The world's ugliest beer: Let's adjust the recipe

[Belgian Samurai]

haha Hi. So, I brewed the world's ugliest beer. Let's talk about it!
The recipe is a Belgian citrus wheat ale. Having recently finished my keezer build, buying a new kettle and moving from LME kits to BIAB recipes, I wanted to do a all-grain recipe. Now, I found the conversion for LME to DME, as I also did not want to pour LME into my BIAB bag. I thought it would work just fine from what I read about LME vs DME.


Ingredients
5.5 lbs. Wheat DME (No, that is not a typo.)
1 lb. Two-Row Brewers Malt
1 lb. White Wheat Malt
.75 lb. Flaked Oats
1 oz. Hallertau hops (3.9 AAUs) @ :60
7 oz. Roasted coconut @ :20
4 oz. dried orange peel @ :10 (post-further research, i'll use fresh zested oranges next time.)
3 tsp. fresh ground coriander @ :10
S-33 Belgian ale yeast

I have not tasted it yet. What do you think it will taste like? It's been about 5wks. The following image was taken today.
Belgian Samurai

 

[Dr_Jeff]

A Wit with coconut would be my guess.
I have no clue how the coconut will fit in.

 

[TheMadKing]

Looks like a normal beer to me - it's like a baby. They are all ugly until they mature a bit

 

[Belgian Samurai]

Looks like a normal beer to me - it's like a baby. They are all ugly until they mature a bit

Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[Belgian Samurai]

(P.s. The ugly beer was merely ugly due to the all of the adjuncts sitting/floating in the carboy for the entire 5wks. When I transferred it to the keg, I did so using a BIAB bag as a particulate strainer.)


Okay, so here's the update after a week of drinking it. It is an easy drinker, but it can be dialed in a bit more. There was absolutely zero coriander flavor. I have made some notes to the recipe, which you'll see below.

REVIEW: "Citrus, sweet, hint of coconut, very drinkable"
It's a citrus bomb; so much orange flavor! Sweet. There was an interesting flavor I couldn't identify at first, but then I realized that is the roasted coconut. Now, [the coconut] has an "oily" texture to it with almost a neutral taste. You can get this flavor by putting a couple drops of coconut oil (often used for cooking) on your tongue. It makes good grilled-cheese sandwiches, but seems to have less flavor in pre-cooked form. So, was it off-putting in the beer? No, but you only tasted it as an after-thought.

Where's the coriander flavor? Did the oils of the coconut wrap around those flavors and mask them? There was zero coriander flavor; they couldn't even be imagined.

ABV%? Who knows ... I ran into a lot of obstacles that day and I forgot to take a gravity reading. My guess is 6-6.5% ABV.

End thoughts: This border-line tastes like hard juice for breakfast. It was a really great alternative to a Mimosa. Everyone is loving it, including myself, so I want to make another batch, but let's improve it!


The recipe:
5.5 lbs. Wheat DME
1 lb. Two-Row Brewers Malt
1 lb. White Wheat Malt
.75 lb. Flaked Oats
1 oz. Hallertau hops (3.9 AAUs) @ :60
7 oz. Roasted coconut @ :20
EDIT: add a 1/3 more?
3 oz. dried orange peel @ :10
NOTE: use fresh orange peel.
3 tsp. fresh ground coriander @ :10
NOTE: triple coriander to 9 tsp.?
NOTE: LETS ADD APRICOT?
S-33 Belgian ale yeast

Redux thoughts:

• Since it's so citrus sweet, I am thinking apricot would be a nice addition and perhaps make it a slight bit more hoppy. I'm not wanting to turn it into an IPA, but it's a bit on the sweet side. A dryer finish would be nice. BTW, I use "dry" in the sense of like the finish of a dry red wine such as a Cabernet.
• How can I achieve a more appealing coconut flavor?

What are your thoughts on these adjunct adjustments?
Let's discuss!

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Table sugar will help dry it out.
Move the orange peel & coriander from 10 minutes to five minutes.
If you use fresh orange peel, you will likely need to use more due to the moisture content in the fresh peel.

 

[Belgian Samurai]

Table sugar will help dry it out.
Move the orange peel & coriander from 10 minutes to five minutes.
If you use fresh orange peel, you will likely need to use more due to the moisture content in the fresh peel.

Thank you for the tips! And now, for some clarification as you've probably brewed more than me so we might measure "more" differently.

• What range of sugar are you thinking? 1/2lb? 1lb? 2,000grams?
  • Also, since this will increase the ABV, should I keep the addition of sugar at no more than 1lb?

 

[bracconiere]

what about boiling the coconut, and then letting the fat seperate, then adding the water phase?

or use defatted coconut flour in the mash?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Thank you for the tips! And now, for some clarification as you've probably brewed more than me so we might measure "more" differently.

• What range of sugar are you thinking? 1/2lb? 1lb? 2,000grams?
  • Also, since this will increase the ABV, should I keep the addition of sugar at no more than 1lb?

2-4 pounds in a five gallon batch
I typically add sugar to my double IPAs and to my Saisons
Those that say it gives the beer a cidery taste are just repeating homebrew lore from decades ago with no real experience in the matter.

 

[Belgian Samurai]

Okay, side question about this beer ...
What is causing the beer to appear to separate around the perimeter of the glass? Notice how the beer is transparent at the edge, but has color everywhere else.

What causes that?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Just a guess, the shape of the glass allows it to be thinner there.

 

[Belgian Samurai]

Just a guess, the shape of the glass allows it to be thinner there.

Okay glad to know it's just that! Cheers!

 

[Dr_Jeff]

If you had added gelatin to the keg at transfer, it would have greatly helped with clarity.

Dissolve a packet of knox clear gelatin in hot (180 degrees or so) water, stir it a bit, rack the beer into the keg, during this time the gelatin will fully dissolve, add this mixture to the full keg, purge the keg, seal and pressurize, you can let it sit at room temperature or put it in the kegerator to begin the carbonation process and in about three days the beer will be clear.

 

[IslandLizard]

What is causing the beer to appear to separate around the perimeter of the glass? Notice how the beer is transparent at the edge, but has color everywhere else.

That's the meniscus. Liquid (beer in this case) curves up along the glass surface due to adhesion forces. Since it's thin you see through it without perceiving color.

Also notice, there's no head. Possibly due to the oils from the coconut.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

There was a head on the beer pictured in post 3, but I agree, the coconut oil would surely be a killer for head and head retention.

 

[IslandLizard]

The recipe:
5.5 lbs. Wheat DME
1 lb. Two-Row Brewers Malt
1 lb. White Wheat Malt
.75 lb. Flaked Oats

Are you doing a "proper" mash with these, then straining the wort from the grain, before starting the boil?
That would be considered a Partial Mash as part of your fermentables are produced by a mash, while the balance is added from extracts.

 

[Belgian Samurai]

There was a head on the beer pictured in post 3, but I agree, the coconut oil would surely be a killer for head and head retention.

So, I may have achieved the head on those 2 glasses with an aggressive poor. Yep, looking back at the time stamps on the pictures, that was day 2 of being carbed. My family was visiting and I was trying to get it carbonated quickly as possible, so I had it sitting at 34# of CO2 for the first couple of days. It didn't take long to pour a glass. Hahaha Anyway, it's now set at 12# and so the head disapates from a skim to nothing pretty quick. What did surprise me was the head on the glasses in post #3 ... It wasn't merely friction/splash bubbles, but had a good texture to the beer. Oh well, perhaps it's merely a red herring.

Are you doing a "proper" mash with these, then straining the wort from the grain, before starting the boil?
That would be considered a Partial Mash as part of your fermentables are produced by a mash, while the balance is added from extracts.

So, I steeped the grains and oats for 60-mins, then if I remember correctly, I added the DME and brought to a boil. I looked back at photos, videos, and IG stories, but I couldn't find anything for the mashing period. It was too busy to document that stage. But looking at my instructions, step 1 was for mash (60 @ 153°) and step 2 was for DME addition, step 3 was bring to boil and add hops for 60-minutes.

 

[IslandLizard]

So, I steeped the grains and oats for 60-mins,

Steeping and mashing are related, but not the same:

• Steeping is dissolving sugars from the milled grain. Variables such as (water) volume, temp, time, mineral content and pH are fairly immaterial. Similar to steeping a tea bag. [Added] Only certain grains and malts (such as Caramel and Crystal malts and dark roasted malts and grains) can be successfully steeped. Others need to be mashed (and properly so).
• Mashing requires a much tighter control of the process and those variables, as the starches (from the milled grain) need to be converted to sugars (by the enzymes from the diastatic malt).

But looking at my instructions, step 1 was for mash (60 @ 153°)

At least that's a proper temp and time for mashing, yes!

step 2 was for DME addition, step 3 was bring to boil and add hops for 60-minutes.

There are some nuances when to add and how long to boil extract.
Basically, dissolving extract (in hot or boiling water) at the end of the boil, and keeping the wort at around 170F for a few minutes to pasteurize, is all that's required. No need to boil extracts for an hour. They've been boiled already at the maltsters, before they were condensed into LME or further dried into DME.

Now hops need to get boiled to obtain bitterness, 30 minutes can be sufficient in many cases. Most bitterness is created in that time frame, but it won't hurt to boil longer, bitterness will be somewhat increased.

 

[JimRausch]

Where's the coriander flavor?

It's a citrus bomb; so much orange flavor!

Coriander flavor IS citrus. I've read somewhere in the past "use dried orange peel for bitterness and coriander for orange flavor".

 

[monkeymath]

Coriander flavor IS citrus. I've read somewhere in the past "use dried orange peel for bitterness and coriander for orange flavor".

I was going to say exactly that. No need to look for the "coriander flavor" - it is precisely the citrus flavor you are getting.

(I'm usually not one for spices or botanicals in beer, but a bit of coriander can be a wonderful addition, see for example 'La Chouffe Blonde'.)