HomeBrew: THe next Batch

[Firebat138]

So... Double IPA will be done in about 2 weeks or so... And we are gonna do another this Saturday... Any suggestions on a recipe that you love or hate.

My favorite beers

Evolution Lot 3
Sam Adams Noble Pils
Arrogant Bastards
Clay Pipe Hopocalypse

etc

 

[Firebat138]

Ok... Decided on a Belgian Wit... Anyone have any fun secret ingrediants during the brew to set it off... I am looking for something like a blue moon....

 

[TRainH2o]

Take a look in the recipe forum. They are listed by style. Arrogant Bastard is in there and I have seen a Blue Moon Clone as well.

 

[Firebat138]

Cool... YEah, I looked around, Just wondering if anyone had that little something EXTRA to throw in there... I was thinking of throwing in actual oranges somehow...

 

[barrooze]

Can You Brew It cloned AB if you want to do that. As for a Wit, buy a ton of fresh citrus and zest ALL of it. A pound of citrus zest is awesome. Put that in at flameout. And if you decide to add spices, use them sparingly. A good fermentation with the proper yeast should give you a lot of spice character.

 

[ThePearsonFam]

Can You Brew It cloned AB if you want to do that. As for a Wit, buy a ton of fresh citrus and zest ALL of it. A pound of citrus zest is awesome. Put that in at flameout. And if you decide to add spices, use them sparingly. A good fermentation with the proper yeast should give you a lot of spice character.

+1

Just be careful not to get the pith when zesting... Add some zest to your secondary or late in your primary (if you don't secondary-like me). I like coriander too, but barrooze is right on here too... go sparingly... less than an ounce, crushed and boiled for the last 5 minutes.

 

[Firebat138]

Awesome... So the OUTSIDE it the zest correct... I know the pith is the part on the inside I think.... LOL... so I just looked up the barrooze spice... Could not find anything... then went back to reread and well... I'm an idiot..

 

[ThePearsonFam]

Awesome... So the OUTSIDE it the zest correct... I know the pith is the part on the inside I think.... LOL... so I just looked up the barrooze spice... Could not find anything... then went back to reread and well... I'm an idiot..

TOO FUNNY!!!

Yes, the pith is the bitter, white portion, just below the colorful portion of the skin... The zest is JUST the OUTER portion of the skin... the colorful, oily portion. Just wash the orange to get any pesticides off and zest away. Some people have a zester (I do) and others use the finer portion of a cheese grater. Just be careful not to make your fingers bleed and be careful not to get into that pith (ultra bitter in the beer).

 

[barrooze]

Haha! I don't recommend adding any "barrooze spice" to the boil. You might regret it.

In addition to orange zest, try adding any and all citrus fruit zest; lemons, limes, mandarins, key limes, Meyer lemons, grapefruit, minneolas, clementines, kumquats, whatever you can find!

 

[Firebat138]

LOL... Yes... I am not even sure how I would some of that spice.... and frankly I dont even wanna know... LOL... Awesome... I will try that

 

[barrooze]

If the witbier has peaked your interest, give the Jamil Show episode a listen. You don't need to do a decoction mash, Doc just likes them for this style.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Witbier-The-Jamil-Show-03-13-06

 

[McDingleberry]

I am planning on doing a Belgian Wit for the summer and using blood oranges. I want to use the zest, and maybe boil the flesh and throw into the secondary. Not sure how to incorporate it yet.

 

[barrooze]

Adding the flesh sounds great, but I dont think you'll be happy if you add it to the boil. If you want the flavor of the juice and flesh, you may want to add to either the keg/bottling bucket or sometime after the majority of the fermentation is finished. Or you could do both. Last summer I experimented with making a hard pomegranate lemonade. I added a cup of freshly squeezed pom juice to the fermenter with the lemonade. Pic below. Finished product had some pink color but no pom flavor at all. Disappointing. If I do it again I'll add the pom juice at bottling so it comes through.

Just wanted to share my experience so you know the possible outcomes.

 

[McDingleberry]

Adding the flesh sounds great, but I dont think you'll be happy if you add it to the boil. If you want the flavor of the juice and flesh, you may want to add to either the keg/bottling bucket or sometime after the majority of the fermentation is finished. Or you could do both. Last summer I experimented with making a hard pomegranate lemonade. I added a cup of freshly squeezed pom juice to the fermenter with the lemonade. Pic below. Finished product had some pink color but no pom flavor at all. Disappointing. If I do it again I'll add the pom juice at bottling so it comes through.

Just wanted to share my experience so you know the possible outcomes.

Thanks. I was going to add the flesh to the secondary, but I figured I would need to boil it to avoid contamination.

 

[barrooze]

Thanks. I was going to add the flesh to the secondary, but I figured I would need to boil it to avoid contamination.

You can pasteurize it before adding to the fermenter.

Here's a good thread that discusses it: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/tips-adding-fruit-beer-117058/