Blood Orange Hefeweizen

So this will be the second batch of this beer that I have made. The recipe is from Extreme Homebrewing by Sam Caglione of Dogfish Head Brewery. It is very tasty with lots of clove and banana flovors from the yeast and wonderfull orange notes from the fresh blood oranges added to the fermentation. This recipe comes directly from the book with a few minor adjustments I have made.

Blood Orange Hefeweizen


Preboil Water Volume
6 gallons water

Boil
6.6 pounds (3kg) light liquid wheat extract (55% wheat malt and 45% barley malt) (65 minutes)
1/2 ounce (15g) Hallertau hop pellets (60 minutes)
1/2 ounce (15g) Saaz hop pellets (20 minutes)
4 average sized blood oranges (20 minutes in another pot)
1/2 ounce (15g) Hallertau hop pellets (10 minutes)

Fermentation
Yeast: Wyeast 3068 or 3638; or White Labs WLP300 or WLP380

Bottling
5 ounces (125 g) priming sugar (None if kegging)

STARTING GRAVITY: 1.050
FINAL GRAVITY: 1.12
FINAL TARGET ABV: 4.8%

PROCESS
1. Heat 6 gallons (15L) of water in the brewpot. As the water begins to boil, remove it from heat. Add the light wheat malt extract. Stir to prevent clumping and scorching o the bottom of the pot. Return the pot to heat.

2. Allow the wort to come up to a boil. After pre-boiling for 5 minutes, add the first Hallertau hop pellets and stir. Start timing the 1-hour boil at the point that you make this hop addition.

3. 20 minutes before the end of the boil, add the Saaz hop pellets.

4. Peel the blood oranges and separate sections of fruit. Discard half of the peels. Cut the remainder of peel and fruit sections into small pieces. Use a grater as you only want the orange part of the rind. The white will add extreme bitterness. They should be small enough to allow easy entry into the carboy in a later step. An alternative is to use a plastic fermentation bucket that would allow easier addition of the fruit. When using a plastic fermenter with a large lid, the size of the fruit is not a concern.
The fruit may be placed in a straining bag for easy removal after fermentation. Heat fruit and peels in 1/2 gallon (2L) of water to 160 degrees F (71C) and then turn off heat. Let it steep as it cools.

5. 10 minutes before the end of the boil, add the second Hallertau hop pellets and stir for 1 minute.

6. At the 60-minute mark, turn off the heat source, stir the wort clockwise for 2 minutes as you build up a whirlpool effect. Stop stirring and allow the wort to sit for 10 minutes.

7. Chill the wort either in a cold water bath to a temperature of 70F-75F (21C - 24C)or with another type of chiller to the same temperature range.

8. Transfer the wort into a carboy or a plastic fermenter. Pour blood orange peels and fruit into the wort.

9. Aerate for 1 minute.

10. Pitch the yeast into the carboy and aerate for another minute. Top up the carboy to a 5-gallon (19L) mark with cool sanitary water.

11. In about 10 days, your beer should be ready to package.


I did a double batch of this since blood oranges will be getting hard to find around here. The two carboys were finished in seven days with a final gravity on both coming in right on the nose @ 1.010 FG. Unlike the first time brewing this beer, both of the carboys started blowing off krausen within the first 24 hours. It was a very active fermentation. I only had one blowoff tube so I was constantly having to clear the airlock on the other carboy.

It's been carbing up in the kegs for almost a week. It tastes a little bit like heaven. I'll post up a pint pic later today.
Feel free to ask any questions about this beer or any others I post.

Cheers!