My Experiment - Spicy Orange Honey Lager

I got bored and thought I'd try something different.

I took a Brewmaster Mexican Cerezza (sp) kit, and added a small jar of honey, some cinamon and about 750ml of pure oj to my bin.

Has anyone done anything like this before?

Any ideas on what it might be like?

I should also mention that it won't be a true lager as it is being brewed just over lager temperatures

Silva.

That sounds interesting may be a bit sweet. :cross:

Sounds good. Not too sure how the orange juice will affect the taste. I've only used orange peel in a few of my batches. Keep us posted.
Cheers,

Will do.

Fermentation is terribly slow at the moment. Don't know if thats because of the acidity of the orange juice.

What do you think?

Silva

I was going to say something about that (acidity), but thought I'd wait for other responses. As long as you are seeing some action, and you got plenty of oxygen in the mix in the begining, you should be ok. The action should speed up a bit within the next day or so. It may just take a little longer to ferment out than you are used to. Just remember to check gravities before bottling.

It should work out about 5% but may be better being strong so I'll play it by ear

Quick update: The brew is coming along nicely now, it has a strong orange smell that blends in well. Can't really smell the cinamon so I'll probably add some more in a couple of days.

Don't add any cinnamon untill you taste it. You may not smell it, but when you taste it, you'll notice it. If you add it based on the "smell", you may end up adding too much.

The Kraussen or whatever its called has dropped so I've took a taste, the orange is only slighty prominent which is nice, just a small sweet tang, but the spice is non-existant so I'll be putting more in

SilvaRizla said:

The Kraussen or whatever its called has dropped so I've took a taste, the orange is only slighty prominent which is nice, just a small sweet tang, but the spice is non-existant so I'll be putting more in

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Are you sure? It's possible that the spice has settled lower in the carb (as the alky rises to the top). It'll probably even out when you rack it. You might like cinnamon a lot, but I'd be afraid that once you get it to the point where you can taste it, you might find it too spicy. Like eating Big Red gum while drinking beer.

Update #2

Yesterday I transferred the brew into another plastic bin and added a small amount of finings to try and get as much trub out as possible (it is an experiment afterall). I've not done a secondary before as I don't have a carboy, but this was like a mini secondary as there was a good quarter inch of trub left behind when I racked to my bottling bucket about an hour ago.

This was another first as I've never bottled before, I have a King Keg instead.

All went well, the orange and cinamon flavors have mellowed out leaving it tasting like a strong (flat) lager that isn't too sweet. The taste of both are still there in the background adding a nice touch.

I'll update again in about three weeks if I can wait that long before having one.

Anyway, must crack on, my bin is sanitizing waiting for a Coopers Austrailian Draught.

Silva

Cheesefood, I didn't add any more cinamon as it tasted just right, so you were probably correct.

Had my first bottle yesterday, it tastes great, the cinamon is non-existant again though which is a shame, its a very strong lager which gets balanced by the orange. Good head and a nice fizz, not too much and not too little.

I'm very pleased with it and am off to have another bottle

Silva

Sounds nice.

Did you post the recipe?

orfy said:

Sounds nice.

Did you post the recipe?

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See the start of the thread mate!

Cheers. :zoom:

How much cinnamon did you use?

I used a level tablespoon of cinnamon I think (it was a while ago now)

It was most definatley one of the best beers I've ever tasted, I'm getting back in to brweing again at the moment so a couple of practise runs and I'll do it again.

Wow...how about that. Denny asks a question, and it gets answered nearly 2 years later. Werd!!

Yeah, I took a break from my hobby as I got disheartened with only 1 out of 3 brews apparently working.