Brew #4: Who's in the Garden Grand Cru

This is the first time I've followed a recipe from a book. Taken from the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, the copious amounts of coriander in this beer snagged my interest. I've heard coriander is a secret ingredient in some commercial beers and have been curious to try it. Here goes!

INGREDIENTS:

5 lb light dried malt extract
2 3/4 lb orange blossom honey

1 oz. Hallertauer hops (boiling hops)
1/3 oz. Hallertauer hops (flavor hops)
1/2 oz. Hallertauer hops (aroma hops)

1 1/2 oz. freshly ground coriander seeds
1/2 oz. dried bitter orange peel, lightly crushed

35 ml White labs Belgian Saison yeast #WLP565

PROCEDURE:

1. Boil water (fill pot only halfway because the dried malt takes up a surprising amount of volume), then add honey and malt. Stir, stir, stir to keep malt from caramelizing on the bottom. Interestingly, using honey in beer gives it a lighter, drier flavor. After tasting this wort I can say it's true...

2. Bring to a boil again and add bittering hops. Continue boiling for 45 minutes.

3. Remove bittering hops and add 3/4 oz. crushed coriander plus flavor hops for 10 minutes. I crushed my coriander in our coffee grinder (cleaned it first, of course!).

4. Remove stuff from step 3. Add the rest of the crushed coriander plus orange peel for 5 minutes, and in the last 2 minutes add the aroma hops.

5. Remove stuff from step 4, cool completely, dump into carboy and pitch yeast.

MUSINGS, MISHAPS:

I have high, high hopes for this beer. The coriander and orange peel smelled glorious together. This will be a fun one to drink in the spring!

TASTING COMMENTS:

2/18/07 - We racked the beer and had a taste. This will reveal the extent of my ignorance about beer in general, but Scott just informed me this recipe is supposed to mimic a Belgian witbier called Hoegaarden. Hence the name "Who's in the Garden". I had no idea. So, we bought some Hoegaarden and compared it to my homebrew. Quite an unusual beer - very cloudy and yeasty, but not a bready yeastiness, more a yogurty/lactic flavor. The orange peel didn't come through, but people typically bring out this flavor by serving the beer with an orange slice (like Hefeweizen with lemon). I think I can taste the piquancy of the coriander. My beer is very much like the commercial brew, but a bit darker in color and a little maltier. Hmmm, this will definitely require more drinking - er, I mean research!