Honeybell Orange & Honey Blonde

[CAustin919]

I've spent/wasted a whole bunch of time today trying to come up with a recipe to brew tomorrow. Basically I was looking to brew something, anything with oranges and honey. I have family in south Florida who just sent us a box of fresh picked Honey Bell Oranges so I wanted to integrate those somehow. The honey.. well I just wanted to add a subtle honey overtone.

I started with a base recipe for a blonde that I have brewed successfully quite a few times. I read through a sh!!-ton of recipes trying to find out how, when, and how much of the honey and oranges to add. This is what I came up with.

I wanted to keep the honey malt under 5% of the total bill, as it stands now its under 4%. I also like the idea of using the zest AND either juice or segments of the orange. As for now I am going to add the honey in the fermenter unless I have a super compelling reason not to. I want the beer to beer relatively dry and easy to drink, with moderate but not overpowering orange aroma and flavor.

Any input would be appreciated, although for the time being please leave out the primary vs secondary comparison as I fully understand the pros and cons of each.




BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 1501 Honey Belle
Brewer: Chris
Asst Brewer:
Style: Blonde Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 7.08 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.2 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 74.1 %
1 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 7.4 %
1 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.4 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.7 %
1.00 oz Saaz [3.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 5 11.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 6.3 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -
1.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 5.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 9 -
0.55 tsp Gelatin (Primary 1.0 days) Fining 10 -
1 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 11 7.4 %
1.00 oz HoneyBell Orange Zest (Secondary 5.0 day Flavor 12 -
0.50 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
8.00 oz HoneyBell Orange Segments (Secondary 5.0 Spice 14 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs 8.0 oz
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 15.87 qt of water at 164.1 F 150.0 F 75 min
Mash Out Add 10.00 qt of water at 201.9 F 168.0 F 10 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun, , 1.09gal, 1.09gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
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Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
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[CAustin919]

Ok.. so I guess I'll go with the plan as written.

 

[Quaker]

I'd mash at a higher temp, because the honey will ferment out completely and most of your 8oz of oranges will be water/juice. But now that I say that, it's only a cup in a keg, so maybe not significant at all.

I probably wouldn't use late or dry hops and let the orange lead.

Looks like you did your homework though, and always smart starting from a known base recipe.

 

[tonesmith]

How are you adding the orange?

 

[CAustin919]

I'd mash at a higher temp, because the honey will ferment out completely and most of your 8oz of oranges will be water/juice. But now that I say that, it's only a cup in a keg, so maybe not significant at all.

I probably wouldn't use late or dry hops and let the orange lead.

Looks like you did your homework though, and always smart starting from a known base recipe.

I thought about bumping the mash temp but with the honey malt I wanted to make sure it finished on the dry side.

I'm not too worried about the dry hops.. being just a half an ounce of Sterling.. it ends up pretty tame.

 

[CAustin919]

How are you adding the orange?

Orange zest and segments are going in the secondary 5 days prior to bottling.

 

[CAustin919]

Hit the secondary today. Gravity is at 1.012.

Instead of measuring by weight, I added the zest of two large Honeybell oranges. I brought two cups of water up to barely boiling and let the orange zest steep for about a minute. Hops, zest and honey went in first and I racked the beer on top of it.

After smelling the the orange tea after the zest steeped, I made the decision to cut out the orange segments. Hopefully I'll get the aroma and slight flavor boost I'm looking for.

Finished today's process with some unflavored gelatin. Let that bloom in hot but not boiling water and poured right over the top. Back to the basement for five days.

The flavor is fantastic already and it's looks like it's going to have a great golden color to it. I have high hopes for this one.

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