Orange Honey Wheat

[osbick_bird]

Hey! So this is my first crack at putting a recipe together on my lonesome, just thought I'd run it past you guys first to see if anything looks obviously crazy. Aiming for a 5 gallon batch with a BIAB setup. This is also my first go with using brewing software, using Brewfather. Hoping for a little honey flavor synergy with the honey & honey malt, also with the orange with that Cascade/Amarillo combination. The smidge of maltodextrin was mostly just to bring the FG up
by a little tick but I'm not sure if it's really needed or not. Planning to brew this in a couple weeks' time. What do you think? Any feedback appreciated! Thank you in advance!

BIAB (No sparge)
67% efficiency
Batch Volume: 5 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Mash
Temperature — 149 °F — 60 min
Mash Out — 167 °F — 10 min

Malts (8 lb 8.2 oz)
4 lb (42.7%) — Briess Pale Ale Malt 2-Row
4 lb (42.7%) — Briess Wheat White Malt
8 oz (5.3%) — Cargill (Gambrinus) Honey Malt

Other (14.1 oz)
12 oz (8%) — Honey — Flameout
2 oz (1.3%) — Maltodextrin

Hops (2 oz)
1 oz (22 IBU) — Cascade 5.5% — Boil — 60 min
1 oz — Amarillo 9.2% — Dry Hop — 5 days

Miscs
1.5 oz — Orange Peel, Sweet — Boil — 5 min

Yeast
1 pkg — Fermentis US-05 Safale American

Fermentation
Primary — 68 °F — 14 days

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.008
IBU (Tinseth): 22
Color: 11.4 EBC
ABV: 5.4%

 

[Kickass]

I think you have a good foundation and if brewed as is you’d have a nice beer but here’s a couple of small adjustments I’d do if it were me:

1. Skip the maltodexrine and mash at 154-156 if you want a little more FG. Again, you’ll be ok as is but you’re taking two steps (mashing low heat, then adding MD) when you can accomplish the same thing with one step and less cost (mash slightly higher).

2. Change up your hop schedule a little. .5 to .75 Amarillo for 60 then use the rest of the Amarillo and the cascade for flameout/whirlpool. I’d want to keep the citrus of the cascade front and center with the floral/pleasant Amarillo as a supporting roll. I probably wouldn’t dry hop, I think it’d mask the honey and detract from the wheat profile.

Again, small adjustments I’d make. Regardless, I think your well on your way to a tasty brew. Keep us posted!

 

[osbick_bird]

I think you have a good foundation and if brewed as is you’d have a nice beer but here’s a couple of small adjustments I’d do if it were me:

1. Skip the maltodexrine and mash at 154-156 if you want a little more FG. Again, you’ll be ok as is but you’re taking two steps (mashing low heat, then adding MD) when you can accomplish the same thing with one step and less cost (mash slightly higher).

2. Change up your hop schedule a little. .5 to .75 Amarillo for 60 then use the rest of the Amarillo and the cascade for flameout/whirlpool. I’d want to keep the citrus of the cascade front and center with the floral/pleasant Amarillo as a supporting roll. I probably wouldn’t dry hop, I think it’d mask the honey and detract from the wheat profile.

Again, small adjustments I’d make. Regardless, I think your well on your way to a tasty brew. Keep us posted!

Thank you so, so, so very much for the fantastic advice & feedback! I feel a lot more confident moving forward with this. Will post updates after brew day!

 

[osbick_bird]

Finished product! I reduced the orange peel in the boil to .5 oz (if I had this to do over again, would add a full 1 oz), added 2 T vanilla extract to secondary, then at bottling some crystallized orange and an additional 1 T vanilla extract. Going to try entering it in the state fair homebrew competition just for fun (actually just for some feedback), but my better half loves it & he's the one I made it for, so I'm happy with it no matter what. Little bit of chill haze going on in this picture, hopefully that'll settle out over time. Think the honey character came through intact, and plays nicely with the citrus, vanilla and bready wheat notes. Might bump up the hops just a tiny bit next time, though we bought whole instead of pellets by mistake and might not have adjusted upwards enough.

 

[Nate R]

but my better half loves it & he's the one I made it for, so I'm happy with it no matter what.

Love that!!! Good luck in the competition but i think you've already made winner!!

What kind of honey did you use? The little bit about honey i know is that there are so many different kinds, flavors, etc.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[osbick_bird]

Love that!!! Good luck in the competition but i think you've already made winner!!

What kind of honey did you use? The little bit about honey i know is that there are so many different kinds, flavors, etc.
Thanks for sharing!

Just plain old wildflower honey! It has a little more going on than clover honey...orange blossom would have been nice but I couldn't find any in time.

 

[Albert Mitchell]

Super recipe! feel that it taasty
Tell me, please, if a new brewer, like me, can brew such a beer? Or do I need to get some skills before?

 

[Soulshine2]

Hey! So this is my first crack at putting a recipe together on my lonesome, just thought I'd run it past you guys first to see if anything looks obviously crazy. Aiming for a 5 gallon batch with a BIAB setup. This is also my first go with using brewing software, using Brewfather. Hoping for a little honey flavor synergy with the honey & honey malt, also with the orange with that Cascade/Amarillo combination. The smidge of maltodextrin was mostly just to bring the FG up
by a little tick but I'm not sure if it's really needed or not. Planning to brew this in a couple weeks' time. What do you think? Any feedback appreciated! Thank you in advance!

BIAB (No sparge)
67% efficiency
Batch Volume: 5 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Mash
Temperature — 149 °F — 60 min
Mash Out — 167 °F — 10 min

Malts (8 lb 8.2 oz)
4 lb (42.7%) — Briess Pale Ale Malt 2-Row
4 lb (42.7%) — Briess Wheat White Malt
8 oz (5.3%) — Cargill (Gambrinus) Honey Malt

Other (14.1 oz)
12 oz (8%) — Honey — Flameout
2 oz (1.3%) — Maltodextrin

Hops (2 oz)
1 oz (22 IBU) — Cascade 5.5% — Boil — 60 min
1 oz — Amarillo 9.2% — Dry Hop — 5 days

Miscs
1.5 oz — Orange Peel, Sweet — Boil — 5 min

Yeast
1 pkg — Fermentis US-05 Safale American

Fermentation
Primary — 68 °F — 14 days

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.008
IBU (Tinseth): 22
Color: 11.4 EBC
ABV: 5.4%

Your recipe isnt far off from my Moon Over Miami. a couple substitutions is all but basically it was a basic Hef grain recipe and I brewed it the day after I did the hef (it sat and soured in the tun overnight , then after re-sparging it was a small beer) .I used dextrine to boost the fermentables since I had run the grains in the hef, the sugars were almost used up but enough to still taste. On the actual honey addition, thats going to add fermentable but you most likely wont get much honey flavor ,your honey malt will probably do more on that for you.The Orange peel addition... you can just add the zest not the whole peel , the white pithy part doesnt do much but the oils in the zest are your flavors. I added zest of a couple limes as well, seemed to help the orange flavor and aroma pop through. You should think about adding some ground coriander as well. Works very well with citrus beers. My hop was Apollo , because it carried a bright citrusy bitterness and aroma . Same US-05.
Now you have me thinking of making mine again. Im planning another hef for my wife and the Moon Over Miami was a good beer. Thinking on my malt stores, I think I have a pound of honey malt ...hmmm
Now my mouth is watering for a batch.
Keep us posted !!

 

[Soulshine2]

Finished product! I reduced the orange peel in the boil to .5 oz (if I had this to do over again, would add a full 1 oz), added 2 T vanilla extract to secondary, then at bottling some crystallized orange and an additional 1 T vanilla extract. Going to try entering it in the state fair homebrew competition just for fun (actually just for some feedback), but my better half loves it & he's the one I made it for, so I'm happy with it no matter what. Little bit of chill haze going on in this picture, hopefully that'll settle out over time. Think the honey character came through intact, and plays nicely with the citrus, vanilla and bready wheat notes. Might bump up the hops just a tiny bit next time, though we bought whole instead of pellets by mistake and might not have adjusted upwards enough.



View attachment 636266

That looks great. vanilla??? interesting addition . I wouldnt want to lose the haze, its a wheat beer. Its supposed to have haze.

 

[osbick_bird]

Got my scoring sheets back!! Both judges liked the creamsicle vanilla/orange combination and felt it was well balanced with the base wheat beer, but I did get dinged for the lack of appreciable honey. Maybe using a more aromatic/flavorful variety than wildflower & adjusting up the honey malt would help? Or just ditching honey from the description. Anyway, although it didn't win, it did get an overall "excellent' score and advanced to the mini best of show round. So so pleased with how it did!

 

[Soulshine2]

Got my scoring sheets back!! Both judges liked the creamsicle vanilla/orange combination and felt it was well balanced with the base wheat beer, but I did get dinged for the lack of appreciable honey. Maybe using a more aromatic/flavorful variety than wildflower & adjusting up the honey malt would help? Or just ditching honey from the description. Anyway, although it didn't win, it did get an overall "excellent' score and advanced to the mini best of show round. So so pleased with how it did!

I think up the honey malt because the honey addition would most likely just boost the abv and not get the taste . or as you said , ditch the honey in the description.