Blood Orange Hefeweizen

Figured I'd throw up a pic. lol I'm surprised on how much head retention this has with as much orange zest went in to it.

Sharkman20 said:

Figured I'd throw up a pic. lol I'm surprised on how much head retention this has with as much orange zest went in to it.

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Looks good! How does it taste?

I got a bayou classic burner for christmas, and with two ounces of Nelson Sauvin hops in the freezer, I brewed this recipe again a couple of days ago. This time, I used three pounds of orlando tangelos for the zest, pulp and juice. Could not find blood oranges. I wanted to try the Wyeast american wheat yeast, too, but LHBS was out and suggested American Ale II, so I went for it. Never tried that yeast before. It's bubbling away...

Tastes awesome. It's one of the best beers I've ever made. Better than hef I buy in the bottle. Only problem is, I made an orange hef that if you drank it you'd never guess there was orange in there and I think that kind of defeats the purpose of making an orange hef. lol I mean I can personally taste a hint, but I'd never question it if I didn't make it. Next batch the oranges go in 3 or 4 days after fermentation has started and we will see the difference.

Have this in primary right now; had 1 bubble every 2 seconds less than 10 hrs in. Smells great already.

I've seen a lot of people say they don't get much orange hints with the recipe suggestion...I have only the 4 blood oranges + zest going so my question is...any way to boost the orange flavor at this juncture without racking to secondary? ( don't want to secondary a hefe). Like maybe squeeze some juice in with my sugar before bottling?

I gotta get out and try to find some blood oranges now.

Now's the time. I found blood oranges in the store again about a week and a half ago so I made up another batch last weekend. Same grain bill, but I used 7 blood oranges in primary and threw in 5 more 4 days later when primary slowed down after the bulk of fermentation was over. As always, I use a blowoff tube when I make hefs, but it seems this time it was not enough.

Came home 2 days after I brewed this up and opened the door and I was like damn, it smells like oranges in here. Went to the living room and took off my jacket and turned around to see this.... lol It must have just happened because it was still overflowing like a beer krausen volcano. I'm sure a piece of orange got stuck and that's what caused the cap to blow off. Good thing the carboy was intact. I'll have to use a larger diameter hose than 3/8 next time. Before cleaning up the mess though, I did take a picture. Because we all know that without pics, it never happened.

But hey, my house smelled nice for a little while. Good thing I have hardwood floors. lol

I just kegged this beer with a FG of 1.018, I took a hydro sample 5 days ago and couldn't get it lower.
It's been 12 days in the primary since I brewed and it tastes bad, hard to describe the taste but almost rotten, like a bad green pepper, the earlier hydro sample had similar tastes. The yeast I used was T-58 I know it's not ideal but the only one that was available that was recommended in the book.
Any ideas of the taste, was it the yeast? I'm hoping it will mellow, any similar experiences?

DHdriver said:

I just kegged this beer with a FG of 1.018, I took a hydro sample 5 days ago and couldn't get it lower.
It's been 12 days in the primary since I brewed and it tastes bad, hard to describe the taste but almost rotten, like a bad green pepper, the earlier hydro sample had similar tastes. The yeast I used was T-58 I know it's not ideal but the only one that was available that was recommended in the book.
Any ideas of the taste, was it the yeast? I'm hoping it will mellow, any similar experiences?

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I brewed this twice, once with Wyeast 1010 American Wheat and once with Wyeast 1272 American Ale II. Both times, I didn't taste it until a month into primary. And both times let it ferment without any temp control - just room temp - to get it on the high end for esthers. Did not get this rotten flavor. I would suggest letting it sit and mellow out. It might be too early to see how well it turns out? Maybe you got a piece of the citrus pulp in your taste?

Has any one else had this with this beer? I had an OG of around 1.05. I don't know if the oranges just made the yeast(3068) absolutely rip through this and cause this(temp was a little high when I pitched around 75). I checked my hydrometer in water and it was right around 1. No foul smells or anything either. I was just about to keg this and am wonder if it is even still good.

hnbc34 said:

Has any one else had this with this beer? I had an OG of around 1.05. I don't know if the oranges just made the yeast(3068) absolutely rip through this and cause this(temp was a little high when I pitched around 75). I checked my hydrometer in water and it was right around 1. No foul smells or anything either. I was just about to keg this and am wonder if it is even still good.

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I don't understand the issue. What are you concerned about?

Figured it out. Needed waaaay more wort to get it to floa
t. It was damn near 1 though

Here's my finished product. Turned out pretty well...the wife likes it and overall it's been praised by friends and family. My opinion...it's good, but not my favorite.

I got my color to where it looks reddish by adding juice of three more blood oranges at bottling. I think it, however, may have affected carbonation. The carb is OK, just a little light.

Regardless, good experience. Definitely something new and different.

I cannot wait to brew this recipe this week. I have just spent about 2.5 hrs reading through this entire thread and have picked up some outstanding tips! This will be only my third batch that I have done. I have been trolling this site for about 6 weeks and have learned a plethora of knowledge from the people on here! Thanks to you all! This is going to be a life long hobby of mine I can already tell!!

So I am going to use 8 blood oranges to add that "extra" orange kick.

Zest all 8, add half of the zest at 10 minutes left of boil and the other half after 7 days of fermentation. The "tea" and half of the orange meat will be added with the wort in primary. The rest of the orange meat will be added with the rest of the zest after 7 days of fermentation.

I will follow the LME adjunct but split it up and add half at 15 minutes left in boil.

Hops will be according to recipe.

Prime with 5.25 oz of corn sugar to give it about 3 vol of CO2

Sound decent?

I cannot say the last time I have been so stoked about something!!!! This homebrewing bug has bitten me HARD!

Thanks again to everyone on this great forum AND

Brewing this one today, using my slight modification of more blood red oranges (10) and a bit more fermentables as I am shooting for an OG of around 1.072 (using brown sugar again) and my favorite Bavarian wheat yeast - Weihenstephan Weizen - as I have had excellent success with it in the past. This will be an awesome early spring brew~!

I'm also setting up to brew this one today.

here is a pic of the Blood Oranges ready to put into the tea; used a high end peeler to zest, 10 small ones that were a bit over ripe (thank you Safeway).

Edit: OG 1.064, pitched at 70 and will try to keep the temperature close to 60 degrees, as I want to minimize the banana esters and thus allow the blood orange to come through. Good stuff!

I just bottled this beast up last night. I'm excited to try it out in two weeks! I got a lot of bubblegum aroma from it, not much orange. I would probably do an extra four oranges after the first 7 days of primary. We shall see how it turns out. I'll let y'all know!

BTW, thanks for all the info on this thread. It was really informative.

Finished up yesterday and everything went well. Hit an OG of 1.050. Here are a few pics I snapped with my phone.

Just pulled a sample after 8 days to check gravity and take a look at the mush bag. 1.010 is the reading ! Nice bold 7.2% abv with more of a tangerine/banana flavor and no cloves or bubblegum. Going to let it go another week and then bottle or keg.

Quick rundown on this iteration:

7 lbs liquid wheat extract
1 lb Weyerman pale wheat
1 lb Briess Dark Munich
1 lb light brown sugar
10 small blood red oranges
1 oz US Saaz @ 60
.5 oz Hallertau @30
.5 oz Hallertau @10
1 tsp Irish Moss @ 10 (yes, I like a bit clearer hefe than tradition calls for)
Wyeast 3068, no starter
Ferment @ 60-62

OG 1.064

So I am a noob, and this is my first (non-kit) brew. My gravity reading was 1.019 a couple days ago when I put the beer into a secondary to remove the hops. OG was 1.052. How long should I wait before I check it with the hydrometer to see if it's at the targeted final and how long should I let it sit at/near the FG before bottling?

@TheWeeb I think I am going to use your recipe for the next batch of this stuff... i prefer a stronger abv. How much priming sugar are you using? I've read through some posts saying they used the 5oz for 5 gal, but the calculators call for a higher carbonation level with upwards of 8-9oz of priming sugar. My biggest concern is exploding bottles (22oz'ers). Suggestions?

Thanks.

OC, I would wait a few days and check it again. Patience...

I had my first bottle bomb with the apricot pale bottled last October. Evidently, the apricot syrup that I added as part of the kit had some fermentables, and I was going for the high end of volumes of CO2, and it was way over-carbed. The bottle blew in a closet while in a cardboard box, so damage was minimal; put the remaining bottles in the fridge and will handle them with care.

Anyway, if you are absolutely positive that fermentation is complete, I would personally risk the higher carbonation as it is more true to the Hefe style, but if you are nervous, drop it back to more American wheat style.

I kegged mine yesterday, smelled awesome.

Thank you Weeb! So here is another noob questing in regards to the revised recipe you posted... did you steep the grains separately then add the LME?

OCHawgy said:

Thank you Weeb! So here is another noob questing in regards to the revised recipe you posted... did you steep the grains separately then add the LME?

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Yes, steeped - actually mashed using the BIAB method - mini sparge and then added the LME and brought it to a boil. The mash is probably overkill, but since I do 15 gallon all grain batches with the club it is just my routine. Steeping the grains for 30 minutes should be just fine, then either add the LME and bring to a boil or bring to a boil and add the LME. Others will probably comment on one way being better than the other, for me, just my method, as past experience with adding DME to boiling liquid can cause foaming and boil over.

I'm almost through my bottled batch. It's been very popular. One of the things I did was juice three more oranges and mixed it to my priming sugar before bottling.

It gave it some added color and bite. But I've noticed that as the beer has aged in the bottle the bitterness has subsided and now I've got a very pronounced yet pleasant citrus flavor to go with the added redness.

If anyone else has this is mind I highly recommend but be patient for the added juice to mellow out. Mine peaked at about 4-5 weeks in bottle.

MikeyPipes86 said:

I'm almost through my bottled batch. It's been very popular. One of the things I did was juice three more oranges and mixed it to my priming sugar before bottling.

It gave it some added color and bite. But I've noticed that as the beer has aged in the bottle the bitterness has subsided and now I've got a very pronounced yet pleasant citrus flavor to go with the added redness.

If anyone else has this is mind I highly recommend but be patient for the added juice to mellow out. Mine peaked at about 4-5 weeks in bottle.

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Interesting, did you measure the juice, and adjust priming sugar for the sugar content of the juice?

TheWeeb said:

Interesting, did you measure the juice, and adjust priming sugar for the sugar content of the juice?

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I was wondering the same thing.

I didn't adjust the priming sugar. The juice didn't affect carbonation; I had a nice head on a normal pour

Bottling today, FG 1.010, most excellent for a mostly extract recipe. Calculates out to 7.2% ABV, in the range I expected. Will pour in a week or two and post results.

First batch of blood orange with the original recipe has been in the bottle for about two weeks now. I am going to give it another week before trying it since I went for a higher volume of carbonation.

In other news, I am trying your (weeb) altered recipe with some cara cara oranges, rather than blood oranges, and will be putting it in my first keg. I rather like this grain brewing. Not as quick or sinple, but a lot more options.

I just opened a bottle last night, five days since bottling and it was really nice. Not fully carbonated, but very bright banana and orange flavor. Will try another this weekend and post a picture.

This was a little over a week after kegging. I pretty much followed the original recipe so it's a light on the orange flavor. Still very good, I think one of my best.

Here is mine, one week in the bottle, more carbonation time needed, and I would like it to clear a bit (I know cloudy is true to style but I have preferences) but the ruby-red color is really nice. The flavor is fantastic, good citrus/orange/banana nose followed by much of the same on the palate. It is a bit more bitter on the finish than I like, which is probably some of the pith getting through during zesting.

About 5% abv... Just over two weeks in the bottle. Bloody delicious! Carbonation is sufficient though I suspect its not fully carbed to the 3.9 volume I went for. Glad I already have another 6 gallons fermenting because this isn't going to last. It's got a hint more bitterness than I think it should; probably from the hops that were left in the wort. My current batch in the fermenter only has the fruit in it... strained the hops out of the pot during the transfer. Abv of this batch should be around 6-6.5%. Excited to keg it.

OCHawgy said:

About 5% abv... Just over two weeks in the bottle. Bloody delicious!


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Our brews are nearly identical! Nice!

So this is a phenomenal beer! I followed the recipe for the most part but I added four of the blood oranges, zested and steeped, to the primary and then I added four more to the secondary. I did not make the "orange tea" for the secondary though. I just zested and cut up the oranges into small cubes, getting rid of as much white pulp as I could from the fruit, and placed all the fruit and zest directly into the secondary. This beer turned out fantastic and was enjoyed and talked about by the dozen people I had over for Easter dinner. Definitely will make this one again! Probably going to be one of my house beers on tap all the time! Has a nice orangey/bananay nose with a nice hint of clove on the tongue. Super smooth mouthfeel and just a great easy drinking beer!

I am wondering how my hop substitution sounds, as I don't have any Hallertau. I do have Saaz, however and Amarillo though. I definitely prefer beers that aren't too hoppy. You think 1/2 oz Amarillo at 60 minutes and 1/2 oz Saaz at 15 sounds good? Will that Amarillo be too bitter?

TheWeeb, I'm brewing your variation this weekend. Did you use the meat and zest of 10 oranges or just the meat? Also, how small were your oranges? I'm looking for a solid orange flavor to come through. Thanks!

TMannion87 said:

TheWeeb, I'm brewing your variation this weekend. Did you use the meat and zest of 10 oranges or just the meat? Also, how small were your oranges? I'm looking for a solid orange flavor to come through. Thanks!

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Mine were small, almost tangerine sized but not quite. I carefully zested using a high quality veggie peeler, then skinned the fruit just like you would do when you eat them, then took the orange segments and pulled off as much remaining white pith as possible, then cut the segments into smaller pieces and put it all into the primary using the tea method. I used a 5 gallon paint strainer bag to give plenty of room for the liquid to circulate and yet hold it all in at bottling.

I wish I knew more about hops and hop substitutions... I'd stick to the hops that are common to the German wheat styles (ref previous post).

Thanks Weeb, that's very helpful. Any tips for zesting the oranges? I've never zested anything before...Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!