Fruit and Spice Beer Blood Orange Belgian Wit

[jamesjensen1068]

The liquid and the bag of fruit with zest all get poured into the fermenting bucket.

 

[ARRitch]

The liquid and the bag of fruit with zest all get poured into the fermenting bucket.

Thanks! I am getting all of the ingredients today, and I will let you know how it turns out. I am brewing this batch on Sunday. Have a great one!

-Ritchie

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Here is my latest batch....still a little under carbed. Smells wonderful and even the wife liked it.

View attachment blood orange belgian wit.bmp

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Don't know why but the pic isn't showing up??? Maybe one of the mods could help???

 

[GulfCoastGirl]

Question, in your ingredient list it says:

6 pounds Briess DME Wheat


There seems to be a variety of the Briess DME to choose from, i.e., Bavarian, Golden Light, Pilsen, etc. etc. Can you tell us which one you used? It might be obvious to some with experience.... but I'm a beginner

Thanks

 

[sudol]

Wheat is the kind. Briess is the brand. The should have Light, Extra Light, Dark, Wheat... etc. I actually used Muntons brand Wheat DME because my LHBS didn't have Briess.

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Yeah...what Sudol said.

 

[ARRitch]

How fast do you pour the 3 pound bag of DME into the kettle? I heard it can harden up. Thanks!

 

[jamesjensen1068]

I just dump it in while stirring. Keep stirring until its all dissolved. With the amount of wheat it will foam up so stir until it calms down.

 

[ARRitch]

I just dump it in while stirring. Keep stirring until its all dissolved. With the amount of wheat it will foam up so stir until it calms down.

Thanks!

 

[ajpoen]

The HBS I bought my extract from didn't have any wheat DME, so I subbed 6 lbs of Muntons Wheat LME and 12oz Muntons Light LME(Just for body and to up the abv slightly)

I dumped the fruit and peels directly into the fermenter without a bag and it wasn't that big of a deal, even in a carboy. I had sliced the oranges pretty small, so that helped.

I tasted it last weekend and it was still pretty under-carbed(only in bottle for a week) I'll pop another to test tomorrow and post a picture

 

[jamesjensen1068]

ajpoen,

Awesome....would love to see a pic!

 

[darm0v]

What would be the best substitution for blood oranges? I have called several local grocers and can't seem to find them in stock. One store suggested cara cara oranges, and then in this thread someone used orange blossom oranges. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[RugenBrau]

What would be the best substitution for blood oranges?

I'd like to know the answer to that also.

 

[darm0v]

I'd like to know the answer to that also.

I think I'm going to use Cara Cara. I've called every grocery store around and they said they only had blood oranges in February. I also asked several people at the LHBS and they had no suggestions. They said that the blood orange was unique and it sounded like it was up to me to experiment.

BrewTarget says my IBUs for this are going to be 23.7. That's outside the range for witbiers. Does anyone think that will be too bitter? Otherwise the recipe is balanced with 6 lbs of Muntons Plain Wheat DME, 3 lbs boiled, 3 lbs late addition, my US Goldings hops are 5.9% AA, and the Saaz (US) hops are 7.6% AA. All combined that gives me OG of 1.053, FG of 1.014, ABV of 5.1, IBU 23.7, Color 4.4, and IBU/GU of 0.45. That's for a partial boil extract equipment setup. This is going to be fun.

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Honestly I don't know what to use as a substitute? Part of the coolness factor with this recipe is that for most people in the US Blood Oranges are only available just one or two times a year. You could do a search online about oranges and see the difference in taste profiles and see what you think you'd like?

Cheers

 

[jtaguy]

I can not wait to try this recipe. I've read all the posts and took the notes. I will post pics and comments when I brew this later in the week!

Thank you for the recipe!

 

[mward43]

Thanks for the recipe! I just brewed a 5-gallon batch of this last night - it's my first 5-gal brew and my first time using a plastic bucket to ferment. My others have only been 1-gal and 2-gal in glass jugs, so I'm very excited to see how this turns out!

 

[jamesjensen1068]

jtaguy & mward43,

I'm sure you both will love it. I just had some this past weekend thats been on tap for a few months. Awesome tasting beer. Report back your tasting notes. Would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Cheers

 

[beatrixkills]

Blood Orange Wit

2.5 gallons water
1/2 gallon water for zest and fruit

Boil
6 pounds Briess DME Wheat (60 minutes)
1/2 ounce (15g) East Kent Goldings hop pellets (60 minutes)
5 average sized blood oranges (In another pot)
1/2 ounce (15g) Saaz hop pellets (20 minutes)
1/2 ounce (15g) East Kent Goldings hop pellets (10 minutes)
1 oz Crushed Coriander (5 minutes)

In carboy
Cool water to the 5-gallon (19L) mark

Fermentation
Yeast: Wyeast 1214, 3942 or 3944; or White Labs WLP400 or WLP550

Bottling
3.6 ounces CreamyX or other priming source.

STARTING GRAVITY: 1.052
FINAL GRAVITY: 1.011
FINAL TARGET ABV: 5.4%

PROCESS
1. Heat 3.5 gallons of water in the brewpot. As the water begins to boil, remove it from heat. Add the light wheat malt extract. Stir to prevent clumping and scorching on the bottom of the pot. Return the pot to heat.

2. Allow the wort to come up to a boil. Add the first East Kent Golding hop pellets and stir. Start timing the 1-hour boil at the point that you make this hop addition.

3. Zest and save all the oranges. Once the oranges are zested remove the fruit from the rind. The fruit and zest may be placed in a straining bag for easy removal after fermentation. Heat fruit and peels in 1/2 gallon (2L) of water to 160 degrees F (71C) and then turn off heat. Let it steep as it cools.

4. 20 minutes before the end of the boil, add the Saaz hop pellets.

5. 10 minutes before the end of the boil, add the second East Kent Golding hop pellets and stir for 1 minute.

6. At the 60-minute mark, turn off the heat source. Chill the wort in a cold water bath to a temperature of 70F-75F (21C - 24C).

8. Transfer the wort into a carboy or a plastic fermenter. Pour blood orange peels and fruit into the wort.

9. Top up the carboy to a 5-gallon (19L) mark with cool water. Aerate for 1 minute

10. Pitch the yeast

11. In about 12 days, your beer should be ready to package.[/QUOTE]

 

[SarcasticHorse]

Just bottled my naval orange version of this two days ago...smelled amazing! Apparently blood oranges were off the shelves in March in the Bay Area but when I was there two days they had more. Oh well, the navals smelled fine. Thanks again for this recipe and post thread, been a great read.

 

[jamesjensen1068]

SarcasticHorse,

Can't wait to hear your tasting results.

Cheers!!!

 

[jtaguy]

Going to bottle the brew tomorrow. Will post a pic of the color and some notes.

 

[gtmaus]

This recipe sounds great. Has anybody tried a full boil on this?

 

[jtaguy]

I never did find Blood oranges, however I used Cara Cara instead. It came out awesome. The orange flavor is not overwhelming but definitely noticeable. This is a beer I will continue to brew, and when I do fine those blood oranges I will buy as many as I can and freeze them for when not in season. I posted a picture of the real thing and the home brew. The home brew is the one on the left and just a little darker. I'd expect the color to be more red with the Blood oranges. Thanks again for the recipe!

 

[SarcasticHorse]

Here's my bad boy after almost 3 weeks of bottling (did a good 48 hour fridge sit). Forgive the iPhone photo quality.

The orange flavor is not 100% but overall its pretty good. I will definitely try a better version of this once blood oranges are back on the market.

 

[mward43]

Tasted my first this batch last week after it had been in bottles for about 2.5 weeks, and boy was it good! I went with navel oranges instead of blood oranges (my local grocery store didn't have them in stock at the time) and the flavor was still great, but I'll have to give this recipe another shot using blood oranges just to see the difference. I had this fermenting in a room that averaged about 74 degF and that didn't seem to have any negative effect, so I strongly recommend this recipe to anyone who's dealing with warmer climates. Below is a photo of the first glass poured.

 

[jamesjensen1068]

So glad you guys are enjoying the recipe. I have yet to make it with anything other then the Blood Oranges, with all your great results I'm tempted to try it with a different variety.

Cheers

 

[jtaguy]

After 6 weeks in the bottle, it cleared up a lot. When I cracked one open at 3 weeks you could not see through at all. At the 5 week mark it looked much clearer and tasted even better. Inspired by this recipe, i plan on making my own and will share it with you all soon. Once I know it turns out great that is!

Thanks again James for the inspiration! Salute!!!

 

[SarcasticHorse]

Hey have any of you guys added light candi syrup to orange witbier recipes to give it more beef?