Monday, August 22, 2016

Orange Coriander

Read a recipe for a Hefivisen beer that had hints of orange and coriander.  So why not brew with those two.

Recipe:
2 liters of water
.25 ounces (weight) crushed coriander seed. ( i used McCormmick) but i started growing my own for next season.
1 full orange peel
2 cups of sugar
After boiling, added 1/2 squeezed orange.
(Note: this smelled really good!)

This was added to 2 quarts of fresh keifer. The ABV potential was 10%

5/20/2016 the final ABV was 2%, so in theory should have been 8% ABV (i question this too as i can not tell if i screwed up the readin gon the hydrometer.

Some bottles I added fresh orange juice, others added more coriander.  I think the combo with more coriander was really good!

After though:  One thing was clear in all my prior kiefer brews i bottled when airlock still had activity.  COuld have been 17 seconds to 25 seconds per bubble, but it was something.  IN the coming catch up posts i will be talking about failures to fix and just trying to figure out why that might be.

Considering lowering the ABV from between 8-10 and moving it back to 5%.  Not sure if i am killing off everything in high ABV or if i need to bottle when still active.

Preparing for Spring Brews - Lemon-Ginger

Trying new flavors for the spring.  Transitioning from the heavier porter/molasses style.  Thought i would take advantage of the lemon-zest and fresh ginger brews.

Recipe:
zest of one lemon
2 cups of sugar
2 quarts of kiefer in the carboy

I question my reading skills of the hydrometer, it said potential of 10% but i really think i was reading something else.  I also had to of added ginger to 2 quarts of water + zest of lemon + juice from 1 lemon.  I would have boiled this for 10 minutes or so.

On 4/28 i began the bottling process.

At bottling i added some flavors to the base:

3 bottles received this recipe:
6oz water + 2 TBS dried crushed peppermint (Boil both for 3 minutes)  then added 2 ounces to 3 bottles. Also added 2 ounces of fresh kiefer to 12 ounces of lemon ginger 1st ferment.

3 bottles recieved this recipe:
8oz water + 1 TBS crushed coriander (Boil both for 4 minutes)  then added 2 ounces to 3 bottles. Also added 2 ounces of fresh kiefer to 12 ounces of lemon ginger 1st ferment.
NOTE:  was able to taste faint coriander taste.  Next time tripple.

All bottles where good and had sufficient fiz.