AHS Honey Hibiscus Wit

Just made the all-grain version today! Tastes great! The hibiscus turned the wort a neat purple color. I cant wait for this beer to be ready!

Anyone else every played with hibiscus before? I'm seriously considering adding it to some other brews for that tangy rhubarb-y taste.

OOOoooooo! Anyone ever brew with rhubarb either?
(Sorry my mind wanders on 3 NOS energy drinks in 2 hours...)

I had an excellent hibiscus wheat made by a guy in my club (who is also a cicerone and was a bartender at one of my neighborhood bars but has since moved to chicago). I didn't get any info from him on how he made it but I really enjoyed it and I was skeptical when he gave it to me.

ecojack said:

(Sorry my mind wanders on 3 NOS energy drinks in 2 hours...)

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I love energy drinks as well, but be careful when drinking them in such close succession. A guy I worked with had a heart attack from one and it's made me more conscious about how many I have.

Whats your Recipie ?

I brewed the all grain recipe yesterday as well. I was suprised to see how purple/red the hibiscus turned the beer. When held to the light it almost looks like cranberry juice. Target gravity was 1.050, I hit 1.047 which I don't think is bad considering it was my 2nd AG recipe ever. I'm excited to give this beer a taste.

I brewed the mini mash version of this last week. I can't wait to drink it.

would anyone be kind enough to post the recipe, my wife is hispanic and she has tons of hibiscus on hand as we always make jamaica water out of it. this really has caught my attention. i just brewed a wit up, wish i would have seen this earlier

I grow hibiscus in my garden and I'm interested in how they gave you the flower. Is it just dried and crushed? How much was used in this?

Teromous said:

I grow hibiscus in my garden and I'm interested in how they gave you the flower. Is it just dried and crushed? How much was used in this?

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i buy it in the store by bulk. its dried up whole flowers. its pretty common to find in a mexican market

AHS recipe is:

4.75 lbs Belgian Pils
3 lbs white wheat
1 lb Honey
1oz Hallertau 30 min
4 oz dried hibiscus 15 min
.5 oz cracked coriander seed 15 min
.5 oz bitter orange peel 15 min
1oz Hallertau 5 min
Wyeast 3944
OG 1.050 FG1.013

Goose Island makes a lovely Belgian pale ale brewed with hibiscus and kombucha tea - I'm thinking the kombucha maybe stands in for Brett in this recipe.

Anyway, I think a hibiscus/honey combination sounds very tasty in a wit.

I might also be inclined to try it in a Saisson.

wcarter1227 said:

would anyone be kind enough to post the recipe, my wife is hispanic and she has tons of hibiscus on hand as we always make jamaica water out of it. this really has caught my attention. i just brewed a wit up, wish i would have seen this earlier

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Here my recipe :

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/hibiscus-flowers-wheat-beer-52959/#post3074690

Just ordered from AHB. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm gonna do the Mini-mash (My first time doing anything other than extract). Wish me luck!!

Well due to WLP400 letting off the "rhino fart's" like nobody's business, this beer has been in primary for 5 weeks now and still has a little sulphur taste to it although the smell has almost completely dissipated. I'm gonna bottle tommorow. I just hope that taste will condition out in the bottle. Has anyone else had this problem with this beer, and if so did the taste eventually go away?

I brewed that kit couple years back, but used the Wyeast strain, I believe. I don't remember it putting out a particularly offensive smell, but I do tend to let my beers sit in the primary awhile, so maybe it dissipated. The beer turned out pretty tasty, with a great color as I recall.

Reviews for WLP400 on the White Labs site mention the sulfur and suggest it will subside in the bottle with time as well.

Same here, I used the Wyeast equivallent and had no sulfur issues. Nor do I remember rhino farts.

I just brewed this beer, but never used hibiscus in anything. After fermentation, i think it had a 'wine' like smell or bitter smell. Here's my concern - i may have fermented at too high of a temp (bucket temp was 77 degrees) and fermentation was very vigorous. I thought the taste of the wort as i was kegging was a little bitter. I'm not sure if it was my fermentation temp, the bitter orange, or the hibiscus.

OG and FG are about right. I used White Labs Belgian Ale Yeast. I hope when I add CO2 it gets better. Any thoughts?

My wife and make Jamaica with hibiscus very often. The directions call for the flower in the last 15 min of the boil. In my experience with it that is waaaay too long and really brings out it's bitterness. It brews as a tea for us well enough in the heat of the sun of TX. I put it in as a tea bag (muslin) at flame out and left it in only while I cooled the wort for 20 min or so. It has an awesome color. I came in under OG but it' the first run of a new system. Fermenting well with White labs 400 now.

Update: fermented in primary for 2.5 weeks. Lots of yeasty smells from blow off. Secondary for 1 week then kegged and carbonated. It's great summer beer. Fruity and slightly bitter from hibiscus. If I brewed this again I would be tempted to do even less hibiscus steeping time. Maybe 10 min after flame out until pitchable temp. OG 1047 FG 1006.