I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on my "Stupid-Dim-Wit-Summer-Ale" from the beer club and also from more casual drinkers, so I thought I'd post the recipe.
I definitely want to brew this again, and play with the combinations. I came up with the name because I wanted to brew that day with ingredients on hand.
Decided I had some of the things for a Wit, but not the proper yeast and no wheat, so what-the-heck, brew with what ya' got, but it is not a 'proper' Wit,
so does not deserve a straight 'Wit' name. And this was the result. I'd describe it as a light, crisp, refreshing summer ale, with interesting orange and subtle spice notes.
After checking my notes, I was a bit surprised. I had been doing mostly all-grain recently,
and thought this was all-grain, but this was 100% extract (Briess light DME), no steeping grains at all.
I've been using the 'No-Chill' process, I just transfer to a sanitized bucket and let it cool and pitch that evening or the next morning.
Now, that extra time above 140F can affect the hop schedule, so I adjust per info on the forums. I show both here.
For the FWH (First Wort Hopping), I added those hops to the DME that was dissolved in the brew pot when it reached 150F.
The hops and spices and orange bits were in strainer bags, but I throw all else from the brew pot into the fermentor.
The theory on the hop changes are that the hop oils are in the wort, and still isomerizing when above 140F (160F? 180F?),
not sure if that affects the spice/orange oils or not.
Fermented at low 60's, primary only, bottle/keged at 4 weeks.
With extract, no steeping, and the no-chill process, this is a beer you can brew in ~ 2 hours from flame-on to lid-on the fermentor.
I'll probably do a full mash (all-grain) next time, but I wonder, can I mash as well as Briess?
From what I've read, the bitter orange peel provides mainly bitterness, not much if any orange flavor.
I get orange with this, so I assume it is from the clementine zest, but I think the bitter orange provides a nice and different bittering.
5.75G in fermentor:
Light DME 5.75#
Cane Sugar 0.50# (added at end of boil)
Standard Hop Schedule No-Chill Hop Schedule
60 Minute add 1.00 Oz Mt Hood 5.00% 40 minute add
15 Minute add 0.50 Oz Mt Hood 5.00% FWH
@ 15Minutes -
1/4 oz Bitter Orange Peel;
Zest of 1 clementine tangerine ( ~ 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp crushed Juniper Berries
@ 5Minutes -
1/4 oz Bitter Orange Peel;
Zest of 1 clementine tangerine
1/2 tsp crushed Coriander ( ~ 1/8 OZ)
Irish Moss 1/2tsp - 15 min;
Yeast Nutrient (1/2 Tsp) - 10 Min;
Dry US05 Yeast
BREWING NOTES 21APR2011 - Just wanted to make something wit-like with what I had on hand and no mini-mash.
So no wheat, but should get a nice light summer ale...
Wort sample tasted very good, interesting orange/spice. Very curious how the final product turns out.
19MAY2011 - bottled - tasted good, orange-y and mild spice, 1.008
Filled two 5L M-Kegs, primed with a 3L equiv of sugar solution, bottled the rest.
KenC
Stupid-Dim-Wit-Summer-Ale.doc