Weissbier Honey Orange Hefeweizen

thx997303 said:

How much corriander did you use in your recipe overspray?

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I did .5 oz and one oz of bitter orange. I was going to do a full oz of corriander but that seemed to much.

I have never brewed with pilsner before, but everything I've read leads me to think that a 90 min. boil is necessary to avoid DMS formation. You list 60 minutes in your recipe. Have you ever had a problem with DMS in this brew?

No DMS issues. Living at high elevation and getting a hard rolling boil allows me to do 60

Well, I'm going to brew this as an extract and partial boil.

figure to do .5 oz corriander and 1 oz bitter orange as the other guy did.

I wonder though, is a 2 gallon boil going to be sufficient? That's the biggest pot I have and I worry about it boiling over as it is.

That's an awfully small boil. Can't you go buy an enamel canning pot for around $20 and at least get closer to 3.5?

I may be able to. Just haven't found a big enough one locally. I would much rather buy a bigger pot for full boils though.

I'll look into it before I brew this.

There are 8 gallon aluminums at walmart for $25. I use it with my high-pressure propane burner.

What? Where have they been hiding these 8 gallon aluminums? I have never seen one.

I did just pick up a 21 quart canner, needed one anyway. This ought to let me do a 3.5 gallon boil.

Yeah you'll be good to go. Just keep a squirt bottle with cold water handy to keep boil-overs at bay.

Brewed this up. Extract version with orange peel and corriander.

Hit 1.040 OG so pretty close I figure. Used danstar Munich yeast because apparently I bought that instead of the other. Also seems like I burnt some of the extract. Hopefully I won't get a bad flavor from that.


You think around 65 f ambient temp will do this beer justice?

That sounds like a great temperature.

thx997303 said:

Well, I'm going to brew this as an extract and partial boil.

figure to do .5 oz corriander and 1 oz bitter orange as the other guy did.

I wonder though, is a 2 gallon boil going to be sufficient? That's the biggest pot I have and I worry about it boiling over as it is.

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Bottled this last week and it has a great taste to it at bottling. Either need to add a slice of orange to it or next time add more sweet or bitter orange peel to it. Need to wait till it fully carbs before I make a decision. I will report back in like a week or maybe two.

question:

I just moved my honey hefe into a secondary, but it seems like I could've skipped that step and go straight into bottling. Would keeping it in a secondary for a 5-7 days prior to carbing/bottling have any effect on it's overall taste?

I would have skipped the secondary on this beer. You want it cloudy and fresh. A short-ish (7-10 day) primary is all it needs, and then keg or bottle it. If you are bottling, you will want to make sure you have a steady hydrometer reading for a couple of days before you bottle, unless you like exploding beer and glass bombs.

wittmania said:

I would have skipped the secondary on this beer. You want it cloudy and fresh. A short-ish (7-10 day) primary is all it needs, and then keg or bottle it. If you are bottling, you will want to make sure you have a steady hydrometer reading for a couple of days before you bottle, unless you like exploding beer and glass bombs.

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This all over.

Bottling this tonight. The hydrometer reading was 1.005, probably due to me missing my mash temp a couple degrees low. The sample tasted great, by the way.

Any advice on how much priming sugar to use for a 5 gallon batch?

I keg almost exclusively now and even when I bottle I usually force-carb and bottle from the keg. Seems like this is a beer that would benefit from being bottle conditioned and having all of the yeast trapped in "individual servings" rather than having it all settle out.

Hmm, well I've done the keg to bottle with this brew and it works just fine and keeps plenty of yeast in suspension.

As for priming sugar I'm not sure at the moment. Just got rid of windows for linux and I'm trying to get beersmith on there. But you'll probably be safe with 4oz if it's a full 5 gallon batch.

I'm going to be making this soon. This looks awesome. But this will be my first hefe and I'll be bottling this. How should I avoid too much carbonation (exploding bottles) after primary? There's going to be a lot of yeast floating around.

@Paddy: Carbonation depends on the amount of sugar in the beer, not how much yeast is left. You'll have enough yeast in suspension to take care of all of the sugar you prime with. Once they run out of food they'll take a nap.

@Reno: Out of keg space at the moment, so I'm going to bottle condition this brew. These are the problems I have to deal with!

paddyb270 said:

I'm going to be making this soon. This looks awesome. But this will be my first hefe and I'll be bottling this. How should I avoid too much carbonation (exploding bottles) after primary? There's going to be a lot of yeast floating around.

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The amount of yeast in your bottles has nothing to do with over-carbonation (under-carb, sure... but that's if you have almost zero viable yeast left.) The yeast will only produce CO2 as long as there is sugar to be eaten. Once the sugar runs out the yeast can't keep producing carbonation because there's nothing left to eat.

Just make sure of three things:

1) That you don't bottle until fermentation is completely done. That means take a gravity reading when you think it's done, then take another one 3 days later. If it's the same, you're good to go.

2) Prime with the proper about of priming solution. If you put too much sugar in the bottle bucket or don't get a proper mixture you will get either over-carbonation or uneven carbonation (i.e. some are over, some are under)

3) Mix your priming solution properly in with your beer in the bottling bucket. So after you boil and cool your priming solution, add it to your bottling bucket. Then rack the beer on top of it, being sure the end of your hose is angled so you get a whirlpooling action. This whirlpool will completely mix your solution homogeneously into the beer.

wittmania said:

@Reno: Out of keg space at the moment, so I'm going to bottle condition this brew. These are the problems I have to deal with!

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Oh you poor thing

Reno, thank you for your sympathy. That means a lot.

Just poured my first bottle from this batch for a "lunch beer." It is well carbonated (5.5 oz. corn sugar for 5.5 gal.) and is sustaining a nice pure white head. It is has a cloudy golden honey color that is very appealing. The aroma is a medley of banana and, more subtly, cloves. There's some orange citrus aroma, but it's very faint. The flavor is honey sweet with the orange sweetness in a supporting role. There is a slight earthy, herbal bitterness that comes out as the banana and citrus flavors dissipate.

This beer is very drinkable, and should probably be classified as a SWMBO-slayer. When the Mrs. had a sip she said, "That's really good... WOW. Really, really good." I would agree, and add that this beer really wants me to drink a lot of it.

I'll be interested to drink one of mine side by side with my brother's. We did 11 gal. and split it. I had read that 68* was ideal for this yeast for balancing the banana esters and clove phenols, so I parked mine next to a space heater set to 68*. His was fermented a touch cooler, with some ups and downs during the day. For this kind of beer, the fluctuations may have actually improved it by throwing some additional funky goodness into the mix. It will be cool to compare the two with fermentation temps being the only variable. We each did a 13 day primary, and it's only been 6 days since bottling, but it's already carbed up nicely.

Very pleased with this beer. Thanks for the recipe.

wittmania said:

This beer is very drinkable, and should probably be classified as a SWMBO-slayer. When the Mrs. had a sip she said, "That's really good... WOW. Really, really good." I would agree, and add that this beer really wants me to drink a lot of it.

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Well that's an amazing compliment if there ever was one :rockin:

wittmania said:

I'll be interested to drink one of mine side by side with my brother's. We did 11 gal. and split it. I had read that 68* was ideal for this yeast for balancing the banana esters and clove phenols, so I parked mine next to a space heater set to 68*. His was fermented a touch cooler, with some ups and downs during the day. For this kind of beer, the fluctuations may have actually improved it by throwing some additional funky goodness into the mix. It will be cool to compare the two with fermentation temps being the only variable. We each did a 13 day primary, and it's only been 6 days since bottling, but it's already carbed up nicely.

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Yeah it does great when you drink it young. And if you let it sit for a month or two you have yourself a nice clean krystalweiss.

I'm very interested in the results of the side-by-side tasting. Please post the results! I'd be willing to be the fluctuations your brother reportedly experienced will result in more clove aromas than your batch exhibited.

wittmania said:

Very pleased with this beer. Thanks for the recipe.

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You are most welcome. Thanks for the kind words and the interest

I'm making this (with a few subs) for my sis in laws wedding. I'm going to use blood oranges instead of navel I think. Has anyone tried that with this recipe? I bet the sweet/tart of the blood orange honey will be a nice interplay.

I was also thinking of fermenting on the cool side (64?) to keep the banana at bay a little. Thoughts? Thanks! Wheat beer is usually not my thing, but I'm really looking forward to this one.

just ordered the stuff to brew this one again the same as I did before except using white wheat instead of the torrified wheat. This beer is great to drink anytime. I will post my results of how this is different with the white vs torrified.

Brewed this recipe for wifey. Changed the grain bill a little as far as volume. LHBS did not have white wheat, had to go with American malted wheat. I had 83% efficiency with the post boil looking at 1.06 OG after boil off. If I finish out near the FG of the recipe, I'll be drinking near 6.5% ABV. I don't know if this is within the style guideline of a Hef but I am hoping it will make the lil' lady a bit frisky

QUESTION: We have a group camping trip on April 20th. Two weeks in primary and two weeks finishing in a keg would be OK? I want to bring this keg but not if it finishes too green. I read that wheat beers finish out a little quicker than all barley recipes.

Cheers and thanks for the recipe. Smelled great BTW!!!

Drink this beer as soon as possible. Wheats like this are meant to be young and fresh. If you leave it in the keg too long you'll see the yeast all settle out and it won't be cloudy like it's supposed to be.

When I made this I bottled it at 3 weeks post-boil and started drinking them, fully carbbed, at the 4 week mark. I almost always keg, but for this beer I like having it bottled. Due to the amount of beer I have on hand right now and a busy schedule, I'm not getting to these as fast as I would like. When I pour the first 80% of the bottle it comes out crystal clear. Then, I swirl the remaining beer around 6-8 times and then pour it in. I end up with a nice, beautifully cloudy beer. I served this at our Mad Men premiere party last night and it was a huge hit with everyone who tried it.

All that to say, this is a beer that is to be enjoyed young, especially if you're going to keg it. You may even consider keeping your keg on its side as you transport it in order to keep more yeast in suspension.

maddad said:

Brewed this recipe for wifey. Changed the grain bill a little as far as volume. LHBS did not have white wheat, had to go with American malted wheat.

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It's most likely white wheat malt then.

maddad said:

QUESTION: We have a group camping trip on April 20th. Two weeks in primary and two weeks finishing in a keg would be OK? I want to bring this keg but not if it finishes too green. I read that wheat beers finish out a little quicker than all barley recipes.

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Well, first of all, it most certainly won't be green. Even with the boost in % ABV your brew will probably be ready after your two weeks in primary and just enough time to get it carbed up in the keg.

wittmania said:

I served this at our Mad Men premiere party last night and it was a huge hit with everyone who tried it.

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:rockin:

Thanks for the kind words!

It's funny, I was just about ready to post in here saying we're going to brew this one up this week.... but SWMBO got a little inspiration. She finally designed her own beer recipe for me to put together in BeerSmith and it sounds darn tasty: a South-East Asian style Witbier with ginger root, Asian coriander (the oblong shaped ones, not the spherical American ones), and lemongrass. Mmmmmmm. I'll be sure to make a new recipe thread if it turns out great.



Sorry Honey Orange, you're just going to have to wait a bit more....

captainoverspray said:

just ordered the stuff to brew this one again the same as I did before except using white wheat instead of the torrified wheat. This beer is great to drink anytime. I will post my results of how this is different with the white vs torrified.

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Any results?

First time with a wheat or Hef. I am glad to hear it is best served young, by most standards. If it tastes as good as it smells, this keg will not last past the first day of camping. If it passes the wife test, it will make it into my regular rotation and I'll need another keg. Certainly looking forward to your lemongrass experiment. I have been meaning to use some in an IPA but think it more appropriate in a Hef. Keep us posted and I'll upload pics of your glorious recipe straight form the campsite! Thank god for HOMEBREWTALK Mobile APP!

wittmania said:

Drink this beer as soon as possible. Wheats like this are meant to be young and fresh. If you leave it in the keg too long you'll see the yeast all settle out and it won't be cloudy like it's supposed to be.

All that to say, this is a beer that is to be enjoyed young, especially if you're going to keg it. You may even consider keeping your keg on its side as you transport it in order to keep more yeast in suspension.

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I'll be sure to do that. We'll have this hooked up to a jockey box so I imagine that the yeast will not settle out completely for a weekend trip?

maddad said:

First time with a wheat or Hef. I am glad to hear it is best served young, by most standards. If it tastes as good as it smells, this keg will not last past the first day of camping. If it passes the wife test, it will make it into my regular rotation and I'll need another keg. Certainly looking forward to your lemongrass experiment. I have been meaning to use some in an IPA but think it more appropriate in a Hef. Keep us posted and I'll upload pics of your glorious recipe straight form the campsite! Thank god for HOMEBREWTALK Mobile APP!

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Oh yeah, HBT app is awesome!

Looking forward to the results.

maddad said:

I'll be sure to do that. We'll have this hooked up to a jockey box so I imagine that the yeast will not settle out completely for a weekend trip?

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The yeast might settle out quite a bit but the transporting of the keg will certainly kick everything back up into suspension.

But you don't really want the yeast to settle out for this style. It's in the name: hefe (yeast) weizen (wheat beer.) The special strain of yeast adds a lot of the flavor profile.

Now if you leave the keg alone cold for long enough without disturbing it you will end up with very clear beer. It's then become a krystalweizen or krystalweiss.

Reno_eNVy said:

Oh yeah, HBT app is awesome!

Looking forward to the results.



The yeast might settle out quite a bit but the transporting of the keg will certainly kick everything back up into suspension.

But you don't really want the yeast to settle out for this style. It's in the name: hefe (yeast) weizen (wheat beer.) The special strain of yeast adds a lot of the flavor profile.

Now if you leave the keg alone cold for long enough without disturbing it you will end up with very clear beer. It's then become a krystalweizen or krystalweiss.

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I might just reverse the CO2 into the Outlet side to send all the goodies back into the beer rather than the bottom of the corny. Tipping it is just as simple yet not as fun. Sounds like I know what my morning ritual will be. IMO--I really don't think it will last past the first day.

Going to brew this for out by the pool this summer, would you recommend using rice hulls? I'm using a 10 gal Gatorade cooler with a stainless sink hose. Thanks, looking forward to this one for my 2nd AG and first wheat.

Yup. Any time I use adjuncts I use rice hulls just to be safe. 0.5 - 1.0# should do fine.

Excellent, thanks for helping out a new guy

Any time. That's what we're here for!

wittmania said:

I'll be interested to drink one of mine side by side with my brother's. We did 11 gal. and split it. I had read that 68* was ideal for this yeast for balancing the banana esters and clove phenols, so I parked mine next to a space heater set to 68*. His was fermented a touch cooler, with some ups and downs during the day. For this kind of beer, the fluctuations may have actually improved it by throwing some additional funky goodness into the mix. It will be cool to compare the two with fermentation temps being the only variable. We each did a 13 day primary, and it's only been 6 days since bottling, but it's already carbed up nicely.

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Did you end up doing a side-by-side tasting? I'm quite interested.

I made a batch of this a couple of months ago and it was by far the best tasting beer I have made to date! Not to mention came out at 6.5% abv. My second runner up is a blackberry wheat I made a couple months prior. Kudos to Reno eNVy for the recipe!!! If you haven't brewed this one yet I strongly suggest you try it! If your a fan of wheat beers you won't be disappointed!

I changed it up a little and it came out wonderful. Added a little more zest (7-8 decent sized oranges) and used Wyeast 3638.

Those sound like good alterations. I'm really glad it turned out so well for you.

And thanks for the props!