Orange Wheat Ale Recipe
Here is the recipe for my Orange infused wheat beer I brewed this past Friday night. I was shooting for something similar to Harpoon’s UFO White. I love the orange background in the beer and last summer I must have bought two cases worth over the summer. So I decided if I could brew something similar to it, I wouldn’t have to buy it. I wasn’t shooting for a dead-on clone, just a great wheat beer with an orange flavor and aroma to it.
I decided to two 12 gallons and I split the batch into two fermenters to pitch two yeasts: WLP001 and WLP400, American Ale yeast and Belgian Wit Yeast. Not sure what flavor profile I was going to get with the American but I wanted to try a witte at the same time so there is the experiment.
I also added a touch of acid malt to the batch, because I wanted to see if I could get a little bit of sourness. Not enough to notice as sour, but enough to get the orange to stand out a bit and seem “bright”….if that makes sense. Ok enough justification here is the recipe:
12 gallon post boil batch size
75% efficiency
90 minute boil
EST OG 1.053
EST IBU 34
MASH Temp 152F
10# Pilsner
10# Wheat
1# Honey Malt
1# Munich 10L
0.5# Acid Malt (added at mash out)
0.5# Rice Hulls
1.0 oz Hallertauer (3.8%AA) 60min
1.0 oz Magnum (15% AA) 60min
1.0 oz Hallertauer (3.8%AA) 30min
1.0 oz Hallertauer (3.8%AA) 10 min
1.0 oz Corriander seed (2min)
Zest of 6 oranges fresh (2 min)
Split batch on WLP001 and WLP400
EXTRACT EDIT:
This is for a 6 gallon extract/partial mash batch. To do this with extract requires the use of a little partial mash process. So this recipe may be a fun way to try something new. First off drop the rice hulls, those were in there for my lautering needs. I would crush and combine the munich, honey malts in 2.5 quarts of water and let them rest together at ~150F for 60minutes or so. At the same time, I’d start heating up 6 gallons of brewing water. I’d say steep the 0.5lb of acid malt in the brewing water like you normally would for a specialty grain. After the mash has been going for 60minutes, I would strain it out and put the liquid in with your brewing water. And rinse the grain bed with some of the water too, right back into the brewing pot. Once you are ready I’d then substitute the pilsner and wheat malts with 8-8.25lbs of wheat LME. That should provide 1.050-1.055 OG. Keep the hops, corriander and the orange peel the same. Pitch either yeast.
on June 9th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
I love the idea of splitting the batch list this. You should get a good wit with the Belgian yeast, but I wouldn’t rule out the Cal Ale yeast either – should get a nice clean American Wheat with a little extra flavoring.
Also, great idea with the acid malt. I know they use it in saisons to get that crisp, tart, yet not sour finish to the beer.
Best of luck.
-JW
on June 30th, 2010 at 8:24 am
How would this convert onto an extract recipe?
on July 2nd, 2010 at 10:48 am
Anthony!
I’ll edit the post and put up an extract version right now.
Thanks for the reminder. We try and keep the stuff on the site accessible to both the all grainer and the extract brewer too.
on April 19th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
Sorry if this has already been asked but how did this turn out? I am looking to try and clone Harpoon’s UFO White as it is a good summer beer but am having trouble finding a good recipe. I live right next to the Harpoon Brewery here in Boston and find myself always picking up a case of their UFO White, IPA, and Summer Ale (always great summer beers to drink while sitting up on the roof and watching all the boats sail past the brewery) I have been able to find pretty good matches for the IPA and Summer Ale but not the UFO White?
on April 29th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Hi Jared,
This beer came out great and fulfilled the need that Mike had. I don’t think he bought UFO all summer.
on June 21st, 2011 at 9:18 pm
I’m stealing this and adding 5% orange blossom honey with the fermentation
on June 22nd, 2011 at 11:21 am
katy,
Stealing is such a negative word. You are free to use this recipe. We hope you enjoy it.
on December 29th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
I am looking to do my first all grain mash, for a 5 gallon batch would i just scale everything back by roughly half? My buddy is getting out of the army in 6 weeks and I am brewing it for his homecoming, he’s a huge wheat/hefe fan so I want to try my best at this one
on January 3rd, 2012 at 8:06 am
Hey Aaron:
You certainly can just cut the amounts in half and it will work just fine. I strongly recommend using the Belgian Wit Yeast WLP400. It will come out great. Thank your buddy for his service from us at Brew Dudes too!