Wheat beer: coriander/orange peel input?

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rhys333

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Hey Everyone,

I was planning to brew a 5.5 gallon kitchen sink wheat beer tomorrow, and decided to add coriander and possibly some orange peel for something different. I've been brewing for years, but this will be my first time with these additions and I appreciate input on method/amount/times from those with experience.

The base malt is mixed, as I'm using up some remaining Munich 5 and 2 Row. I have 1 ounce of whole coriander seed and plan to pick up some bitter orange peel tomorrow. Exact proportions will be determined when I have my ingredients weighed out, but the beer looks something like this:

WHEAT BEER, 1.050, 25 IBU, 5.5 gal
60% White wheat
25% Munich 5L
10% 2 Row
5% CaraMunich (may omit)
Bittering hop @ 60 to 25 IBU
Coriander, amount & time?
Orange peel, amount & time?

Voss Kveik yeast
 
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The orange was very noticeable in the aroma, which is likely the peel, but could also be from the voss, that actual taste was less pronounced. The coriander was less noticable, but there, and I really liked it. I might bump that up to more like .75 or a full ounce if I ever brew it again, although I was making it for a work retirement party, so I may not ever do that.
 
I brewed a Witbier last spring, with Indian coriander and fresh orange peel. I used 2 oz. orange peel and 3/4 oz. crushed coriander seed at the last 10 minutes of the boil. The beer turned out quite well, but could've used more orange peel, since much of the 2 oz. weight was water. Maybe 3 oz. next time. If I were using dried peel, maybe 1-1.5 oz would have been sufficient. I crushed the coriander just before adding.

I drank all the beer within about a month and a half (I bottle). The orange flavor dissipated a bit in the end, but the coriander was still there.
 
I used 1 oz of sweet Valencia dried orange peel. For my tastes next time I'm dropping it slightly to .75 oz. I may also try the zest from fresh oranges first though.
 
Grinding whole coriander is the way to go, though I've only used sweet orange peel (never used bitter). My last 4 gallon batch of a Blue Moon-ish clone had 0.5oz each of fresh ground coriander and sweet orange peel. I felt the coriander level was good and there was a bit of orange aroma, though next time I might try 0.75oz of orange peel. Both were @ 5 minutes left in the boil, if I remember correctly. I also used WLP400 before learning that Blue Moon actually uses the Chico strain, so I might try US05 next time as well. Lots of Blue Moon drinking friends and I like to have a crowd pleaser for parties.
 
I made a Northern Brewer Blue Moon clone extract kit and it had 1/2 oz. sweet op. 1/2 oz coriander @ 5 min. left. I did a poor job at cracking/crushing the coriander as they recommend but I'll do a better job next time. (maybe?) It also recommends US-05 or equiv. but I used Lallermand Belgian Wit and will use it next time too. I liked the result.
YMMV.
Cheers, :mug:
Joel B.
 
Brewed a quick 6 gallon extract batch 2 months ago. It worked out well. I used Lallemond Abbayye and fermented ambient, about 66-68. I was very happy with the spice level; I want to know something is in there, but I'd rather not be able to pick it out with any certainty, a hint at best. I had brewed a similarly spiced all grain batch 2 months prior to this one. (65% wheat, 20 munich light, 5 each flaked corn, rice, and barley). But for the extract batch I upped each spice weight by 20%. Also, as you can tell from my ingredient list, I'm not as big on coriander as many others. I'll likely keep the spice level the same if I do these again.

Original Gravity: 1.047 Final Gravity: 1.008
ABV (standard): 5.2%
IBU (tinseth) 30.8 SRM (morey) 3.2

Fermentables

6.44 lbs / $ 21.49
AmountFermentableCostPPG°LBill %
6 lbBriess - DME Bavarian Wheat$ 3.38 / lb
$ 20.28
44.6393.2%
7 ozMaltodextrin$ 2.77 / lb
$ 1.21
3906.8%
Hops

68 g / $ 3.36
AmountVarietyCostTypeAAUseTimeIBUBill %
23 gMagnum$ 0.05 / g
$ 1.22
Pellet11.8Boil30 min24.9333.8%
45 gStyrian Goldings$ 1.35 / oz
$ 2.14
Pellet3Boil10 min5.8566.2%

Other Ingredients

$ 2.84
AmountNameCostTypeUseTime
15.60 gbitter orange peel$ 1.89 / oz
$ 1.04
SpiceBoil10 min.
3.84 gCoriander Seed$ 1.00 / oz
$ 0.14
SpiceBoil10 min.
10.20 gGrains of Paradise$ 0.15 / g
$ 1.56
SpiceMash10 min.


 
I typically use 1oz whole coriander and 1oz bitter orange peel and 1oz sweet orange peel. I used to do it at 5 minutes left but have recently switched to 10 to get a little more bang for my buck on the flavor and use S-33 for the yeast as it is notorious for quitting early and leaving residual sweetness which in this case I like with the citrus notes. It is not a clone recipe. Just what I like when I do one. The orange is present enough that no orange slice is wanted or needed. The coriander adds kind of a hint of a lemon bite.
 
Thanks again for the input. This is what I'm planning to brew tomorrow. I'm going for a malty wheat beer with moderate orange and coriander. I decided to keep the caramel munich. If it mutes the spice character, I'll know for next time.

WHEAT BEER WITH ORANGE & CORIANDER
5.5 gal, 1.048 OG, 22 IBU

54% White wheat
41% Munich 6 (Bestmalz)
5% Caramel Munich 60 (Franco-Belges)
EKG bittering @ 60 (22 IBU)
1 oz Bitter orange peel @ 5
0.75 oz Coriander @ 5
Voss Kveik yeast
 
Well, first sample after carbing the keg and its a decent wheat beer, but that 1 oz orange peel and 3/4 oz coriander didn't do a thing. I can't taste even a hint of either. Thems the breaks, I guess... but at least it tastes good.

20211025_135330.jpg
 
Taste is a funny thing. I have made beers that I couldn't "taste" the orange peel & coriander that I put in it. But when I didn't put them in, thinking why use them then, I could tell they "weren't" in the beer.
Goofy I know, maybe it's just me.
Cheers, :mug:
Joel B.
 
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