I started with pilsner malt, unmalted wheat grown in Alhambra Illinois, oats from Shop and Save, and oh yeah rice hulls. I try to keep ingredients true to style but when it comes to adjuncts I love to get them from the grocery store. Give me a 99 cent sack of rice or a tin of corn grits and I will make beer.
I decocted this mash which means that I removed a portion of the grains from the mash and boiled them, then added them back to the mash to raise the temperature of mash. This is done at different intervals to achieve a certain style of beer.
My recipe source schooled me on the use of bitter orange peel. She was emphatic that I not use fresh orange peel, not sweet orange peel, only bitter orange peel. I crushed the coriander and combined the bitter orange peel. Once you put your nose up to it and you realize why men traveled the world and fought wars to acquire stuff like this.
I dropped them in ten minutes before the end of the boil and the aroma of hops, grains, and spices filled the air. This was one of those brews that after it was all done I felt like I got it.
Update: this brew placed 3rd in the Catagory of Belgian and French Ales at the 2012 Music City Brew Off in Nashville Tennessee.
