Coriander Question / Poll

[ace0005]

I brewed my first Witbier back in July with coriander. This was my first time using coriander, but I understand that it can be potent if exposed to the boil for too long. I kegged 5 gallons of beer after fermenting and it was good. I let the other 5 gallons sit in a corny keg for 6 months, carbonated, and drank it. The difference in taste is night and day!! I don't know if you can age a witbier or not, or if coriander will become stronger with time, but there is definitely a more pronounced flavor upfront.

I attributed this to the coriander, however my wife said it smells like nail polish remover.... which got me thinking. I know I didn't ferment hot enough to create any ethyl acetate. So my question is this: Am I wrong to think that the coriander flavor became more pronounced with age? Or did i screw something up??

 

[VikeMan]

Well, first, every beer contains ethyl acetate. It's the most common ester in beer. But usually, it's at levels below what would smell like "nail polish remover."

If the nail polish remover aroma is ethyl acetate (and it certainly could be), the fact that it's stronger in the older beer may indicate contamination by an acetic acid producing bacteria or possibly an excess of acetic acid from the original fermentation that slowly reacted with alcohol over time.

Acetic Acid + Ethanol -> Ethyl Acetate

 

[BrewZer]

I can't say if the coriander contributed to your off flavor. When I used it in my Saisonal Seasonal, I made a tea of coriander, cinnamon and orange peel, then added that tea to the last 15 minutes of the boil. I did it that way to avoid cinnamon harshness you get from boiling cinnamon.

Now that it's had a few months in the bottle, you can get just hints of the spices... but nothing particularly pronounced that's identifiable as "CORIANDER, dammit!"

One of our local brew pubs makes a coriander beer, and you can tell it's got "CORIANDER, dammit".

So here come the questions: did you put the coriander directly into the brew? how much did you use and when did you add it? were the seeds evident in your filtered mess/trub?

 

[ace0005]

I can't say if the coriander contributed to your off flavor. When I used it in my Saisonal Seasonal, I made a tea of coriander, cinnamon and orange peel, then added that tea to the last 15 minutes of the boil. I did it that way to avoid cinnamon harshness you get from boiling cinnamon.

Now that it's had a few months in the bottle, you can get just hints of the spices... but nothing particularly pronounced that's identifiable as "CORIANDER, dammit!"

One of our local brew pubs makes a coriander beer, and you can tell it's got "CORIANDER, dammit".

So here come the questions: did you put the coriander directly into the brew? how much did you use and when did you add it? were the seeds evident in your filtered mess/trub?

Thanks for the response! To answer your questions.....

I added directly to boil in a muslin bag, this way I could control the "coriander, dammit!" I did two additions..... 1 oz for 30 seconds with 15 min left in 60 min boil, and a second 1oz addition for 30 seconds with 5 minutes left in boil. Prior to additions..... I dry-fried the coriander in a pan (i read that this was a good idea)

 

[BrewZer]

So you only have 2 ounces over about a minute of coriander steeping... I don't see how that will leave enough flavor to detect.