Orange Zinger Beer

[No_Party]

I'm making a half-batch easy drinker for a friend of mine, and out of my tinkering nature I am thinking of making a full batch, but split it into two 3 gal fermentors. Now for my crazy idea. Instead of topping off with spring water, as the easy drinker will be, I will top off with Orange Zinger Tea that I had prepared earlier. I have no idea what this will do, but I think it could be quite interesting. Any thoughts or concerns about this out there? Has anyone else tried something like this?

Here's my recipe:

Easy Drinker/Orange Zinger Beer
Blonde Ale

Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.08 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 88.89 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
-
0.60 oz Nugget [12.20 %] (60 min) Hops 21.3 IBU
-
1.00 items Servomyces Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.053 SG
Measured Original Gravity:
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Measured Final Gravity:
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.27 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol:
Bitterness: 21.3 IBU
Est Color: 5.4 SRM

 

[Oldsock]

Sounds like it could be really good. I would make the tea extra strong, and add it to taste. Either add, mix, taste or making measured blends and then scale up.

Good luck.

 

[No_Party]

Good call on that. I definitely want the flavor to come through.

 

[piersonm]

I am very interested to see how this turns out!

 

[No_Party]

This beer is definitely a success. The Orange Zinger is subtle, but really makes this beer more refreshing without adding sweetness to it. This will be a summer staple for me.

 

[nilo]

Did you do any modifications to the recipe or did you brew exactly what you listed previously? Also, can you give more details on the orange ginger tea?

Thanks!

 

[No_Party]

Did you do any modifications to the recipe or did you brew exactly what you listed previously? Also, can you give more details on the orange ginger tea?

Thanks!

My bad. I actually made a lot of modifications to this :cross:

It ended up being my first all grain batch.

I ended up with two 1.5 gal batches of wort due to screw ups with the mash and sparge. Long story short, I dumped the vorlauf because I didn't read anywhere on what to do with it once you collect it. Now that I know, it seems obvious. That also gets us to my poor efficiency, though when I make this again I will use less grain in order to get around a 4.5% abv beer on purpose. Now with one of the 1.5 gal batches I just topped it off with spring water and that was it. The other one I prepared around 1 gal of spring water heated to about 150 degrees and then dumped two boxes of Celestial Seasonings Orange Zinger tea bags in it and let it sit overnight, off the heat source. I then used that tea for the top off to get to my desired 2.5 gal amount.

I think of all this, the most important this is the top off tea. I may concentrate this a bit more next time to see if I can get just a little more flavor to come through, but it is great the way it is now.
--------------------------------------
Type: All Grain Date: 4/27/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.01 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 Gallon)
Final Bottling Volume: 4.25 gal

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 90.9 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) 9.1 %
1.25 oz Saaz [5.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min 19.3 IBUs
1.00 Items Servomyces Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [25.00 ml]

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.057 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.040 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.5 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.0 %
Bitterness: 19.3 IBUs Calories: 165.2 kCal/12 oz
Est Color: 6.2 SRM

Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs
Sparge Water: 2.14 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 13.75 qt of water at 167.1 F 155.0 F 45 min

Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
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