Help with my first attempt at a recipe

Ok with 15 or so brews under my belt I decided to make up a recipe off the top of my head, now I just want some assistance tweaking it so it will actually taste decent. All the ingrediants are already ordered and shipped so any tweaking will have to be to what you already see here in the recipe. Here is what I got so far, I want it to be a Citrus Wheat.

5.5 Gallon recipe

6 pounds of white wheat malt
4.25 pounds of pale malt 2row
.50oz bitter orange peel
.50oz sweet orange peel
.75oz amarillo gold 60 minutes
.25oz amarillo gold 15 minutes
Wyeast 1010 american wheat ale yeast

OG-1.053
IBU-21.4

I also want to add the zest from 4-6 limes depending on what feedback I get from this thread. I can up the bitter and sweet orange peel to as much as a ounce each since thats how much came in the packet. I do want this to be a wheat beer with very strong citrus notes but not so much that it kills the beer all together. Also I have a .50lb of flaked oats on hand but I'm not sure if it would be needed in this beer? This recipe is citrus themed I choose amarillo for the hops since they have a citrus type flavor.

Any help, guidance, or critiquing would be much appreciated on our first attempt at a recipe. thanks

Looks pretty good to me. I haven't tried anything with limes, so can't say how that would turn out, but I would add the orange peel in the last 5 or 10 minutes of the boil.

Also, instead of amarillo, I like soriachi ace hops if you can get them. They add a nice lemony note to the beer which is nice in a wheat.

I haven't heard of soriachi ace before, I'll have to see if i can find them

some coriander seeds maybe? I think it would compliment the citrus very well

what about the .50lb of flaked oats that I have on hand, would it help this recipe at all?

would moving to whole ounces on both of the orange peels be too much? how much lime zest should i add?

JBrady said:

would moving to whole ounces on both of the orange peels be too much?

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no

JBrady said:

how much lime zest should i add?

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a LOT. like a lb maybe more

wow a pound or more on the lime zest seems like a lot, I've never used zest before so maybe it needs that much to leave a nice lime flavor behind?

I'll also go ahead and put the whole 1 ounce of bitter and sweet orange peel in.

maybe not a lb. i never measure. I zest until i get a pile the size of a whole orange i guess? and it depends on when you add it. add it in the boil you will kill off some of the flavor so you want to use more. add to the secondary the flavors are stronger so you want to use less.

I would avoid the lime. Wheat tends to go very well with lemon or orange flavors and I think the lime flavor would stand out too much.

Honestly, I would let the hops and orange peel add the background citrus notes and just top it off with a slice of lemon or orange in the glass to get a fresh citrus kick. I'm just a fan of keeping it simple. If you throw every citrus you can think of into the recipe you will have no idea what caused any flavors you don't care for.

Not a pound of zest. I'm guessing that would be like 500 limes. Freem80s orange-sized pile probably weighs well under an ounce, depending on how compact it is.

McGarnigle said:

Not a pound of zest. I'm guessing that would be like 500 limes. Freem80s orange-sized pile probably weighs well under an ounce, depending on how compact it is.

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ha. yea i've never been good at eyeballing weight hahaha

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will be adding the lime zest in the boil with only 2 or so minutes to go to help kill any bacteria on the peels, so I will go with a zest pile a little bigger than the size of a orange. thanks everyone for the help

Anyone have a take on whether or not flaked oats would help this recipe?

JBrady said:

Anyone have a take on whether or not flaked oats would help this recipe?

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nah if you are just wanting to add them for head retention and/or mouthfeel, the wheat extract you have should have some pils in it. does not seem necessary to me

thanks yall, heres my revised recipe

5.5 Gallon recipe

1 pound rice hulls
6 pounds of white wheat malt
4.25 pounds of pale malt 2row
1.00oz bitter orange peel
1.00oz sweet orange peel
.75oz amarillo gold 60 minutes
.25oz amarillo gold 15 minutes
The Zest from 6-8 limes at 2 minutes left in the boil and left throughout the fermentation
Wyeast 1010 american wheat ale yeast

OG-1.053
IBU-21.4

just a thought: might want to add some kind of specialty grain. idk if you are doing full mash or partial, but maybe think about adding .25-.5 lbs of something like munich malt. especially since you are already using rice hulls

I would if I could FreeM80 but I already have all the ingrediants here and making another brewmasterswarehouse order would probaly set me back to monday for brewing which I can't really do. Hopefully the base malts and citrus will bring this to life without any specialty grain

JBrady said:

I would if I could FreeM80 but I already have all the ingrediants here and making another brewmasterswarehouse order would probaly set me back to monday for brewing which I can't really do. Hopefully the base malts and citrus will bring this to life without any specialty grain

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yea I know what ya mean. like I said, just a thought, I'm sure your beer will rock

Be sure to let us know how it goes - i'm planning to do something with lemon zest for a summer brew (kinda like the Sam Adams summer brew), and have been wondering how to best incorporate the lemon. Sounds like you've got a good plan here.

Well the brew day is on for this one, mashing at 153 right now with 51 minutes to go

Looks good to me, which is not saying much, I am curious about the lime and orange combination.
Is that not the same flavour combo in Froot Loops cereal?
Ooooh, wait, that would be awesome, Froot Loop Wheat!
Good Luck on the brew and please keep us posted!

zesting the limes right now with 31 minutes to go in the mash, i never would have thought that the zest would put off such a strong lime aroma, hopefully i can get most of it to stick around in the beer since i will be throwing them in with about 2 minutes to go in the boil for bacteria killing reasons.

UPDATE: hit a 1.057 on about 5 gallons, tastes like frootloops, lol, smells great. I think it'll be pretty good.