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.
JW
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
Anthony
How would this convert onto an extract recipe?
Mike
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.
Jared
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?
John
Hi Jared,
This beer came out great and fulfilled the need that Mike had. I don’t think he bought UFO all summer.
katy
I’m stealing this and adding 5% orange blossom honey with the fermentation
John
katy,
Stealing is such a negative word. You are free to use this recipe. We hope you enjoy it.
Aaron
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
Mike
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!
James
Hey everyone, I couldn’t find the extract recipe for this kit, is it up somewhere?
Thanks so much!
John
Hi James,
There’s no kit but you can buy the ingredients to make your own kit of sorts.
Phill
Hello!
This was the first of what I think will be many brew-dudes inspired brews for me. My wife and I went camping in Maine this summer, and she found that she really enjoyed UFO’s White Ale; this was the first well reviewed recipe I found, so naturally I made it. It has gone over great! I made a 5 gallon batch following the recipe using BIABcalc to reduce to my malt weights, but using the zest of 5 grapefruits, 1 oz of coriander seeds, and I harvested yeast from a few bottles of UFO White Ale. I also primed in the keg with 3/8 c white sugar for 2 weeks at room temperature.
Coming out of the fermentor, the aroma was almost exactly UFO White Ale with grapefruit instead of orange. A few days in the fridge after carbonation I was worried the flavor was too grapefruit strong, but it has mellowed over the subsequent weeks. Unfortunately, I think the yeast must produce different aromas when fermenting under pressure as it was after priming; that UFO yeast smell has become greatly diminished. The coriander scent has also diminished, so I wonder if there should be a seasoning addition near the end of fermentation to preserve the scent or if this was also lost during the priming. When I brew this again, I’ll make sure to force carbonate under CO2 to see if the aroma profile is more akin to UFO, and I’ll grind the coriander; many places suggest doing this to maximize flavor and aroma extraction.
The color is a little dark compared to UFO White Ale , but I’m not sure that the Munich malt I used was 10L. From what it looks like compared to other beers I’ve seen, the color still comes in as a witbier. It has cleared more than I would expect a wit, so maybe I’ll skip the irish moss in the next attempt as well.
Cheers!
ps woo reviving 5 year dead threads!
John
BREW ON, PHILL!
Bobby
Brewing this for my dad
John
Nice – that will be a good one for him!