NB La Petite Orange Blanche w/ Orange Zest & Coriander

Made three batches of this kit for my wedding. The descriptor calls it a Belgian-like Dubbel without the "deep dark chocolate maltiness"

I'm going to have to say that my garage smells heavenly with orange and vanilla-like aromas coming from the carboys.

I opted to leave everything from the kettle in the carboy, unlike what directions say.

For anyone that plans on brewing this kit, or anything that requires Wyeast 1214... It IS a slow starter. I recommend popping the pack a full 24 hours in advance and leaving it in a warm place to well up nicely.

I cant wait to transfer to secondary so I can taste again and see how it's coming along!

I also have that brew in my primary now, I did make a starter so it was bubbling in 12 hrs, can't wait to try it again but I won't be doing a secondary just a month in the primary, good luck! Cheers

pkrath84 said:

Made three batches of this kit for my wedding. The descriptor calls it a Belgian-like Dubbel without the "deep dark chocolate maltiness"

I'm going to have to say that my garage smells heavenly with orange and vanilla-like aromas coming from the carboys.

I opted to leave everything from the kettle in the carboy, unlike what directions say.

For anyone that plans on brewing this kit, or anything that requires Wyeast 1214... It IS a slow starter. I recommend popping the pack a full 24 hours in advance and leaving it in a warm place to well up nicely.

I cant wait to transfer to secondary so I can taste again and see how it's coming along!

Click to expand...

Was looking at this kit recently for my next brew. Your descrpition sounds delicious. I see the kit doesnt come with a spice pack. What was your process for adding the orange and coriander?

Nummey said:

Was looking at this kit recently for my next brew. Your descrpition sounds delicious. I see the kit doesnt come with a spice pack. What was your process for adding the orange and coriander?

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Zest of two oranges at flameout, I didn't add the coriander

Zest of 2 oranges at flame out like Salb said. I zested deep enough to get the orange skin but leaving the white pith behind, as its bitter. I also crushed the coriander before adding at flameout with the zest.

My LHBS carries the coriander, but after i bought it I realized I had a bunch in my spice cabinet leftover from making Pho.

I transfered to secondary today.

My OG: was 1.050 (estimated 5.052)
My current gravity: 1.008
Current ABV: 5.51% (estimated 6.1%)

This went a 2.5 weeks in the primary... I let it sit on top of the cake to let the yeast clean up after themselves. Having transferred to the secondary, will I see a subtle drop over the next few weeks?

I know I'm nitpicking here but you know how it is.

Here's my assessment on the sample I took today:

As expected, the sample was still green with a bit of alcohol twang and tasted better chilled. The recipe was great as is and I see this conditioning VERY nicely once all of the flavors have settled out. In fact I had my cousin taste the sample and she was surprised how good it tasted even though it was flat.

The orange comes through nicely but I may add more zest next time around or might even so a second addition to the primary at week 2. I think the zest of another orange would do nicely. Another thought would be to add some orange blossom honey to the kit to up the gravity a notch and give it a nice honey dry honey finish. While this would dry it out, I would also up the malt extract/grain for just a TAD more sweetness, although you might do well without. Just going off my personal taste. Or maybe adding vanilla for essence of sweetness without adding more sugar...

Today I put my carboy's up atop a table in my garage to prep for bottling day. I knew that my first batch was clearing nicely but once I had them side by side I was surprised with what I saw.

They were brewed using the same basic method provided in the kit instructions from NB. The ONLY differences in these batches were:

1. The 1st one (darkest) was racked off the cake, coriander, and zest within on day 16. The other 2 stayed in primary until day 20
2. The 2 cloudy carboys got a good squeezing out of the specialty gain bag. I was shooting for a better efficiency.

The second carboy got a little bit of a bump setting it down, so I assume it would have looked like the 3rd which appears to have a distinct line down the middle.

My question to all those experienced out there is whether you feel that the variations listed above caused the haziness or if the yeast are still dropping out?

If it's still flocculating, I have a fermwrap. Should I wrap the carboys up and warm them for a few days to get the remaining yeast to drop out?

Thanks guys

BTW - samples all tasted pretty much the same. I feel the 2 cloudy beers have a bit more orange flavor, but I could be fooling myself.

Here's a photo of the finished product 4 weeks conditioned in the bottle. Its fairly carbonated but could use the extra week and a half until the wedding in my opinion. Also, from other threads and reports on this kit, I already knew it could take up to 5 weeks to carb up properly.

This "dubbel" poured with a 1 finger head that dissipated quickly, no lacing but I imagine the oils from the orange zest could have contributed to this. Aroma is great, you get a nice hit of sweet orange that isn't overbearing. Flavor is on the sweeter side, but not off putting and fruity not only from the zest but from the belgian yeast. Next time I make this I might allow it to ferment a little bit warmer to let the character of the belgian yeast come more forward.

All in all this is a great, heavily drinkable beer. I mean, my fiance can gulp this stuff down because it tastes so good and is so smooth.

Mine came out same way not much head and little lacing...been in bottles over 5 weeks but I started drinking on them at 3 weeks , flavor really nice but wished it was carbed just a little bit more, over all a really great beer. Wife really likes it to.

Here's the final product. Just missing tags that we'll tie around with some red twine.

The wax sealing of the bottles was pretty easy, just time consuming. I used vintageseal wax alternative which worked out perfectly. Any messed up caps and I just cooled, ripped it right off in one piece and melted it down to start again. No chipping of having to break off chunks of hard "plastic"

I only suggest purchasing one more package than needed to get the nice wax look over a good portion of the bottle neck and making a stable surface so that you can tilt the container containing the wax (I used a small fry daddy). I made 156 in total.

Very easy to do. Now I know what everyone will be getting for Christmas and New Years! (cept I'll be making 22's, hah!)

The labels were designed on http://www.beerlabelizer.com They were printed on Avery Label Template #22820

Here's a link to the wax i used

http://morebeer.com/view_product/6968//Bottle_Wax_Alternative_-_VintageSeal_-_Burgundy_10lbs

Looks very classy! Looking forward to brewing this kit soon. Going to add 3lb of orange blossom honey to the bill and see how it turns out.

pure_lunatic said:

Looks very classy! Looking forward to brewing this kit soon. Going to add 3lb of orange blossom honey to the bill and see how it turns out.

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I definitely agree with the honey. Im pretty sure I'll do the same next time I make it for a nice little boost.

Sorry to highjack this thread but i figured it would be better to ask here rather than starting a whole new thread.
I just racked this to secondary and didn't add the orange or coriander at flame out. do you think i could add one or two coriander seeds to each bottle on bottling day or with the flavor be way to strong once it ages a couple weeks?

Brewing this soon, QQ - After adding the zest at flame out, when do you filter it back out? Do you screen it out when transferring to secondary?

pkrath84 said:

Here's the final product. Just missing tags that we'll tie around with some red twine.

The wax sealing of the bottles was pretty easy, just time consuming. I used vintageseal wax alternative which worked out perfectly. Any messed up caps and I just cooled, ripped it right off in one piece and melted it down to start again. No chipping of having to break off chunks of hard "plastic"

I only suggest purchasing one more package than needed to get the nice wax look over a good portion of the bottle neck and making a stable surface so that you can tilt the container containing the wax (I used a small fry daddy). I made 156 in total.

Very easy to do. Now I know what everyone will be getting for Christmas and New Years! (cept I'll be making 22's, hah!)

The labels were designed on http://www.beerlabelizer.com They were printed on Avery Label Template #22820

Here's a link to the wax i used

http://morebeer.com/view_product/6968//Bottle_Wax_Alternative_-_VintageSeal_-_Burgundy_10lbs

Click to expand...

Did you use just 1lb? 10lbs might be a lil much for me to buy.

I'm putting this beer on my list to brew. Thanks for the write up!