John Carrier

Last night I bottled my fourth batch of hefeweizen.  Hefeweizen has been my most popular concoction to date; it has a broad appeal for beer-drinkers and non-beer-drinkers alike.  I believe it’s the lack of aromatic hops that does it.  People who like the flavor and aroma of hops really, really like hoppy beers, whereas those who don’t care for it find hops repellently bitter.  Traditionally, hefeweizen only contains a small amount of bittering hops in the beginning of the boil and no aromatic hops at all.

Following what I believe is a Belgian tradition of using fruit or spice flavors in place of the aromatic hops, I’ve augmented the Hank’s Hefeweizen recipe from Midwest Supplies with citrus peel, coriander, and ginger.  I got the idea for the spices from Rogue’s Half-E-Weizen (they are kind enough to tout their ingredients on the label) and the fruit idea from the tradition of serving hefeweizen with a slice of lemon (Germany) or orange (America).

Last time I used the zest of one navel orange, a teaspoon of freshly ground coriander seeds, and a teaspoon of powdered ginger.  This time, I swapped the orange for the zest of two organic lemons, and I doubled the coriander.  The result as of bottling time is a smooth, disarmingly mild, refreshing yet potent ale.  Give it four weeks to condition in the bottle, and I expect it to be my best beer yet.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 6:28 am and is filed under beer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.