Blood Orange Hefeweizen

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The orange "tea" and the hefe... we'll see in about 3 weeks.

419826_10150625822007427_766672426_9023972_244884684_n.jpg


426361_10150625828607427_766672426_9023993_971332876_n.jpg
 
I bottled a very slight variation on this recipe today. The little bit extra I couldn't fit into a bottle is my sipping drink tonight, and unlike most beers, this stuff is drinkable and delicious right away!

The thing I did different was use some leftover hops (Mt. hood, US Hallertau) kicking around my fridge and some leftover steeping/partial mash grains (10 oz honey malt and 4 oz smoked malt) just to clear them out before my wife questioned their presence in our kitchen. I let a little pith get through to help up the bitterness with the extra malt. Danstar Munich Wheat, Briess DME, 6 blood oranges with their peel. (I love blood oranges, so I used a lot!)

This is such a great recipe, and there's plenty flavorful room to tinker with it. Thanks Sam for giving it to the world!

I'm going to keep the Blood Orange Hefeweizen in my regular rotation, for sure!
 
Tapped a few pints while brewing today to see how it was doing. Needs to carb up a bit more, but it tastes nice. I think the orange of my mash tun and the yellow on the glass gives you a good idea where my color fell.
423324_10150652440397427_766672426_9110913_812513848_n.jpg
 
Not sure why, but almost all cloudiness in mine dropped out. I racked mine to secondary for a couple of days to add some more orange zest and it started clearing. Maybe something to do with the extra oil from the zest? I can get some cloudiness back if I swirl the bottle a little before I crack it open, but I'm not sure if I'd call it a hef. Tastes good though.
 
gnedge said:
Here's the recipe I used:

This is from the book and it's very verbose.

Ingredients

Preboil Tea
4 gallons water

Boil
6.6 pounds (3kg) light liquid wheat extract (55% wheat malt and 45% barley malt) (65 minutes)
1/2 ounce (15g) Hallertau hop pellets (60 minutes)
1/2 ounce (15g) Saaz hop pellets (20 minutes)
4 average sized blood oranges (20 minutes in another pot)
1/2 ounce (15g) Hallertau hop pellets (10 minutes)

In carboy
Cool water to the 5-gallon (19L) mark

Fermentation
Yeast: Wyeast 3068 or 3638; or White Labs WLP300 or WLP380

Bottling
5 ounces (125 g) priming sugar

STARTING GRAVITY: 1.050
FINAL GRAVITY: 1.12
FINAL TARGET ABV: 4.8%

PROCESS
1. Heat 4 gallons (15L) of water in the brewpot. As the water begins to boil, remove it from heat. Add the light wheat malt extract. Stir to prevent clumping and scorching o the bottom of the pot. Return the pot to heat.

2. Allow the wort to come up to a boil. After pre-boiling for 5 minutes, add the first Hallertau hop pellets and stir. Start timing the 1-hour boil at the point that you make this hop addition.

3. 20 minutes before the end of the boil, add the Saaz hop pellets.

4. Peel the blood oranges and separate sections of fruit. Discard half of the peels. Cut the remainder of peel and fruit sections into small pieces. Use a grater as you only want the orange part of the rind. The white will add extreme bitterness. They should be small enough to allow easy entry into the carboy in a later step. An alternative is to use a plastic fermentation bucket that would allow easier addition of the fruit. When using a plastic fermenter with a large lid, the size of the fruit is not a concern.
The fruit may be placed in a straining bag for easy removal after fermentation. Heat fruit and peels in 1/2 gallon (2L) of water to 160 degrees F (71C) and then turn off heat. Let it steep as it cools.

5. 10 minutes before the end of the boil, add the second Hallertau hop pellets and stir for 1 minute.

6. At the 60-minute mark, turn off hte heat source, stir the wort clockwise for 2 minutes as you build up a whirlpool effect. Stop stirring and allow the wort to sit for 10 minutes.

7. Chill the wort in a cold water bath to a temperature of 70F-75F (21C - 24C).

8. Transfer the wort into a carboy or a plastic fermenter. Pour blood orange peels and fruit into the wort.

9. Aerate for 1 minute.

10. Pitch the yeast into the carboy and aerate for another minute. Top up the carboy to a 5-gallon (19L) mark with cool water.

11. In about 10 days, your beer should be ready to package.
Click to expand...
I didn't find the recipe to be verbose. On the contrary, it was very clear and succinct.
 
Hey everyone, I've got a quick question for the fruit beer experts. I have made this recipe a few times with great results. My wife has been bugging me for a while now to make a blueberry beer, so I used the base recipe for the blood orange hefe and used blueberries instead of oranges.

Took a couple pounds of frozen blueberries, put them in some water, brought it to 170° to pasteurize, cooled while making the rest of the beer and added it all in primary. That was 2 weeks ago. Is there any harm in leaving the fruit in primary for another 2 weeks? I'm going out of town on business tomorrow for 10 days, and don't necessarily want to bottle today (lots to get done before I go). Obviously if my beer is in danger I'll do it, but if you think I'm safe leaving the fruit in primary for another 2 weeks that would be much better.

Please let me know what you think, thanks!
 
Personally I dont think there would be problems but if your nervous, rack it - at 2 weeks the flavor has established.

I left this beer for a month in primary with no problems. Lets see what others say but thats my 2 cents.

Man, it's about time to brew this lol.. Spring a'hoy!
 
You are going to have to post a picture of this "PURPLE BEER". Why do are they called blueberries when any time I've done something with them it always turned out PURPLE!!
 
Stefano said:
My blood tea looked pinkish red, and almost gave the wort a slight pinkish color. Thats probably because I made a light hefe using white wheat. The finished beer looks hazy and straw colored, no sign of the oranges. Let us know how it turns out with eight oranges.
Click to expand...

I used 4-5 medium oranges and it hardly effected the final color -- I was expecting more color contribution but I just serve it with a fresh orange slice for presentation and you can squeeze int he extra juice for more color.

I'll probably go 10+ next time.
 
mashing this as we speak, doing a split batch with blueberries and peaches. was going to use plums but the gf said nein... lol ah well, lets see this baby roll~!
 
annnnd done!
IMAG0682.jpg


peach took off this morning, but the blueberry is still nill. i'll see how it's doing once i get back home, i accidentally put way more then half the pack in the peach... so it's prolly just gonna be way laggy
 
just brewed more of my version of this on sunday. guess i miscalculated something b/c with the oranges i placed in primary it was over 6 gallons! had to split it into two fermenters so 3068 wouldn't blow up my house.

fermenter 2012.jpg
 
Here is my recipe. Slightly altered from the original all grain recipe.

Weyermann Pale Ale Malt 5 lbs 1.44 oz
Weyermann Pale Wheat Malt 3 lbs 3.04 oz
Briess Torrified Wheat 8 oz (for head retention)
.5 oz hallertau at 60 min
.5 oz saaz at 20 min
.5 oz hallertau at 10 min
Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen 3068

So is the general consensus for a good orange taste to do between 4-6 blood oranges zesting them and putting the fruit in a 160 water, then adding all of that to primary?
 
Tapped mine a week or so for a family bbq. Followed the DFH recipe but added a pinch of coriander to accent the citrus.

It's really a light, refreshing wheat beer. The orange zest and coriander reminded me of a blue moon knock off. If I ever brew this again, I'll double or triple the orange pulp. I'd also actually serve it with fresh blood orange slices.

Henry22 said:
So is the general consensus for a good orange taste to do between 4-6 blood oranges zesting them and putting the fruit in a 160 water, then adding all of that to primary?
Click to expand...

I'll use 10-12 orange pulps and 3-4 orange zests next time.
 
rhamilton said:
Tapped mine a week or so for a family bbq. Followed the DFH recipe but added a pinch of coriander to accent the citrus.

It's really a light, refreshing wheat beer. The orange zest and coriander reminded me of a blue moon knock off. If I ever brew this again, I'll double or triple the orange pulp. I'd also actually serve it with fresh blood orange slices.



I'll use 10-12 orange pulps and 3-4 orange zests next time.
Click to expand...

So 10-12 orange pulps and the zest of 3-4 in 160 water then into primary?

How do you like the addition of coriander? Was that during the boil or in primary? And how much did you add?

Sorry for all the questions, this will be my 5th brew so Im still new. Thanks.
 
Bump, brewing this tonight. I think I am doing the fruit of 10 oranges and the zest of at least 6 because I want a good orange flavor to come through.

How much did volumes of CO2 of priming sugar did every carb with? Im thinking 6oz to give it a good head.

Also did anyone add honey to theirs?

Edit: No blood oranges, all I saw was navel, Florida (whatever those are), and clementines I think. Is Navel good?
 
I brewed this with about
8.09 lbs of pale ale malt
3.19 lbs of pale wheat
.5lbs torrified wheat
Same hop schedule.
1 oz of fresh orange zest at flameout
.75lb orange blossom honey at flameout

zest of 6 oranges and the flesh of 8 into the primary along with the water they were steeped in

Hopefully thats not too much orange. It seems 4 wasn't enough, and then even more didnt seem to do the trick for everyone.
 
Henry22 said:
Bump, brewing this tonight. I think I am doing the fruit of 10 oranges and the zest of at least 6 because I want a good orange flavor to come through.

How much did volumes of CO2 of priming sugar did every carb with? Im thinking 6oz to give it a good head.

Also did anyone add honey to theirs?

Edit: No blood oranges, all I saw was navel, Florida (whatever those are), and clementines I think. Is Navel good?
Click to expand...


I made mine with the zest of 9 oranges, and mine has a definite citrus hint to it. It's a trade off though, because it has almost zero head retention, even though it's well carbonated. A by product of putting that much orange oil in the beer I guess. I don't really care though, I care more about the flavor than anything and it's quite good. Just something to think about if you're shooting for a good head.
 
Sharkman20 said:
I made mine with the zest of 9 oranges, and mine has a definite citrus hint to it. It's a trade off though, because it has almost zero head retention, even though it's well carbonated. A by product of putting that much orange oil in the beer I guess. I don't really care though, I care more about the flavor than anything and it's quite good. Just something to think about if you're shooting for a good head.
Click to expand...

Hopefully that .5lb of torrified wheat I added counteracts that. I definitely care more about flavor than head retention. I think the zest of 6 oranges in primary plus 1 oz (2 oranges zested) at flameout should be good. Interested to see what the honey adds. It was very very sweet.

Edit: My OG was a bit low at 1.042 (BIAB) even though I had a 75 min mash and I sparged. I ended up with more wort than I intended, oh well. It should still be good, just a bit weaker.
 
Ok about ready to bottle this but wanted to make sure how much priming sugar. I will be using regular table sugar for a 5 gallon batch. Sorry if i missed seeing the answer somewhere else.
 
mopillar said:
Ok about ready to bottle this but wanted to make sure how much priming sugar. I will be using regular table sugar for a 5 gallon batch. Sorry if i missed seeing the answer somewhere else.
Click to expand...

I would use the priming calculator on northernbrewer.com. I like that one more than the one on tasty brew.
 
Just add Summit hops at flameout and dry hop. More orange flavor than you can handle. You'll be wanting something other than orange flavor!
 
How long did everyone primary for? I brewed this last wednesday 4/11 and its already at 1.005 from an OG of 1.042. Im thinking I will bottle it this sunday which is about a week and a half. I know the yeast is quite vigorous so I was hoping to drink it by the second weekend of May (12) which would be over a month from brew day.
 
mewithstewpid said:
1.005 wow thats low! what yeast did you use?
Click to expand...

the weihestephan yeast. I know I spelled that wrong. It might actually be one or two pts higher, I didn't correct for temp.
 
I brewed this bad boy last Tuesday night. Tweaked a few things here and there, but same concepts. Used 64oz freshly squeezed BO juice, 3068, and the carboy burps smell awesome. Pics and my recipe soon to follow..
 
I'm drinking a glass of this right now. I primaried for 14 days and bottle conditioned it for 13 days. I followed the original recipe exactly. It is pretty delicious, I will definitely be making this again soon.
 
Bottled a version of this yesterday. Hydrometer sample tastes amazing! I can definitely taste the orange, but it's not overpowering. Things I did differently:

1. Used Nelson Sauvin hops. These hops go amazingly well with the oranges.
2. Used Wyeast 1010 and fermented at room temp with no swamp cooler or any kind of temperature control. So, basically fermented in the high upper range of the 1010 yeast tolerance to produce citrusy esthers.

Hopefully I didn't over-carb it. I decided this would be good in the 3.5 volume range for carbonation. Nice and spritzy.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Brew 24 - Blood Orange American Wheat
Brewer: frailn
Asst Brewer: otto
Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 5.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 47.62 %
5.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 47.62 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
1.00 oz Nelson Sauvin [11.30 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Williamette [4.90 %] (20 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
0.50 oz Nelson Sauvin [11.30 %] (10 min) Hops 6.5 IBU
0.50 oz Nelson Sauvin [11.30 %] (5 min) Hops 3.6 IBU
1 Pkgs American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 10.50 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 36.00 qt of water at 156.2 F 152.0 F


Notes:
------
Zested peels of 8 blood oranges.
Combined pulp and zest in 1/2 gallon of 170 F water to pasteurize. Let sit to cool to room temp.
Added the orange water, zest and pulp to the fermenter at yeast pitching time.
Dry hopped with 1 oz nelson sauvin for 3 weeks
Fermented at room temperature in dining room to get the temp in the upper range of the yeast tolerance. This was done to throw off citrusy esters from the yeast.
Bottled on 06/09/2012. 3.5 volumes using 4.9 oz cane sugar. Ended up with 4.5 gallons to bottle
 
frailn said:
Bottled a version of this yesterday. Hydrometer sample tastes amazing! I can definitely taste the orange, but it's not overpowering. Things I did differently:

1. Used Nelson Sauvin hops. These hops go amazingly well with the oranges.
2. Used Wyeast 1010 and fermented at room temp with no swamp cooler or any kind of temperature control. So, basically fermented in the high upper range of the 1010 yeast tolerance to produce citrusy esthers.
Click to expand...

Awesome! I've been dying to try a wheat-based beer with Nelson hops, but couldn't find them when I brewed this a month ago. Nice to know they worked well!
 
Brewed this today for the second time. Used valencia oranges and Nelson sauvin hops...waiting on signs of fermentation.
 
Blood orange season is pretty much here. As soon as I see them in the store I'm making this one again, only this time with an american hefe yeast.
 
Well I'm impatient so I'm not waiting for blood orange season. lol I'm doing an all grain brew this week instead of the extract I did last year and I'll be using 5 or 6 large valencia or navel oranges. I'll be using all ahtanum hops as well which is supposedly an extremely citrusy hop (random find at the brew shop today-only had 1 package left) and an american hef yeast to keep the banana and clove down a bit so the citrus can come through.
 
I brewed this up on 12-12-12 using 7 large navel oranges with the zest and meat from all of them into primary. I always rig a blowoff hose whenever I do beers like this and it's a good thing I did. The fermentation took off like a rocket (made a starter) and even the 1 gallon jug I used with the blowoff hose almost overflowed with all of the liquid and foam and pieces of orange that got pushed through. lol It's calmed down now but it's still chugging away steadily.

I liked the idea of using honey malt in this recipe so I threw a half pound into the mash and used an american hef yeast which I think will produce a cleaner beer with more pronounced orange flavor and aroma than the german hef yeast I used last year. Also I used 2 ounces of the ahtanum hops (they smell amazing by the way) and a half ounce of hallertauer. Should come out to about 5.1% when it's all done.
 
Well, I saw this recipe awhile ago and had to wait for Blood Orange season to arrive. It's finally here. Thank you for those who have posted some experiments and feedback. I'm planning on going with 6-7 oranges, zest from all, (mashing them up to get the most juice from it), and throwing all in the primary once the most active part of fermentation settles.

The only other time I have use fruit was in a Blackberry White IPA. It came out great, but I had to wait at least 3 weeks before the fermentation settled (in the secondary) after adding the berries. I sanitized them using a different method, and there were definitely fermentable sugars leaching out for awhile.

Has anyone who has used the delayed adding of the orange experienced a longer time for fermentation to stop with this recipe?

Also, does the orange end up adding gravity points? & therefore end up drying it out a little more in the finish?
 
I just kegged mine up yesterday. I'm doing a quick force carb to try and get it ready at least the day after xmas. We'll see how that turns out since I never do a quick carb but hey as long as the beer is flowing it won't matter. lol

I found though that there's absolutely no noticeable difference between using the navel oranges vs the blood oranges. In primary it throws off all orange smell and it's fantastic but very very little orange flavor gets carried over to the final beer. Just a slight aroma. While blood oranges are great, I see no reason to wait a year for the season to come back before brewing this one again. Tastes awesome either way. Next time though I may dump in all of my oranges after primary is complete to see the difference in flavor and aroma.
 
I checked my wort before and after adding the mashed up oranges and juice and I did not get a difference in gravity. Mine was 1.052 before and after mixing it well. I'd guess the gravity of the orange juice itself is probably not too far off from what the wort is by itself and makes no difference in that amount.
 

Similar threads

rtstrider
Orange Peel Tea for Witbier
Replies
4
Views
1K
GoodTruble
G
E
Blood Orange Cider
Replies
0
Views
954
ElSturge
E
Kornssj
BIAB Lemon Lime Hefeweizen (First Time Need Help)
Replies
25
Views
1K
Bobby_M
Bobby_M
orgenomescii
Brewing like a Barbarian: Ancient Irish Descriptions of Malting & Brewing
Replies
2
Views
1K
McMullan
McMullan
Brooothru
Seltzer. Help!
Replies
3
Views
1K
VTX1300
VTX1300
BrewSwag 300

Latest posts

Back
Top