Beer Forum

I've got a ~4% American wheat beer in the fermenter right now. I used HBC 342 hops at 10/5 min for 17 ibus and .25oz each of bitter and sweet orange peel at 5 min. I'm debating on whether or not to dry hop this beer or not with the HBC 342. Will a dry hop compliment or clash with the citrus?

Wheat beers are usually better without a lot of late/dry hop character in my opinion. It's more about the yeast. Maybe you could split it and dry hop half and leave the other half un dry hopped then compare.

I make a witbier with a slightly higher hop profile. I use Palisade hops which to me come across a bit orange-like. I also use a potato peeler and peel the zest of an orange off and soak it in a little vodka, then add it at bottling. From my experience, the palisade hops compliment the orange zest. If you are interested in the process I used just let me know and I will post a link. Also Tyranena Brewing here in Wisconsin makes a decent IPA with orange peel called Scurvy. I think the key is hop choice. I think if you go with more floral hops, or hops that give a softer citrus flavor/aroma, the combination can work. Some spicy varieties will probably work as well in lower levels. Personally I would avoid very piney, resiny, and assertive hops because the will probably not only clash, they will overshadow the orange. As far as your wheat goes, it would help if you gave a bit more info about the beer itself and what you are going for. American wheat can be slightly hoppy to mid-range and approach pale ale hop levels. So dry hopping an American wheat is not unheard of.

They can pair well together but I have not heard of the HBC 342 hops. What type of character do they impart?

brewinhard wrote:They can pair well together but I have not heard of the HBC 342 hops. What type of character do they impart?

http://farmhousebrewingsupply.com/downloads/experimental%20hops%202011.pdf

Check that out. The beer in question ended up having such a strong citrus from the orange peel that the hops never came into play really.

I'm typically against dry-hopping my wheat beer, but I only do a summer brew with significant wheat in it. It's more of a fruited panty peeler style. I would say split it, experiment & bring back your report to the army. I'd be really interested in how well they play together.

Ozwald wrote:It's more of a fruited panty peeler style..

Is that for getting man panties off your gentlemen callers?

spiderwrangler wrote:

Ozwald wrote:It's more of a fruited panty peeler style..

Is that for getting man panties off your gentlemen callers?

Just my own so it's easier to take advantage of myself.