Amarillo Witbier hybrid

A friend of mine is giving me some coriander that grew in his cilantro bed. I never cared for fruit in beer so I thought I would use Amarillo hops in lieu of the orange peel. Anyway this is what I have come up with. All suggestions will be taken into consideration whether I end up using them or not.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Amarillo Witbier
Brewer: Roger
Asst Brewer: Ralph the Wonderdog
Style: Witbier
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications

Boil Size: 6.52 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal 
Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 3.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

Amt                  Name                                    Type          #        %/IBU       
6 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)          Grain        1        63.2 %       
3 lbs                White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)              Grain        2        31.6 %       
0.38 oz              Cascade [5.50 %] - First Wort 60.0 min  Hop          3        7.8 IBUs     
8.0 oz                Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM)          Sugar        4        5.3 %       
0.76 oz              Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min  Hop          5        7.9 IBUs     
0.76 oz              Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min    Hop          6        4.4 IBUs     
0.75 oz              Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins)          Spice        7        -           
0.50 oz              Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 Hop          8        0.0 IBUs     
1.0 pkg              Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml]      Yeast        9        -

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
I plan on mashing at 148 to 150 for around 75 minutes.

Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs 8.0 oz

I just happened to get my hands on some Amarillo hops. I made an American wheat brew with 4lbs each of pilsner and white wheat malts to later rack onto strawberry puree. I decided to bottle 1 gallon before I racked to the strawberry secondary, and the the Amarillo hops really added a pleasant fruity and earthy character. It was almost berry like without ever seeing berries. I am personally having a hard time imagining it working well with coriander in a classic wit though. I would go with some hops that have more citrus flavors with a less earthy profile, IMO.

Also, orange peel isn’t all that fruity in the end product when added a few minutes before lights out. I used a peeler and tossed about 3 oz worth of fresh and carefully peeled orange peel to a saison recently. It didn’t stand out much, and was almost nonexistent with a little age. The funky saison flavors were what really stood out.

I don’t think I’ve ever noticed earthiness from Amarillo myself. I do get some orange from it, but I don’t know if it would be a good sub for orange peel. Citrusy hops are still, well, “hoppy” for lack of a better term even if they bring a lot of citrus.

If you were looking for a “White IPA” kind of hybrid style, then Amarillo would be the way to go for sure.

I actually stocked up on the Amarillo when I came across it since its been hard to find these days. I made an all Amarillo IPA, as I have been using the same recipe and just swapping hops to really see how I feel about each hop variety. That was really where the earthiness really came through. I still find it a bit fruity, but not citrus like in the slightest.

If that is the case why don’t I just take all of my late addition hops out and skip the orange peel as well?