Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Blood Orange Hefeweizen

Took a stab at another hefeweizen this weekend. First one was a Honey Hefeweizen, this one involves blood oranges, which I still have not ever eaten. Perhaps some day I shall, but for now I will try drinking them as an adjunct to my beer!

This recipe, like the saison, is from the Extreme Brewing book by Sam Calagione. I modified it a bit by adding 1 oz. of Saaz hops instead of the 1/2 oz. called for in the recipe. This deviation was unintentional, a result of me not reading the recipe correctly.
  • 6.6 lbs. Muntons wheat malt extract (liquid)
  • 1/2 oz. Hallertau hop pellets (4.6% AA) @ 60 min
  • 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (3% AA) @ 20 min
  • 1/2 oz. Hallertau hop pellets (4.6% AA) @ 10 min
  • Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan
  • 4 blood oranges
The recipe called for peeling the oranges and slicing them into pieces small enough to be easily added to (and removed from) the fermentor. I thought to increase flavor I would peel the individual wedges so as to expose the swollen cells of blood orange juice. This took 40 minutes so I am hoping this extra effort paid off. I also grated the orange rind from two of the oranges into the tea that was steeped at 170 degrees for about a 1/2 hour before adding it to the cooled wort. I am hoping this wasn't too hot because the recipe called for 160 degrees...

The fermentation was fast and furious for nearly two days but has no dropped off to almost nothing. Like the saison, I don't plan on putting it in a secondary before bottling because these beers are traditionally more cloudy in nature. Speaking of the saison bottles, I decided to make a label for this batch.


Chris also called this evening and said that there is some extra sap waiting to be transformed into some Acer ESB... good thing because we drank the last one a few weeks ago! This was one of my favorite beers to brew and drink so I am looking forward to trying to see if I can repeat. Just wished I marked the recipe I used last time...

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