Blood Orange Hefeweizen

Joe and I have been working our way through Extreme Brewing. The author is owner of Dogfish Head ( who always have the yummiest beer). Many of the recipes we have been trying are coming from this book. The book isn't perfect, in fact far from it. There are inconsistencies in the directions and ingredients. Overall though, the beers have been yummy. I had to try the Blood Orange Hefeweizen. I love blood oranges. Blood orange sorbet is one of my favorite foods (although I can never find it.. there are rumors that Whole Paycheck has some but I never go downtown... so I will continue to dream about it.) Anyway. This was the first beer that I really took charge on. Usually Joe does all the leg work and I hang out. There is a lot to do when brewing beer! It took longer than I though it would to brew (Joe did warn me but I like to make cooking mistakes for myself.) It takes so long to get three gallons of water to boil. It was an easy enough recipe as it only had one hop addition. I almost forgot to heat up the malt extract and threw it into some hot water last minute. Malt extract is like honey in its consistency and if it isn't warmed it is impossible to add to all the water you just spent forever getting to boil. It all worked out and it was done in time for Lost (a very important part of Tuesday evenings). The oranges are added after the boil. They are peeled and steeped in water for about 30 minutes. Then all the pieces and zest go into the fermenter. This beer fermented like crazy. I tried it at two weeks. It was good. At three weeks after bottling it was awesome! Hmm can't wait for week 4. I spent 37.28 on this beer and I gave it a slightly higher price tag since it is an unusual brew. So I prices the 40 or so bottles I got at 66 with a total savings of $28. Not to shabby.