Orange Honey Hefeweizen

This post spans "Recipes" and "Labels" so... I put it in this forum to be safe. Please move if necessary.

This is my second all-grain batch... I love the light colors you can achieve, and how the beer tastes cleaner and better than an extract brew. I am a graphic artist, so doing labels is half the fun for me - makes bottling almost worth it, lol.

Orange Honey Hefe







5 lbs German Pils
4 lbs German wheat
152* for 60 mins

1 lb Orange Blossom Honey at flameout

.5 oz Mt. Hood (60 mins)

peel extract of two large sweet organic oranges (soaked for 2 weeks in Grey Goose)

Used WLP300 because it's the only thing they had. Would have used WLP380, but I'm glad I went with 300 because I think it gave more of a spicy character rather than banana/bubblegum

OG: 1.052, FG: 1.007, ABV: 5.62%

Fermented out fully, dry finish. Spicy orange nose, subtle orange on the aftertaste. I'm into my second one right now, and I love it. Very refreshing, thirst quenching. I am so f-ing jacked that me and my friend's second all-grain effort is this good. This is such a light straw color - a color that could never be achieved with extracts. I'm touching myself right now.

Off to finish O.H.H..... (heh, got my OHH face on, lol)

Wow - nice label, recipe, and Troegs glass...

Awesome label! I wouldn't be surprised if people started eyeing that for their Ancient Orange Mead bottles...

Glad the beer turned out well too!

that a sweet looking label.

Great package! Beer, Label and Glass all seem to go together perfectly! And, thanks for the recipe, I'm a hafa tryit!

Great looking photos...makes me thirsty!

excellent label!

great label and excellent color. looks tasty!

DubbelDach said:

peel extract of two large sweet organic oranges (soaked for 2 weeks in Grey Goose)

Click to expand...

Awesome label, and the beer looks great to, but um wtf? Cheap vodka not good enough for those oranges? lol.

Thank you, everyone!

jmulligan said:

Awesome label! I wouldn't be surprised if people started eyeing that for their Ancient Orange Mead bottles...

Click to expand...

I could probably email the label sans the writing and my logo... Just the background, oranges and wand. I'd need that Ancient Orange Mead recipe and a promise not to enter the adjusted label in BYO's contest next year!

Soulive said:

Wow - nice label, recipe, and Troegs glass...

Click to expand...

The Troeg's glasses flow here like the salmon of Capistrano....

z987k said:

Awesome label, and the beer looks great to, but um wtf? Cheap vodka not good enough for those oranges? lol.

Click to expand...

Hosting Halloween parties for four straight years brings you a lot of liquor gifts... I'm a beer guy though, and hardly touch liquor. It was the first bottle I grabbed!

well at least you should have orange flavored vodka right?

JOAM recipe:

http://www.moremead.com/mead_logs/Ancient_OCC.html

good call on the 300, it's nice and spicy especially if you ferment at low temps.

i found the 380 gave one of my previous dunkelweizens a hint of apricot. it was quite nice for the darker brew, but i use 300 for almost all my hefeweizens.

DubbelDach said:

I could probably email the label sans the writing and my logo... Just the background, oranges and wand. I'd need that Ancient Orange Mead recipe and a promise not to enter the adjusted label in BYO's contest next year!

Click to expand...

PROMISE!

Seriously, if you're willing to share your label, that would be awesome (and save me from having to come up with a label for the mead (I actually plan to make Malkore's version of the orange mead) that I would never be satisfied with now that I've seen yours! PM sent!

Awesome Job!

The label looks pro and the beer looks delicious!

The label before this one:



Bottled half of this batch in aluminum bottles for the pool!

jmulligan said:

Awesome label! I wouldn't be surprised if people started eyeing that for their Ancient Orange Mead bottles...

Glad the beer turned out well too!

Click to expand...

I have some AO Mead, that is going on 1.5 years that is outstanding:rockin:

The label is good but that beer looks awesome. Wish i had about a gallon of that stuff right now.

DubbelDach said:

peel extract of two large sweet organic oranges (soaked for 2 weeks in Grey Goose)

Click to expand...

So did you just peel the oranges and soak the rinds or the oranges in the vodka (how much vodka?)

Cregar said:

So did you just peel the oranges and soak the rinds or the oranges in the vodka (how much vodka?)

Click to expand...

Used a potato peeler and took off just the orange outer peel (not the bitter white pith). Put it in a small tupperware container and used just enough vodka to cover it (probably 1 cup?). Left it for 2 weeks, shaking it occasionally. Picked out the peel and dumped in the orange vodka at bottling.

I was tempted to use Triple Sec instead of corn sugar to prime (per Randy Mosher). I'm glad I didn't, as the orange flavor is just enough. Very subtle.

PS - I am in love with this beer. Been drinking it like mad.

DubbelDach said:

The label before this one:

Bottled half of this batch in aluminum bottles for the pool!

Click to expand...

Thats awesome to, you are a good designer. I never considered using aluminum bottles though, its an interesting idea with the pool / park issue. Hmm...

DubbelDach said:

Used a potato peeler and took off just the orange outer peel (not the bitter white pith).

Click to expand...

FYI, it is called "zest". Just an FYI.

You can get a tool which is much better suited for zesting here. I use it for dressings and hummus, and recently for the Wit.

Eric

Taipans said:

Thats awesome to, you are a good designer. I never considered using aluminum bottles though, its an interesting idea with the pool / park issue. Hmm...

Click to expand...

Thanks! I got a case of the bottles free... They're stubbier than longnecks, so I have to borrow a bench capper when I use them (the fatter neck interferes with the butterfly cappers)

EricCSU said:

FYI, it is called "zest". Just an FYI.

Click to expand...

Yeahhh..... I know. :cross:

Gonna brew this hopefully this weekend

I'm going on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks on the 17th, would there be any problem with leaving the orange zest in vodka for longer than two weeks?

Let's see if I understand this:
When bottling, put the zest in the bottom of a bucket and rack on top of it. I'll then use my autosiphon to fill the bottles from that bucket.
Would adding the zest into the secondary be better? Give it more time to absorb the orange flavors?