Boiled Coriander?

I have a 10 gallon batch of fruit wheat coming up on my schedule.

5 gallons of it will be Cherry Wheat (extract).

The other 5 gallons will be another batch of my Sunset Wheat clone (SWMBO is racing me to the bottom of the keg of the current batch).

I'll just brew 10 gallons of wheat, then split the batch. The problem is that the Sunset Wheat has coriander added at the end of the boil. Don't really want coriander in the cherry, though.

What I am thinking is to boil the crushed coriander in a little water on the stove, then add it to the fermenter with the wheat wort.

How does that sound?

I asked a brewer friend of mine about this and he said that it would work but "was not optimal" - whatever that means. My guess is that you are infusing the spice and that the chemistry of the wort in the boil doesn't have a lot of effect.

But...why not pull a pint or two of the unfermented wort and steep it at 170°F for 10-15 minutes, cool and then add back into the main wheat wort?

Can you just split the boil? Maybe borrow an extra 5G kettle and burner from a friend and run your boils simultaneously?

Cpt_Kirks said:

What I am thinking is to boil the crushed coriander in a little water on the stove, then add it to the fermenter with the wheat wort.

How does that sound?

Click to expand...

That should work just fine. Making a tea out of herbs is a great way to experiment with combinations & quantities. You could also add this at secondary...

If the brew tastes good, then you can use it in the boil for your next batch.
Good luck!
-LexusChris