Day 8: Rudolph's Holiday Red by Antonia Matthews

[Scott H]

Specs:
OG: 1.061
FG: 1.010
IBU: 40
ABV: 6.7%

Ingredients
8 lbx Maris Otter
1.5 lbs Munich malt
1 lb Torrified wheat
8 oz Crystal 120
4 oz Crystal 20
4 oz Chocolate malt
Mased for 60 minutes @ 152f

0.75 oz Magnum @ 60 mins
1 oz Styrian Goldings @ 10 mins
1 oz Orange peel @ 0 mins

1 package S-04

3 medium peeled oranges in secondary for 10 days
1 cinnamon stick in secondary for 10 days

Notes from the brewer:
Original recipe called for Sweet Orange Peel at flameout only, with no additional peel or cinnamon.

[bryan]

I think my bottle may have been infected - anyone else?

[Scott H]

No problem here, I thought this was a wonderful beer. I could smell the orange right away, and when I tasted it, it was just the right amount. Not too in your face, but enough to let you know it's there even after you've had a few sips. I've had beer with orange peel in it before, but I'm not sure that I've had one with full oranges. It's definitely a different taste for me, and I like it a lot. Very smooth, very tasty, this is a really good beer. Thanks Antonia!

[klinger]

It's very deep red. It's carbonated, but only a small off white head developed. Some bubbles popping on the top like soda. Not a lot of aroma, but nothing sour or blatantly funky (so I'm not getting any clear sign of infection, bryan) -- just a hint of the orange peel & a little caramel. Taste is definitely malty but not sweet. The bitterness is strong enough to balance the malt. The initial taste was quite pleasant. But there's something in the aftertaste that I don't quite find pleasant. I'm not sure if it's the orange peel and/or the cinnamon stick or whether it's something else. How did you use the orange peel? How did you peel it from the fruit?

This is close to a highly drinkable beer. I'm curious to know a bit more about your process.

Mark

[spidermonk]

Mine was really good, though I thought it was cherry not orange . Even after reading the recipe I still think its cherry lol. Overall I really like it. Its a very drinkable and unique beer. I might try this one myself and see how it goes.

[antonia]

Hmm, not sure what might have happened with your bottle, Bryan - sorry!

This was our first all-grain brew. We were trying to mimic Northern Brewer's Brickwarmer Holiday Red but changed the grain bill a bit, based on availability locally, and went heavier on the misc. ingredients (because after primary finished, we just didn't get the 'holiday' in this). Brew day went smoothly, but this beer didn't quite turn out as hoped - a bit overboard on the orange maybe? Thanks for the feedback so far - I'm eager to hear any other feedback and critical observations - we've been brewing for 10 months now, and this was our first AG, so we're learning tons each time we brew.

Mark - to your question about how we used the oranges, we used a peeler and peeled just the outer portion of the peel (trying to ensure we didn't get any of the bitter part of the peel). We then soaked the peels (and cinnamon stick) in vodka for an hour of so before adding the whole lot to the carboy and racking the beer on top. We let the beer sit in secondary on the peels/cinnamon for 10 days. I know what you mean about there being some sort of aftertaste - we got that same taste during fermentation (at gravity checks), at bottling and still now - but can't quite place it...I keep thinking it may have been a taste imparted from the peels?

[klinger]

Hi Antonia,

That was my suspicion, too. I was thinking maybe it was a bit of white pith from the oranges, but that seems to be wrong. I'm still thinking it's something with the orange peel or cinnamon, but only because I have no other ideas. I did think that this aftertaste was less noticeable to me as the beer got warmer & the malt came out more.

Given that this was your first ever all-grain batch, I'm very impressed!

Mark

[Heiko R.]

Hi Antonia,

you certainly managed to make a very interesting beer! Debbie picked up a perfume flowery aroma that reminded her of Jasmine, I could pick up the oranges. Carbonation is spot on and I also get a strong taste of the orange with the cinnamon in the background. I did enjoy this one.

Thanks for sharing!

Heiko

[mavus]

Sadly I think my bottle was infected as well, I got a soapy after taste. I did get the perfume/flowery aroma at the beginning which was nice.
--Jesse

[antonia]

Jesse - hate to hear that! I get that same aftertaste too (soapy is exactly how I described it to my husband), but got it before it was bottled as well (we're kind of sticklers on sanitation - but there's always room for error I guess). I'd love to hear what about the bottle makes you think it was infected, so I can pinpoint what might have happened and avoid that in the future.