Yes, finally the day has arrived - Hoegaarden Clone Brew Day! And this is no a normal brew as this recipe requires some spices which needs to be prepared first. The spices include Coriander seeds, cumin seeds as well as some orange peel, which I have substituted for orange zest (the orangey skin of the fruit). And advise from experts, I have heat up the Coriander and the cumin seeds (till it smells aromatic) before crushing them. As you guys know, Hoegaarden is a spice beer so we are indeed adding some very weird spices. The base of the beer is still wheat beer which I have used Morgan’s Golden Sheaf Wheat Beer as well as the Master Blend Liquid Wheat Malt Extract.
The recipe are as follows:
- Morgan’s Golden Sheaf Wheat Beer Kit (1.7kg)
- Morgan’s Liquid Wheat Malt Extract (Master Blend) 1kg
- Cooper’s Brew Enhancer 2 (Dextrose, Malto-dextrin & Light Dry Malt Extract)
- Orange Zest (Fresh) from 2 oranges, 10 mins
- Coriander Seeds (Roasted and cracked) 20g, 10 mins
- Cumins Seeds (Roasted and cracked) 2g, 10 mins
- Nottingham Ale Yeast
- Yeast nutrients
Well, I had skipped the Saaz hops this time because I feel that the spices are way more important than the hops since I believe that they are the ones which contributes more to the flavour of the beer rather than the hops. Anyway, I have read that the Cumin seeds are actually very important to get as close as possible to the real taste of the beer. But Cumin seeds has a very pungent smell and taste, so I have only added about 2g (estimated) into the brew. Hopefully, it won’t be too overpowering and spoil the taste. Okay, I ask it is now time for the pictures!
The 20g of Coriander seeds. I have this at home, so I was lucky. I also have the Cumin seeds.
Both the Coriander and the Cumin seeds are able to be crushed by my mortar and pestle. Do note that I have heated a pan with both the seeds and waited till they start cracking and popping before putting them in the mortar. I was told that by doing this, the smell and the flavours would be further enhanced. I am really keeping my fingers cross that it does.
After I have done my best to pound the seeds. The idea is not to grind them into powder but just to crush the seeds and to expose them. This way, the flavours from the seeds can more easily be absorbed during the boiling process or so I was told.
The grater. Sort of like a cheese grater but this one is much finer which resulted in very little zest but they are very fine. Not too sure whether this is a good thing or not. A finer zest will surely give out more flavours, but there could also be more off-flavours given off during the boiling as well. Yes, I am a bit worried.
My mandarin orange. I used the zest from 2 oranges. Due to the fineness of the grater and the quality of the orange skin, it was very hard work to get the zest off the orange. Took me about 25 minutes in total to grate those two oranges. My arms and fingers are aching now.
So much work, so little zest. That’s all the zest I got from the two Mandarin oranges. Next time I think I will just go and buy some dried Bitter orange peel from the grocery store. Or perhaps just buy a bigger grater and save me a lot of trouble and arm pains.
Those are the Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds as well as the orange zest all in hop bags. Actually they are tea bags which I will later skilfully tied up with some needle and thread.
Well, all the ingredients for making the Hoegaarden Clone. You can see the 2 cans of Wheat Malt Extract and Wheat beer kit, as well as the Cooper’s Brew Enhancer 2 (milky white stuff) and yeast nutrients (the three tea bags are the Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds as well as the orange zest).
That’s the boiling of the Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds and the orange zest. As you can see, I have not add any malt extract during this time as I don’t want to the darken the malt and hence make the beer darker than it should be. However, I have read a lot of bad things about boiling without any malt extract, especially that the grassy flavours that comes out during the boil. Also, most recipes timings for the boil is for those with the malt extract added into the wort. So I am afraid that I might have boiled them too long.
That’s the Master Blend Wheat Malt Extract. This has a lift-up lid.
Oh my god! It’s so dark! Looks like it completely black in colour! My Hoegaarden clone experiment has gone completely wrong! Nobody’s going to believe that my brew is a Hoegaarden clone since Wheat beers are normally white in colour. But what can I do that this stage? I have no choice but to continue making the wort and hope for the best. Perhaps my friends will start to like a black Hoegaarden?
Hoohoohoo! From adding the Wheat Malt Extract to the wort. Again, it looks really too dark for a Hoegaarden clone.
Now, it’s open the Morgan’s Golden Sheaf Wheat Beer Kit and again hope that it is not black in colour. You got to use a can opener to open up the can, unlike the Morgan’s Malt Extract. Don’t know why they don’t just provide a lift-up lid as well. Probably they would like to give you a little more work when you open up the can.
Well, we were all wrong. It is indeed blackish in colour! I am very disappointed by all this. The seller will definitely get a nasty ear-full from me about the cans they brought in! But as I said earlier, no choice but to continue ahead.
Looks like I am making stout from this view. Looks worse than my Blue Mountain Lager. I think I am going to cry.
After adding the Brew Enhancer 2. Hey, at least it looks creamy now and you can’t see the colour of the wort!
These are the yeast slurry I got from my previous brew. They are Nottingham Ale Yeast. If you ask me, they look like pieces of ice cream. If I were to add some M&Ms and perhaps some nuts and chocolate chips, I am sure many of us would think that they are ice cream. Coffee ice cream anyone?
Wow, so many Ice Mountain mineral water bottles! They are used to fill up the fermenter to the 23 litre mark. I had put them in the fridge prior to using them so that I don’t need to use a ice bath to cool down my wort. Just pour the cold mineral water into the fermenter with the hot wort to cool it down to pitching temperature. Would work better if I had ice instead but my freezer was too full to put any big ice packs.
Well, that’s 23 litres of Hoegaarden Clone brew for you. And it is at 24 °C, suitable for me to pitch my yeast. Unlike my previous brew which I had to wait about 4-5 hours for my wort to cool down, this time I used more cold water to get the wort down to pitching temperature.
To make it easier for me to pitch the yeast, I had added some water and mix the yeast with the water. After mixing the yeast, I pitch it to the wort.
Well, after pitching the yeast, I closed the fermenter, added the airlock and then it is done. Yes, I am very disappointed with the colour of the brew, but what is done is done. However, I think I gained a lot of experience doing this one. It is definitely a bit unique in terms of brewing because of the use of spices. And I realized that you should not use liquid malt extracts if you are planning to make a light coloured beer because most of the liquid malt extract will darken with age. And the ones that I had were really really dark. Dark enough to scare away several of my friends from drinking.