Blood Orange Belgian Wit

[jamesjensen1068]

I would use what oranges you can now and then when blood oranges are available brew it again with them and report back the difference.

 

[Mandrew]

So I fell in love with the idea of this beer... So I went to my local store and purchased all the ingredients minus the oranges. I bought a White Labs Belgian Wit 2 this summer when it was available so I decided to use it for this brew. But here comes the interesting twist, I couldn't find blood oranges in any of the 5 stores I checked. So instead I bought 4 Pomegranates. What do you guys think?

 

[unionrdr]

Seems like it'd be good flavor-wise. Just watch how much you use. Seens to me it dried my mouth a bit the last time I had one?...

 

[Mandrew]

I brewed the recipe but with 4 Pomegranates.... .

Just watch how much you use. Seens to me it dried my mouth a bit the last time I had one?..

Its not enough, when I tasted it after taking the gravity reading, you could taste that it was there but like a foundation. I plan on adding 2 or 3 more a couple days before bottling to brighten it up.

 

[unionrdr]

So using 4 of them puts the flavor on the back? 5 might be good to bring up the flavor a bit,but not bury the malt/hop flavors.

 

[Mandrew]

Ok, so to inform from last time I posted... Tonight I Bottled the Pomegranate Witbier tonight. I ended with a OG of 1.012 giving me right around 5%. Fantastic!! So for those who have not read the post I changed the Blood Oranges for Pomegranates. When I brewed I put in the juice of 4 Poms and then put the bag of seeds and whatnot into the fermentation bucket. After fermentation, I was worried about how much flavor I got out of those 4 and to be honest, it tasted pretty good but I bought 4 more and juiced them. When I bottled tonight I used the juice from all 4 and then 2.75 oz of table sugar for priming, I didn't run any calculations but there should be enough sugars in the juice to make up for the rest of the sugars for carbonation. Before the addition of the priming solution it tasted pretty good, a little dry but still a base pom flavor, now it has a kick to it and is very smooth.

I will let you know in a couple weeks how it actually turned out with the carb and everything!

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Ok, so to inform from last time I posted... Tonight I Bottled the Pomegranate Witbier tonight. I ended with a OG of 1.012 giving me right around 5%. Fantastic!! So for those who have not read the post I changed the Blood Oranges for Pomegranates. When I brewed I put in the juice of 4 Poms and then put the bag of seeds and whatnot into the fermentation bucket. After fermentation, I was worried about how much flavor I got out of those 4 and to be honest, it tasted pretty good but I bought 4 more and juiced them. When I bottled tonight I used the juice from all 4 and then 2.75 oz of table sugar for priming, I didn't run any calculations but there should be enough sugars in the juice to make up for the rest of the sugars for carbonation. Before the addition of the priming solution it tasted pretty good, a little dry but still a base pom flavor, now it has a kick to it and is very smooth.

I will let you know in a couple weeks how it actually turned out with the carb and everything!

Mandrew,
How did this turn out for you?????

 

[Mandrew]

Mandrew,
How did this turn out for you?????

It turned out amazing, everyone I gave it to liked it... they may not have been impressed but they wouldn't turn it down. I put it into a competition and got 31... I think I would have gotten higher if I would have categorized it better. It had the perfect carbonation and very bright pom flavors. As it has aged, it lost the brightness but is still good. But I would suggest it getting drank quickly.

 

[MT8911]

I brewed the OP's orange wit on Sunday using WLP400 and hit an OG of 1.056. I usually take a hydrometer sample at 48 hrs and every other time I've been in the 1.010-1.020 range at this time. Today I took a sample and I was at 1.040. Should I be worried? Or does the White Labs yeast take a little longer than Wyeast to act?

 

[Toecutter]

I brewed the OP's orange wit on Sunday using WLP400 and hit an OG of 1.056. I usually take a hydrometer sample at 48 hrs and every other time I've been in the 1.010-1.020 range at this time. Today I took a sample and I was at 1.040. Should I be worried? Or does the White Labs yeast take a little longer than Wyeast to act?

Let the WLP400 do it's business. You should get several days of a very agressive fermentation. Mine always spews out a pretty nasty concoction that smells like Satan's Anus. Once it slows down, shake your fermentor a couple times a day to finish it up. I leave mine in the primary for about 18 days, cold crash for 3 days, then keg. I have 10 gallons ageing right now, and i'll be brewing another 10 gallons this weekend. stocking up for summer.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

I just kegged my first attempt at this recipe today, it smells/tastes great, cannot wait for it to carb. Thanks OP.