First experimental batch - please give advice on my recipe

[desabat]

Honey Weizen
OG 1.060
FG 1.015
ABV 6%
IBU 17.05

Malt & Fermentables
7.5 lbs Wheat Malt LME
10 oz Wildflower Honey added @5min
5 oz Orange Blossom Honey added @5 min

Hops
.5 oz Tettnang @60
1 oz Tettnang @30
.5 oz Tettnang @Flame out

Yeast
2 packets washed Wb-06
Pitching calculator indicates it is neither under pitching nor overpitching
Will Start at 60F and slowly raise and leave at 68. Emphasis will be on clove profile of yeast and minimal banana

4 oz Corriander Seeds @ Flameout

Adding Candied Orange Peel after 1st week in primary (This Stuff)
http://jacobskitchen.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/candied-orange-peel-3.jpg

Will leave for another week in primary and Bottle with a combination of Dextrose and Orange Blossom Honey for priming

 

[Rootski]

Looks like beer to me! The only thing I would say is that you've got a lot of extra things that you're adding to this one. I'm concerned that you won't get much out of the honey, especially after any residual flavor is covered up by the coriander and candied orange peel. Don't get me wrong, I think this will turn out nice, but maybe the cost of the honey isn't worth it when you could just add regular sugar to dry it out. Are you crushing the coriander, or adding the seeds whole? I've always crushed mine.

 

[desabat]

I will crush the corriander with a rolling pin inside a zip lock and throw them in the kettle. I know the honey wont leave too much residual flavor. Maybe next time ill add some honey malt if it comes out too subtle of flavor. Thanks!

 

[sfish]

suggest add honey just prior to flameout. to desolve not boil

use some speciality grain for aroma and head like 4oz of Belgian Biscuit malt.

 

[m00ps]

if you want to preserve the honey character, add it a day or two into fermentation. As long as its from a sealed container, you won;t need to worry about sanitation. I do this for all my syrup additions and it helps the final flavor come through.

If you have the ability to do small partial mashes, I'd also recommend a few ounces of something like biscuit or aromatic malt. Or vienna and munich to be traditional. there's also honey malt if you really want to accentuate that character...

 

[desabat]

I can definitely do a partial mash or steep some aromatic malt though it would take another trip to my lhbs. If it will improve the final beer it will definitely be worth it

Will the orange peel give it some color? I would like it to have a touch of orange color. How much should i add of peel?

 

[m00ps]

It wont add any color, but a bit of aromatic or biscuit would...maybe more yellow than orange though.

I add 1 oz orange peel for wits and usually 1/2 for stuff I want a more subtle flavors. Or you can just get a regular base-ball sized orange/tangerine and rip off the skin and toss in. I figure 1 whole new orange is probably equivalent to 2oz dried peel taking into account the fresher flavor of the wet peel

 

[sfish]

Steeping grain IMO alway add character

Caraaroma malt will add red, Also add less then half wheat malt for full boil and the rest at like 20 min. This will have less caramelization and hlep the red stand out.

 

[desabat]

Ok just spoke with the lhbs and they have the aromatic on hand which i will pick up tomorrow. Im thinking of going with .5 lbs maybe more steeped for 30 min. Thanks for the help guys! To good and fresh beer!

 

[BPal75]

I would consider dropping the flameout hop addition, I think the aroma might conflict with the ester/phenolics your looking for with your yeast.

 

[desabat]

Would you exclude it all together or add the hops earlier in the boil?

 

[m00ps]

I like the flameout addition. Although traditional hefes/dunkels usually only have a bittering hop addition, I figured he wasnt shooting for a typical type of wheat beer since he's got orange peel and corainder in there. I think the spicy tettnanger will go well with the coriander and clove flavors from the yeast

 

[Bobcatbrewing42]

To each his own. I pretty much brew according to the German purity law that prohibits anything but malted barley, water, hops and yeast. Fruits and spices belong in baked goods in my opinion.
However, we made some good mead with organic honey and frozen blueberries after fermentation. After a year in the garage, it is just now coming into its' prime.

 

[desabat]

Leaving the hops in the only thing left is deciding the malt bill.
1/2 lbs belgian aromatic
And
1/2 lbs belgian biscuit
Is what I'm now thinking of going with

 

[sfish]

You should ask your HSB. or someone chime in.

I would go with .25 lbs of both grains to keep this pronounced as a wheat.

 

[m00ps]

yeah a full lb of those might make it much more bock-like and detract from the honey focus

 

[desabat]

I went to the LHBS and got .5lbs of biscuit malt and have some concerns

Should I steep or mash? biscuit malt does not have any diastatic enzymes. Can I mash it wth some LME?

I've never used this malt before but by the description it says it adds bready flavor. Will it go well with my wheat recipe?

 

[m00ps]

I jumped straight to all-grain, so I can't answer the enzyme conversion thing, but it sounds like youd need some fo the extract in the mash with it

But I like biscuit malt a lot. I tend to chew a kernel or two of all the malts as I'm selecting them and biscuit is one of my favorite tasting ones. I think it works well in anything where you are concentrating on malty flavors. In your recipe, you might end up with a slight honey and jam on toast kinda character.

 

[sfish]

Should I steep or mash?

Steep ~ Grain bag is helpful

 

[BPal75]

You'll need to throw in some base malt and do a partial mash if you want to convert the starch in a Kilned malt like biscuit. You might get a bit of flavor from steeping them but you won't get any fermentables. The starch should drop out of solution I would think but might contribute haze?

 

[desabat]

I steeped it for about 10 min which added a nice straw color. If it ends up adding haze that would be great because that's what Im shooting for. I would like to get a bright hazy yellow/golden color with this beer.

it's been in the fermenter for little over 24 hours and its been bubbling away although not vigorously (1 bubble every 4-5 seconds) though that might have to do with the cold temp at which I started it (high 50's). its now at 62 and Ill slowly bring it up to 65 by the end of its first week and then finish it off at 68.

Still unsure if I should add the orange peel at the start of week two or not. I think ill decide once I taste the hydro sample.

Thanks for all the input! Ill post pics of the final product and hopefully encourage other people to try honey wheat beers

 

[sfish]

I would added it you reasearched it when you made your recipe because you wanted to try it. Just my two cents. If it was me I would rack to secondary and add it then. I also would dice or slice it up. Then heat it up with a small amount of water and hold for a few min. to under boiling... or... soak in a small amount of vodka.

Adding Candied Orange Peel after 1st week in primary (This Stuff)
http://jacobskitchen.files.wordpress...nge-peel-3.jpg

 

[m00ps]

how are you adding those candied orange peels? I would suggest covering them in water and boiling for a min

 

[desabat]

I was planning on doing just that, simmering it in water a bit and adding it to primary after a week. Or at bottling, simmering it with my priming sugar for a couple of minutes after its boiled and strain it out before adding to the bottling bucket. I would have to use less priming sugar to make sure Im not over priming but would assure that anything that I can extract from the peel goes in the bottle.

 

[sfish]

I do not know the product you show a candi orange. I do not know if boiling will change the flavors I suggest not a boil but to hold it under. To me it looks like there is fermentables there. Therefore I would to add to secondary and the sugars would get eaten then. This way there is control when carbonating. Meaning you do not know how much sugar is in the product and could make bottle bombs.

 

[desabat]

Yeah those are just a pic i looked up.

Edit: ill prob add it at one week in primary.

The beer has a really intense yellow color almost like mustard powder. Also i left the wort from the og reading in the hydrometer tube all these days and without any of my yeast it started fermenting its at 1.030. Was it honey yeast?

 

[m00ps]

Yeah those are just a pic i looked up.

Edit: ill prob add it at one week in primary.

The beer has a really intense yellow color almost like mustard powder. Also i left the wort from the og reading in the hydrometer tube all these days and without any of my yeast it started fermenting its at 1.030. Was it honey yeast?

Honey yeast? I think it definitely sounds like wild yeast in your house took a hold of it. It *may* be worth culturing it if it doesnt smell awful in a few weeks

 

[desabat]

First update
OG came out @ 1.064
I ended up using 7.4 LME Wheat Extract 65% Wheat and 1.25 lbs honey.

its been one week and its at 1.016 hydro sample tasted weird still needs to condition only thing I tasted was watered down alcohol. wb-06 doesnt give me any cloves in my attempt to bring out those yeast flavors. The color is a very bright yellow though I want to see how it looks after conditioning. Best I can think of right now is to add the orange and if it doesnt taste like beer ill pass it off as a braggot.