Home Brew Forum

Following the success with this, viewtopic.php?f=24&t=49791&hilit=+zest I decided to tweak the recipe and brew a batch for my wedding day. See my wedding day beers thread here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=51430&hilit=+wedding

Differences are: Instead of steeping the orange zest, I boiled it for 3 mins. Also doubled the coriander and added a 5 min Bobek addition. On top of this I changed the steeping temp from 80c to 50c after watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qD17ZeTSsE

RECIPE:
(Honey hasn't been added yet. F.G etc. are predictions at the min. Should be pretty bang on I reckon.)

Honey Zest Ale

Size: 26.5 L
Efficiency: 85.0%
Attenuation: 82.0%

Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.008 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 20.94 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 4.84% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 28.5 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
3.6 kg Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
300 g British Crystal 55°L
200 g CaraMalt
100 g Torrified Wheat
45 g Bobek (6.17%) - added during boil, boiled 70 m
20 g Bobek (6.17%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 m
40 g Crushed Indian Coriander - added during boil, boiled 3.0 m
50 g Orange Zest - added during boil, boiled 3.0 m
30 g Bobek (6.17%) - steeped after boil - 50c
450 g Orange Blossom Honey
10 g Orange Zest - added dry to secondary fermenter along with honey



GRAIN


RUN OFF




FLY SPARGING


HOT BREAK


BITTERING HOPS


ORANGES


ZESTED


INDIAN CORIANDER


WHIZZED


STEAM SANITIZING THE FERMENTER


NICE CLEAR WORT


AFTERMATH


TUCKED UP WITH OTHER WEDDING BREWS - IPA AND NEWZEALAND RED


Great brew day. The smells were truly amazing. Will add the honey next Sat. Should be a hit at the wedding!

Great set of pics, I like the close-ups

I have a steam cleaner but never thought about using it to sanitise vessles... how well does it work, could save a lot of messing about

fordpopular wrote:I have a steam cleaner but never thought about using it to sanitise vessles... how well does it work, could save a lot of messing about

First time using it to be honest. I usually boil a kettle of water and swirl it around/roll around the ground for 20 mins then had this idea. It shot a constant jet of steam into the vessel for around 20 mins. Inside hit 100c after around 5 mins and stayed there. Couldn't touch the thing it was so scalding; much hotter than using the boiling water and I've never had an infection. Really simple too. Took care of itself really.

Just had a sniff... My oh my. Those orange notes are PUNGENT! Defs think that boiling for 3 mins as opposed to steeping the zest made a difference!

Picked up some local honey yesterday:



The Pure Blossom Honey had an amazing toffee flavour to it. Very flavourful. The Orange Blossom Honey had a slight citrus hit to it and had a more 'traditional' honey flavour; also very flavourful. I went for this one instead as it just seemed to work with all the other ingredients that went into the beer.

I added 200ml of the beer to a pan, added the honey along with another 10g of zest. Slowly brought it up to 75c, covered and allowed to pasteurise for 15 mins. I then gently stirred it into the fermenter.



Man, the aromas are superb. I reckon this is going to go down really well at my wedding. Hoping the ladies will take an interest too.

Sitting at 1.008 now...

Sounds great

I've just done the annual Elderflower and Honey. Samples going down very well

jmc wrote:Sounds great

I've just done the annual Elderflower and Honey. Samples going down very well

Oooooooooooooooooh.... I feel bad. I haven't brewed any this year. Did you use fresh or dried elderflower?

Poured off a glass of this from the fermenter. It's so delicious. The orange hit is perfect and there is a lovely delicate 'perfumey' flavour from the Indian coriander. Will rack this with gelatine soon and then keg for the wedding. I reckon this is going to be a big hit!

floydmeddler wrote:

jmc wrote:Sounds great

I've just done the annual Elderflower and Honey. Samples going down very well

Oooooooooooooooooh.... I feel bad. I haven't brewed any this year. Did you use fresh or dried elderflower?

Sorry Floyd. Missed this your last week.

I used 100g of fresh florets picked on 2/6. A rare warm day.
I added them about 2 mins before end of boil to kill any wildlife, but give aroma a chance to survive.

I tried using Duvel yeast and it goes really well with honey.

Elderflower & Honey Summer Ale recipe here

Sounds really bloody great, I can almost smell it.

Where did you get your FVs from? I like the look of them, what capacity?

stevetk189 wrote:Sounds really bloody great, I can almost smell it.

Where did you get your FVs from? I like the look of them, what capacity?

I bought them from The Thrifty Shopper I think. They've closed down now though. They're available in loads of places though.