movin' on up

hey everyone, so i completed one gallon brooklyn brew shop IPA kit recently, and now i'm full-blown addicted. read john. j palmers 'how to brew' and it just fed my want to brew more.

picked up a 5gallon kit off craigslist, and i'll be brewing on friday! i have my sights set on an american wheat beer (extract). my intentions are:

wheat beer

1lb crystal 20L
6# wheat LME
1oz cascade @60
.05oz cascade @30
.05oz cascade @flameout
coopers dry yeast 15g

60min boil
5 days primary
2 weeks secondary
2 weeks bottle conditioning

here comes the question(s);

- wanting to add orange to the beer. i've heard many different ways (steeping orange and adding to primary, throwing peels in at flameout, or adding orange extract to secondary), do you guys have any opinions from personal experiences?
- i chose coopers dry yeast on behalf of living in an apartment that stays around low to mid 70s throughout the day. coopers is supposed to be able to work well in that range, and also have a cirtus taste. has anyone used coopers, and would you recommend it?

 

Imo I would use ringwood or an ale yeast from white labs or maybe s-04 or s-05. Wheat beers generally have a citrusy taste anyways, at least to me. Also if you want the actual flavor of oranges you could add a bit into the primary which will also act as some nutrients for the yeast, but if you really want a fresh orange flavor put them in at secondary. Also as a side note, don't give your yeast a limit on time to sit in primary. They finish when they finish, if anything let them sit longer. I usually got 2-3 weeks on a ale.

 

awesome, so literally just adding some slices of oranges that had been drained/juiced into the primary would be beneficial?

 

I've added them as just slices with skins on, juiced, and as just a bunch mashed up. For primary I'd add only about one orange worth since alot of the flavor will fade as the yeast eats the nutrients and creates new flavors. Another thing to mention is that it is a possibility that the oranges will have wild yeast on them, especially if they are wild or picked from an orchard. So if you want no chance of a wild yeast strain also in there then you would mix some sulfite(campden tablets) into the oranges for 24 hours before using which will inhibit the wild yeast. This isn't necessary but thats if you want a sure fire way to know there aren't any wild yeast at play. If you add them in secondary once fermentation is totally complete then you could do the same and will get a more orange flavor and aroma.

 

i might chicken out and just add extract to my secondary.. but thanks for all the info!

 

I did a 5 gal batch of Hefeweizen that I racked on to 3# of Vintner's Harvest Blood Orange Puree in a secondary and let it sit for a week or so to ferment out the sugar in the puree. It has some orange in the aroma, and good orange flavor in the finish. Good purees are a great way to add fruit to a brew, and they are sterile in the can, so all you have to do is clean and sanitize the outside of the can and the can opener before you open it.

 

You could just keep it simple and go with an ounce or two of dried orange peel from your LHBS. Also, Wyeast 1010 is a good clean wheat yeast that works well up to 74F. You should also do a search for "swamp cooler" to learn low tech, low cost ways to keep your fermenter cool. If your apartment is low to mid 70s, your peak fermentation temp is likely to be pushing 80 unless you can cool it a bit.

 

i'll definitely be checking out wyeast 1010! i used a swamp cooler method with my one gallon batch, but in my apartment its a bit limited on space when it comes to 5gallon. buying a house at the beginning of the year, and i've convinced the wife that a basement is a necessity

 

Find a beer she likes and brew it a lot. My wife has become a major hop head so every third brew is an IPA or DIPA. I hardly ever get complaints

 

I would about doing late addition for the LME so your beer does not turn out darker than you are expecting.

 

I'd use 1010 and orange peel at flameout and/or secondary. I did not think the raspberry puree I have tried was worth the money so I'm done with purees.

 

I made one using the zest of a couple of oranges. The rind only not the white pith. I forget how much I got or when I added them. It was noticeable.

Cascade hops:
AROMA PROFILE: FLORAL, CITRUS, SPICY
Originating from the USDA-ARA breeding program, Cascade is an aroma-type cultivar bred in 1956 and released in 1972. It was developed by open pollination of a Fuggle seedling. Cascade is the most popular variety in craft brewing and is known for having a unique floral, spicy and citrus character with balanced bittering potential.

Aroma: Medium intense floral, citrus and grapefruit tones

So you will get citrus though not really orange.

I have never used Coopers yeast. I have also not heard good reviews of it.

I would use Lallemand Munich for dry, Wyeast 1010 or White Labs WLP 320 for liquid yeasts.

If you use liquid yeast you should look into making starters. If you are not ready for starters, stick with dry yeast for a while.

 

Just got back from my LHBS and i grabbed cascade for my hops. really excited about that! they didn't have coopers dry yeast, but i am sticking with dry yeast so I grabbed an 11g Safale #5 pack.. hopefully that'll be close to the profile i'm aiming for (american wheat)

smart man, i'll take your advice

 

US05 is a great yeast and will give you a good beer, but it is not usually one that is picked for a wheat beer. But then again I often use yeasts that are not what is recommended for the recipe....