Coriander and orange wheat beer

[mikedupi]

I wanted to make a Black Rock coriander and orange witbier but when I went to the local beer store they were out. So we decided to rather brew a coopers hefe wheat beer and add in fresh coriander and fresh orange zest.

I added as follows.

10-11g fresh coriander (5 mins) and 38g fresh orange zest (5 mins)

I then removed +-7g of coriander post boil and the rest went into the fermenter.

I got a specific gravity of 1055 and I'm currently fermenting at 20-22 degrees Celsius.

Brewing with 1kg dry malt extract for a 23L batch.

I've never made a wheat beer before, are my temperatures fine and my method? And what sort of FG should we expect?

Thanks for your time!
Happy brewing!

 

[mikedupi]

After 36 hours of brewing I've lowered the temp to 17/18 Degrees.

 

[RM-MN]

Your final gravity will depend on the grains used, yeast used, and the temperature control. I'd expect a final gravity somewhere between 1.010 and 1.018. Can I assume you lowered the temperature at 36 hours after pitching the yeast? That would have gotten the yeast started and it may be quick enough to avoid most of the off flavors that too hot of a ferment can bring. Leave the beer at that temp until the activity of the yeast slows, then bring it back up to the 20 to 22C to finish. I'd probably bottle of keg this beer somewhere between day 10 and day 15, depending on whether the hydrometer reading was stable or not. Being a wheat beer, there is no real point in trying to make it clear by leaving the beer longer.

 

[mikedupi]

Thank you RM-MN, what if the hydrometer reading is consistent after a week? Should I leave it for 2 weeks in total as a rule of thumb or just when the hydro says it's done? Thanks.

 

[RM-MN]

Thank you RM-MN, what if the hydrometer reading is consistent after a week? Should I leave it for 2 weeks in total as a rule of thumb or just when the hydro says it's done? Thanks.

When I started brewing the instructions said to bottle after one week so I did. The beer was done, probably since I had no temperature control during the fermentation and fermented at 72 ambient. However, there was so much trub still suspended in the beer that each bottle had a quarter inch of sediment. With a 2 week period in the fermenter and temperature control I now expect less than one sixteenth inch of sediment to deal with. I've left beer for 9 weeks once and there was very little sediment and the beer was ready to drink after one week in the bottle since there was no real sediment to be stirred up by the yeast.

 

[Lefou]

This last beer I made stayed on the yeast for almost 6 weeks at 60F with no problems.
It turned out OK and fermented as expected, but won't be a recipe I'll do again due to issues with my grain which caused a crappy conversion and cloudiness. My typical brews stay in the primary for 2-3 weeks and they usually get bottled on the weekend immediately after Week 3.

 

[TAPPOOL]

When I started brewing the instructions said to bottle after one week so I did. The beer was done, probably since I had no temperature control during the fermentation and fermented at 72 ambient. However, there was so much trub still suspended in the beer that each bottle had a quarter inch of sediment. With a 2 week period in the fermenter and temperature control I now expect less than one sixteenth inch of sediment to deal with. I've left beer for 9 weeks once and there was very little sediment and the beer was ready to drink after one week in the bottle since there was no real sediment to be stirred up by the yeast.

I haven;t been on this forum for sometime but I saw this. I been brewing wheat extract for years. I always rack it a 2nd time in a carboy and that gets the trub out. I saw a lot of guys don't rack a 2nd time but I am a firm believer of this. Been brewing since 1995.

 

[TGFV]

With coopers kits and DME along with no specialty grains it can get much lower FG than that, with some of mine even hitting 08.

Make sure it is stable over 2 checks taken during a 3 day period.

Most of my witbiers I allow to ferment for 2 weeks minimum simply to allow the sediment to fall and the trub to condense.