American Wheat Beer Sterling Gold (3.5% AG, Light and Zesty)

redneckbeagle said:

I have 2 grams of GOP. Should that work or do you have a recommendation?

I really appreciate your help on this.

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That's not even 1/10th of an ounce so I think you're safe there.

Just did a gravity reading and tasting after 10 days and everything is AWESOME!!!! Going to force carb one keg tomorrow. Used the Seeds of Paradise, but am going to do the next batch with the Black Pepper corn.

This is a definite do over and hopefully again this month!!!!!

How would this taste if I substituted US 2-row for the Pilsner? I have all the other ingredients and would like to make it this Friday.

gonzo brewer said:

How would this taste if I substituted US 2-row for the Pilsner? I have all the other ingredients and would like to make it this Friday.

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I usually won't hesitate to interchange pils for standard 2-row.

Is it recommended to crush or grind the spices (Grains of Paradise, Coriander, Orange Peel) or boil them whole?

jcole said:

Is it recommended to crush or grind the spices (Grains of Paradise, Coriander, Orange Peel) or boil them whole?

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Crush up the coriander using a rolling pin...or a coffee grinder. Orange peel (if bought from an LHBS) should be sufficiently crushed.

I've converted to using fresh orange peel using a zester. Makes a very nice flavor difference.

Cool! Thanks very much BierMuncher. Looks like a great recipe. I'm looking forward to brewing the PM version of this and will post my results.

anyone have a 5 gal recipe conversion for this beer?
ag recipe

Cross-posted from 10der & Mild Swap:

BM's Sterling Gold:
- Aroma is very intriguing! Almost... herbal? Peppery with a note of minty? Almost like a soft herbal liqueur, or even a gruit aroma.
- Color is phenomenal - a nice light copper, and crystal clear.
- Flavor is peppery and soft, with just a little hint of citrus. Still picking up a very herbal undertone. I've never used these Sterling hops before, but if this is indicative of their profile, I like it.
- Mouthfeel is very crisp and clean. Easy-drinkin' beer.

Wow...BM did this as part of the 10der? Or was it just a part of the swap?

Warped04 said:

Wow...BM did this as part of the 10der? Or was it just a part of the swap?

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It was just part of the swap. I decided since we were all awash in our own mild's, to send three milds and then one each of this SG, a dry hopped Centennial blonde and my "Outer Limits" IPA.

chalk up one more successful batch of this recipe. very nicely done BM. i love the peppery note.

I just bottled this yesterday. Looking forward to drinking it once its fully carbonated.

Thanks BM. I have been working on my brew schedule trying to come up with a good house brew and alot of your brews are on the list. Just wanted to Thank You for your efforts.

jcole said:

I just bottled this yesterday. Looking forward to drinking it once its fully carbonated.

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This is a nice beer. One of my wife's favorites.

As advertised, light and zesty with a subtle hint of spices up front.

I bet thats a really good beer. I've been in love with Sterling hops for my beers lately, especially in smaller beers they come out awesome.

I did a PM version of this using DME and it is great...almost all gone. I am now going to do an AG...but why the 90 min boil? I have only used 60 min boils in the past...

tndave said:

I did a PM version of this using DME and it is great...almost all gone. I am now going to do an AG...but why the 90 min boil? I have only used 60 min boils in the past...

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Pilsner malt needs a 90 minute boil to get rid of DMS. If you you are using extract it's probably been boiled just fine, but if you are AG'ing it you need to do a 90 minute boil.

Picked up all the ingredients to try this today. Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow so I can actually brew it...

sounds like a good inexpensive recipe. gonna give it a shot

Finally brewing this today! It is mid boil right now. Grinding up the coriander and grains of paradise (thanks for the tip Bird) sure smelled amazing. I think next time I want to use fresh orange rind. Have you been doing that BierMuncher?

Picobrew said:

Finally brewing this today! It is mid boil right now. Grinding up the coriander and grains of paradise (thanks for the tip Bird) sure smelled amazing. I think next time I want to use fresh orange rind. Have you been doing that BierMuncher?

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Yeah, I've taken to using fresh. More of a PITA to zest by hand, but I can get more flavor out of them fresh.

BierMuncher said:

Yeah, I've taken to using fresh. More of a PITA to zest by hand, but I can get more flavor out of them fresh.

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How much fresh grated orange peel do you use in this recipe? When I tasted my sweet wort prior to ferment, I couldn't really taste any orange or the spices, but it smelled nice. I used dried bitter orange from brewcraft. My brew buddy and I are both really excited about this recipe.

Picobrew said:

How much fresh grated orange peel do you use in this recipe? When I tasted my sweet wort prior to ferment, I couldn't really taste any orange or the spices, but it smelled nice. I used dried bitter orange from brewcraft. My brew buddy and I are both really excited about this recipe.

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The coriander and zest won't come through until your beer ferments out.

Give it another taste in about 10-14 days and then if you like, add some additional flavor by steeping some coriander and/or zest.

Remember though that this is a subtle flavor addition.

BM-
I was eyeing this as my first 10gal batch for my summer block party. My tun will only hold 10lbs grain and I plan to make up the rest of the grav points with XL DME.
My question is regarding the mash/sparge.
Beer smith is having me run all my water through the grains I'm worried about over sparging. I was just planning on doing my normal mash and double batch sparge sparge routine for a 12# grain bill (1.25qts/# strike and two 9qt sparges, usually nets 7gal to the kettle) for a 5.5gal batch then just topping up to my required preboil ammount with clean water.

What procedure do you use?

BierMuncher,

Are you crushing the pepper corns with a mortar and pestle? I've used coriander many times (crushed with a mortal and pestle) but never black pepper corns.

Would you just cut the grains in half for a 5Gal batch? or would you work up new proportions?

How much fresh orange zest did you end up using in these BM?

and how would you handle the spices if I'm doing a 5Gal batch. cut them in half?


Anyone got a vote on GOP or peppercorn as their favorite for this?

SilverKing said:

Would you just cut the grains in half for a 5Gal batch? or would you work up new proportions?

How much fresh orange zest did you end up using in these BM?

and how would you handle the spices if I'm doing a 5Gal batch. cut them in half?


Anyone got a vote on GOP or peppercorn as their favorite for this?

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Cutting everything in half should do the trick. For five gallons, a simple double handful would be good. You can always steep some zest and add to the secondary if there's not enough.

I've never used GoP so I can't comment on those. I've heard they are very nice with this type of beer though. I've also heard they are much more potent so keep that in mind.

A double hand full of zest? That seems like a s-load. I was going to do .5oz

Gave this a whirl today. Went well, looking forward to tasting it. Thanks BM.

After loving the Centennial Ale, I brewed this today.OG is 1.030. Any ideas on why?? FYI, this was my first all-grain attempt (using Deathbrewers stovetop all grain method).

Split the recipe in half for my 5 gallon batch.

Mashed for 105 minutes in 8.75 quarts of water at about 154 degrees. I heated the water on my stovetop, added grains, took temp, and then put in the stove on "warm" for 90 minutes. Maintained the heat within a degree for the 105 minutes. (meant to mash for 90 minutes, but it took longer than expected to get my sparge water up to temp).

Sparged for 10 minutes in a separate pot of water (4 gallons) at 170 degrees. Same technique as I used for mashing.

Added the mash and sparge water together and brought to a boil. Followed the recipe from there on out. Had to top off the carboy with one gallon of water to reach a final volume of just over 5 gallons.

Thoughts?

Since the recipe OG is only 1.034, I'd say you got pretty darn close...

novabrew said:

...OG is 1.030. Any ideas on why?? ...

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Just means you can drink more.

For your first AG...that's pretty good. You'll start dialing things in pretty quickly.

Does anyone see any problems with this partial mash version?
I know there was one posted before but I am doing a 3.5 gallon boil and the liquid extract comes in a 3.3 lb jug.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 3.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.035 SG
Estimated Color: 4.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 18.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.30 lb Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract 52.38 %
1.50 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 23.81 %
0.75 lb Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 11.90 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.94 %
0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.97 %
0.60 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (90 min) (First Wort HoHops 15.6 IBU
0.60 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.6 IBU
0.38 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.38 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Black Pepper Corn (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafBrew Ale (DCL Yeast #S-33) Yeast-Ale

Maybe someone else here can chime in if I'm way off base, but I wouldn't see the need for a 90min boil since you are just PMing the 1.5# pils... That shouldn;t generate too much DMS that a 60min boil wouldn't get rid of. The Pils LME should already have the DMS out through the extracting process...

Probably save you a little time and help hedge against a darker than expected brew due to the LME...

Cool, thanks Green. I also mean to use Safale-05 instead of the other one I put in the recipe. Hopefully this one is as good as the centennial blonde. :rockin:

So, BM. Did this officially replace centennial blonde as the house ale?

Donner said:

So, BM. Did this officially replace centennial blonde as the house ale?

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Nah....

With 7 taps on line...there's a flavor for every subtle preference.

C of 3 C's for the BMC drinkers.
CB for the in betweens.
Sterling for the BMC lovers that like some kick.
Tits-Up for me.

I ask because the SWMBO actually likes this beer and i've become very fond of it, as well. That and i made the mistake of giving the neighbor the garage code, so i have a feeling it might disappear pretty quick around here this summer. Oh, and i've been asked to bring some brew to a 4th of july party and this seems to be the winner.

I'm just trying to decide if i should go ahead and give this a chance, or if i should use up the .5 oz of cascade and centennial that i already have from the first time i brewed your centennial blonde...

choices, choices.

Donner said:

I ask because the SWMBO actually likes this beer and i've become very fond of it, as well. That and i made the mistake of giving the neighbor the garage code, so i have a feeling it might disappear pretty quick around here this summer. Oh, and i've been asked to bring some brew to a 4th of july party and this seems to be the winner.

I'm just trying to decide if i should go ahead and give this a chance, or if i should use up the .5 oz of cascade and centennial that i already have from the first time i brewed your centennial blonde...

choices, choices.

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For "the masses", I'd go for this one.

Advertise it as an "Orange Spice".

The CB is great, but is more on the hoppy side. Especially since we're getting to the hot season...a nice orange/pepper/coriander beer is awesome.