Flavouring a beer

[BeerMe]

I read a huge thread about brewing the Cooper's wheat beer but I have some general questions about brewing wheat beer, and adding flavour.

If I read correctly, some people boiled the orange zest and coriander seeds in a pot, then added the boiled water and it's contents to the wort. Some people cooked(??) the zest and seeds to toast them, but how they were added to the wort I have no idea. One guy boiled the zest and seeds in a muslin bag and then, I'm sure, binned the mush and just used the flavoured water in the wort?

Is there one in particular that should produce the best flavour amongst these methods? Is there other/better methods?

 

[Jim Brewster]

It depends.

Ground coriander seed and orange zest can be added to a witbier at the end of the boil like you would add hops, or to reduce debris they can be boiled and strained like you give in the example. The flavours will then be in the wort prior to fermentation. Toasting the coriander sounds a bit experimental it's usually just ground up, toasting will probably change the flavour but could work ok, not sure. The fresh coriander is suupposed to give an orangey flavour.

Fruit flavours like raspberry and cherry wheat beers are usually added as a secondary fermentation, so after the main sugars have been digested either the beer can be racked to a second vessel with the fruit, or the fruit can be added to the FV and the yeast will start fermenting the sugars in the fruit. I suppose you might want to sanitize the fruit to minimise chances of infection. I've heard of witbiers having orange pulp added to the secondary fermentation to give a stronger orange flavour too but that's not the usual way.

 

[BeerMe]

It depends.

Ground coriander seed and orange zest can be added to a witbier at the end of the boil like you would add hops

I'll be using the Cooper's kit for my first attempt, would I just use the orange and coriander flavoured boiling water to make my initial mix with the thick malt mixture that comes in the tin, plus the 1kg of spray malt? Then only add cold water on top of this initial 2-3l of boiling wort?

 

[Jim Brewster]

Yes, in that case probably best to infuse the coriander and orange separately and then add the 'tea' to the other fermentables. You could steep the orange and coriander in a small amount of boiled water for 5 minutes. Crushed coriander seeds should sieve out easily