Hoegaarden Advice Please

[lczaban]

After some research this morning, I will be doing a kit Hoegaarden brew with a couple of twists. I am planning on using/doing the following:

- Morgans Golden Sheaf Wheat Beer Kit
- Morgans Wheat Malt Master Blend can
- 500g Wheat Unhopped SprayMalt
- 2 X Hersbrucker Hops Bags
- 2 or 3 X Mandarin Peels
- 10g Corainder Seeds
- Fresh Coriander Leaves

I have procured a White Labs WLP380 liquid yeast for this brew (first time for liquid yeast - yay!).

The idea is to put the kit, malt can , malt, one hop bag, the fresh peel and crushed coriander seeds into about 6L of water and put on a high simmer for about 20 mins. Once this is done, pitch this into the fermenter with cooled water to make up a 23L batch, throw in the 2nd hop bag and the coriander leaves (which I have picked & torn off a fresh bunch of coriander) and then add the yeast.

Having come up with this, I was wandering about the following:

- Could I put the coriander seeds and mandarin peel into some triple sec overnight, and use this infusion in the wort? My LBHS person didn't think this was a great idea due to concerns about the yeast's ability to tolerate the high alcohol content of the triple sec. My rationale was along the lines of a ginger peer recipe I saw on another topic, where fresh ginger was soaked in port/sherry overnight and tossed into the wort. What are peoples thoughts, and how much triple sec should I use if this is a good idea? My initial thought was about 100ml, but if this should be less then I am open to suggestions...

- Would adding the juice of the mandarins make much of a difference to the taste of the brew?

- Would I be better off to add the fresh coriander leaves at a later stage of the brew process (say three days before racking) to not overpower the strength of the coriander in the brew?

- What are peoples thoughts on adding 100g white sugar to help give the brew a cloudier CPA type appearance?

Thanks in advance, GG

 

[Weizguy]

- Could I put the coriander seeds and mandarin peel into some triple sec overnight, and use this infusion in the wort? My LBHS person didn't think this was a great idea due to concerns about the yeast's ability to tolerate the high alcohol content of the triple sec. My rationale was along the lines of a ginger peer recipe I saw on another topic, where fresh ginger was soaked in port/sherry overnight and tossed into the wort. What are peoples thoughts, and how much triple sec should I use if this is a good idea? My initial thought was about 100ml, but if this should be less then I am open to suggestions...

- Would adding the juice of the mandarins make much of a difference to the taste of the brew?

- Would I be better off to add the fresh coriander leaves at a later stage of the brew process (say three days before racking) to not overpower the strength of the coriander in the brew?

- What are peoples thoughts on adding 100g white sugar to help give the brew a cloudier CPA type appearance?

I'd recommend the Triple Sec for the next time you brew this. Don't over-complicate the beer the first time.

IMO, mandarins give a Witbier a floury grassy odd flavour (which others don't mind), so I would not add the juice. I used navel peel last time and still awaiting the results.

As for the coriander leaves, they will give you a funky grassy off-flavour which will detract from the overall enjoyability. Proceed wisely and leave them out.

As for the 100g white sugar, do you mean to add white flour? That's do-able, but as above, make it simple the first time and add things the next time.

 

[lczaban]

I'd recommend the Triple Sec for the next time you brew this. Don't over-complicate the beer the first time.

IMO, mandarins give a Witbier a floury grassy odd flavour (which others don't mind), so I would not add the juice. I used navel peel last time and still awaiting the results.

As for the coriander leaves, they will give you a funky grassy off-flavour which will detract from the overall enjoyability. Proceed wisely and leave them out.

As for the 100g white sugar, do you mean to add white flour? That's do-able, but as above, make it simple the first time and add things the next time.

Thanks for the advice. I'm an ideas man, and so I thought I would put some of my thoughts out there and see what others thought. I'll follow the KISS principle for now and get fancy another time.

GG

 

[Weizguy]

Thanks for the advice. I'm an ideas man, and so I thought I would put some of my thoughts out there and see what others thought. I'll follow the KISS principle for now and get fancy another time.

GG

Simplicity is not just for "dummies". It's often the clever thing to do when brewing a style for the first time.

Cheers
Les

 

[GMK]

+1 for the flour - use a table spoon of spelt in the secondary..

Alos add 100gms of quick oats in the boil.

 

[sid]

I've tried a Hoegaarden beer before, used 2 whole oranges and 15g crushed corriander seeds into the boil and 15g tetnenger hops, boiled for 20 minutes, used a muntons wheat beer as base and also used 1/2kg of dried wheat malt.

Turned out a great beer, but definatly not a hoegaarden clone. Dont think the corriander leaves would be a good idea though. The juice wouldn't do much to the beer, I'd put in the boil though if I done it.

 

[reviled]

Back in my k&k days I did a Hoegaarden clone as my 2nd ever brew and it turned out choice :icon_cheers:

Used a Black Rock Whispering Wheat
1kg Brewcraft Dry Wheat Malt
15g Crushed Coriander Seeds
1 heaped teaspoon of Orange Zest

And K-97 yeast

Was a really good, easy drinking beer IMO

 

[lczaban]

Thanks for the responses. The final brew ended up something along the lines of the following:

• I ended up being given WLP300 rather than WLP380 unfortunately, but seeing as though WLP300 was what I had I ran with that I used the rind off 5 mandarins, which I scraped off using a steak knife. Just reading through other comments, using the pith seemed a no-no and as such I tried to improvise a little bit using what I had
• With the coriander, I only added the seeds but I bumped up the quantity to 15g. I crushed these in a rigged up way in a bowl with the mandarin rind using the handle end of the hand capper that came with my brew fermenter kit. I was going to use my muddling stick, but it's whereabouts are unclear since I moved about 6 months ago...
• The "boil" ended up being an extended steeping process :unsure: - I haven't quite mastered flicking the stove/oven master switch to the "on" position :blink: . This was done using 3L boiled water poured into a large stainless steel pot, then adding the kit, malt can and malt powder into the brew along with some boiling rinse water (another 1.5L) to get the last gooey goodness out of the two cans
• The coriander/mandarin peel was added about 10 mins into the soak along with one of the hops bags. After another 15 mins, the wort was tossed into the fermenter and topped up with chilled and room temperature water The rationale for the 2nd hopping was that the other aromatics in brew (as it was initially planned) were going to be fairly strong in the first place, so some added hops oomph was going to be required. Seeing as though those plans changed, I decided to just put the 1st hops bag into the fermenter along with everything else and let it go from there.

FYI GMK, I didn't have the oats to add when I brewed first thing yesterday morning so they didn't get added to the mix. Besides, I didn't see your post until after I had laid the brew. It will be something to try next time. I'll see how this one goes first time around, and I'll be trying to get some sort of secondary process happening for the first time with this brew. I'm not too worried about getting an exact Hoegaarden clone, but I'm just trying to brew this beer along those lines. I'll try and refine the process the second time around.

About 24 hours on, the yeast has kicked off and everything seems to be on track. Stay tuned for how it turns out.

 

[chimera]

Made a rather good Ho clone last summer, should get serious about doing one again this year.
The orange zest & coriander seeds I believe I simmered for 5 minutes and added to the liquid to the primary as fermentation was reaching completion.

The advice I was given last year which I will pass on is the Ho flavour and colour comes from the large amounts of torrefied wheat and you wont be able to reproduce it with a can.. so partial mash it is. I have tried making the whispering wheat Ho clone.. it's as close as a can will get you.. which is to say it's great.. but definitely no Ho.

 

[Josh]

I am going to brew a witbier for the NSW xmas case swap. The test run is currently sitting in the keg awaiting carbonation.

For the spices I did the following:
Zest of 5 x navel oranges, 2 x lemons, 2 x red grapefruits.
18g coriander seeds

Unfortunately I didn't have my mortar and pestle so I can't comment on how good that much coriander was. But the flavour is definitely refreshing with that much zest. I won't know how it compares to a fresh Hoegaarden until next September but it's pretty tasty.

I used 48% unmalted wheat, 48% pilsner malt and 4% oats. I can recommend the oats for a slick mouthfeel. If you have the ability to minimash you could use an amount of unmalted wheat to get you closer to the style. Otherwise, your malt additions look like it'll make a really nice beer.

 

[lczaban]

As an update, I have bottled my first Hoegaarden clone last weekend. There were a few little issues (like trying to salvage the yeast cake that had the consistency of baby spew), but overall it seems to have done the trick.

Being an impatient *******, I tried a bottle of said brew last night. It was still not properly carbonated (although sufficiently to have an initial head upon pouring), and was quite a pleasant drop if you could look past the greenness of the beer. Part of the reason for the early taste was impatience, while the rest was due to the fact that I will be away from home for the next couple of weeks and couldn't wait that long to try it (otherwise known as impatience). It'll be interesting to have a taste of this beer upon my return...

In the meantime I have today laid another brew more along the lines that I was originally intending. See my blog here? for further info. I'll keep everyone posted on how things are progressing with the original brew and the Hoegaarden Mk2.

 

[WarmBeer]

If you are going to insist on the leaves (assuming you haven't been talked out of them yet) you need to make sure they're sanitized. Either the overnight session in triple-sec or 10 mins in boil will do it.

The recipe I used (nice beer, but not Hoegaarden, it's the wrong colour) see here.

 

[lczaban]

If you are going to insist on the leaves (assuming you haven't been talked out of them yet) you need to make sure they're sanitized. Either the overnight session in triple-sec or 10 mins in boil will do it.

The recipe I used (nice beer, but not Hoegaarden, it's the wrong colour) see here.

Rest assured - the coriander leaves went into the Thai Green Curry