empty fermenter and nothing to do with it. Going to look something like this:

3 lbs White sorghum syrup
2 lbs honey carmalized to ~50 SRM
1 lbs Amber Candi Syrup
1 lbs Roasted Flaked Oats, as dark as my nerves will let me get... I would guess 100-200 SRM
Malto Dextrine and Dexterose into the primary as needed to adjust for how roasting and steeping effects the oat yield and body

1 oz Chinook @ 60
1 oz Fuggles @ 0

HerbieHowells · 12-27-2011, 08:02 PM

I just brewed lcassanova's gluten free blood orange, which calls for oranges. In that recipe, which is a 5 gallon recipe, you put the zest of two oranges and the flesh of four oranges (peals and white parts removed) into a half a gallon of water. Heat to 160, let cool, and add to primary.

I don't think it would be too late to do that.

spaced · 12-28-2011, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HerbieHowells

I just brewed lcassanova's gluten free blood orange, which calls for oranges. In that recipe, which is a 5 gallon recipe, you put the zest of two oranges and the flesh of four oranges (peals and white parts removed) into a half a gallon of water. Heat to 160, let cool, and add to primary.

I don't think it would be too late to do that.

Did you just use normal orange or blood oranges?

HerbieHowells · 12-28-2011, 03:13 PM

I waited and waited for blood oranges to show up in the market, but finally I settled for Cara Cara oranges, which have a pink flesh. I don't know what is going on with the blood orange crop, but I have not seen any sign of them yet.

jman · 12-28-2011, 03:25 PM

in Washington, blood oranges dont hit until january at the earliest. i've made that blood orange beer the last two februarys and its aweseom, very well received.