A friend and I were drinking a commercial belgian white while bottling a batch of weizenbier, and after closing the lid on the fermenter, we got to thinking about how to add a hint of orange to our brew. It was too late to do it during the boil, and I'm not into secondary fermentation. After reading several posts and recipes on homebrewtalk.com, I decided to make a "marinade" of McCormick Pure Orange Extract and ground coriander seed. I contacted McCormick to find out what's in their Pure Orange extract. It's just orange peel and a high percentage of liquor, which makes it already sanitized. I made the mixture, let it marinate for a week, then added a little of the liquid to the racked batch before bottling. After one week of bottle conditioning, we tried the first bottle, and it's really good! Not bright and citrusy like a belgian white, more of a subtle hint of bitter orange. Here's the recipe for the orange flavoring:
1 oz. McCormick Pure Orange Extract (1 bottle)
2 TBS McCormick Coriander Seed, ground (I put it in our coffee grinder)
Add the ground coriander to the orange extract, shake it up, and marinate in a glass container for one week. (I used an empty coriander bottle so no unwanted flavors would be added). In our experiment, not knowing if it would turn out well, we bottled half the wheat beer, then we added 1/2 teaspoon of the marinate liquid to the last half of the batch (2.5 gallons), poured through a strainer into the bottling bucket, stirred lightly, and bottled. So next time, I'll double the amount to 1 teaspoon for 5 gallons of brew. Special thanks to my wife, an accomplished baker, who warned me that a little of the orange extract goes a long way, and suggested adding a very small amount to the brew. I was going to add 2 TBS, and after her suggestion, I added only 1/2 tsp. (one-twelfth the amount I originally planned to add!) So glad I did. it tastes great. Enjoy!
1 oz. McCormick Pure Orange Extract (1 bottle)
2 TBS McCormick Coriander Seed, ground (I put it in our coffee grinder)
Add the ground coriander to the orange extract, shake it up, and marinate in a glass container for one week. (I used an empty coriander bottle so no unwanted flavors would be added). In our experiment, not knowing if it would turn out well, we bottled half the wheat beer, then we added 1/2 teaspoon of the marinate liquid to the last half of the batch (2.5 gallons), poured through a strainer into the bottling bucket, stirred lightly, and bottled. So next time, I'll double the amount to 1 teaspoon for 5 gallons of brew. Special thanks to my wife, an accomplished baker, who warned me that a little of the orange extract goes a long way, and suggested adding a very small amount to the brew. I was going to add 2 TBS, and after her suggestion, I added only 1/2 tsp. (one-twelfth the amount I originally planned to add!) So glad I did. it tastes great. Enjoy!
