I used a bit too much coriander with my Belgian Wit, and I’m looking to add something to tone it down. My wife suggested pear, I was thinking about adding kiwi.
Any other thoughts or suggestions?
brew a second batch and blend it. At this point, adding more of anything is just going to intensify the cacophony. Also, sometimes the best way to rescue a batch is dump it and start over.
I was thinking of blending with a batch made without coriander. It’s not that bad that one cannot drink it, so I don’t think that I will have to dump it. I was just figured that I could experiment with it since it didn’t turn out exactly the way that I wanted it.
Is distilling legal yet? Oh wait, never mind. I like majorvices idea of blending.
Blending is the most effective option but if the decision is between experimenting and dumping then definitely experiment.
Dumping is not a sin. No need forcing yourself to drink something you are not entirely happy with. Especially if you have something else waiting in the wings. I’ve had plenty of 5 gallon beer rivers flowing down my driveway before. While I hated to waste the brewday I was never sorry to see the beer go.
It’s not a waste if you learn something.
The one I dumped, the lesson was don’t confuse the priming sugar water with water used to cook hotdogs
Guess I could have blended the Belgian triple wiener with a sauerkraut stout
Brewing a whole new batch to try to save a bad (or even mediocre) batch is not worth it IMO. But experimenting with a batch that is destined for the drain anyways - if it’s not going to tie up a fermenter for too long. or involve enough $$$ or effort that it would be just as easy to rebrew, then by all means go for it.
I agree, but if the batch is still in the fermentor or in a keg, rebrewing the exact same batch (minus the coriander) then blending it in the bottling bucket or keg would seem reasonable assuming the thing wrong with the original brew is the coriander.
How much Coriander did you use? How do you know you over did it?
First batch I brewed, I used .5 oz for 5 gal. Coriander was not even detectable, so for the second batch I doubled it to 1 oz for 5 gal. My wife can’t taste or smell it but I think it’s a forreground flavor, not a background note like it should be. So next time, I’ll use .75 oz and see how that goes.
I was also considering a lactic acid addition instead of fruit to sour it up a bit instead and see if it balances out. I think I’ll just experiment with both things individually on a small scale.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at the dumping stage, the beer is drinkable and I’m sure that my neighbors will help me along to free up the keg for another batch of their “lawnmower beer”.
send it to me. ;) my wit recipe (which I will brew again this week) uses 2 oz for 10 gal and I find it perfect.
Blend or dump. I aged a couple of bottles of my coriander wit for a year and it didn’t mellow or change appreciably with time.
If the part of the coriander that is too much is the citrus-lemon flavor that will age out. If it is the spicy notes, it will probably not age out. The flavor of spices can vary signficantly from batch to batch so I like to add a little and then taste the result and possibly add more.
I’ve only had to dump two batches in 7 yrs. Last one was a lager. I pulled it out of the fridge for a diacetyl rest. Let it sit on the counter for a week while I forgot about it and then we had a 3 day heat wave at the end of may. By the time I got to it, it tasted pretty bad.