One day I went over my friend’s place in midtown (NYC) for some dinner, brews and desert. His wife, Michelle, is a foodie by any definition and loves to cook great meals and deserts. That night Kevin and Michelle decided to make truffles and the creativity they have for this desert is fantastic. We tried a truffle with jalapeños - they were not as spicy as one would expect but gave a warming type of heat. They also made a Guiness truffle. But their truffle with orange and cardamom was by far my favorite. As I was munching through my third piece, Kevin said, “why not make this into a beer?”
Thus was the birth of this crazy brew which we hope will replicate the sense of eating their orange cardamom truffle.
About a month ago, Kevin joined me at my apartment for a joint brew session. To the left is a picture of him, which I’m sure I’ll be hearing it from him tomorrow when he reads the post – he hates having his picture taken let alone posted on the internet!
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The recipe (5 gallons):
- 15 lb Pale Malt (Weyermann) (3.3 SRM)
- 1.0 lb Carafa Special III (Weyermann) (470.0 SRM)
- 1.0 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
- 1.0 lb Rye, Flaked (2.0 SRM)
- 0.5 lb Caramel Malt – 120L (Briess) (120.0 SRM)
Mashed in at 154°F for 60 minutes, vorlaufed and batch sparged.
60 minute boil:
- 1.0 oz First Gold [7.50 % AA] (60 min)
- 1.0 Whirlfloc tablet (15 min)
- 1.0 oz Orange zest from four organic navel oranges (Boil 5.0 min)
- 5.0 Cardamom pods, cracked and shells removed (Boil 5.0 min)
- 1.0 cup Chocolate, powder (Boil 5.0 min)
2 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056, 1.5 liter starter)
OG: 1.084
SG: 1.024
ABV: 7.8%
A picture…really?
Hi Kevin!
Had a feeling I would hear something from you.
About the picture – got to increase your exposure man! Look, now when people try our famous brew they will have reference point on the people behind it.
Why do I get the feeling your rolling your eyes somehow?
Orange, Cardamom, Chocolate… interesting combination…
We just cooked with cardamom tonight… I can see how it would add a nice citrusy flavor to the beer…
It is a great combo!
However, we only used 5 pods since we knew cardamom gives a very strong flavor. Tasting the wort (still in primary) leads me to believe we went to weak on the spice addition. I may have to dry-spice.
Dry-spice? hops act as a natural preservative for beer, but I don’t know about cardamom?
I haven’t brewed with cardamom, but I would be concerned with wild yeast entering your beer if you dry spice… I would make a 1 liter wort and drop a few pods there… if it starts fermenting, the pods may contain wild yeast… just a thought…
Yeah – good point.
I most likely will boil the cardamom pods and orange peels just long enough to sterilize. I will probably add the boiled liquid as well (to taste). Even the boiled liquid might be enough.
Oh and let me know what the results are since I haven’t tried anything like it…
Will do!
Hi Jason,
How did this turn out? I’ve been looking to brew a cardamom beer and what you have here sounds pretty tasty. My initial idea was to do a belgian porter with some cardamom. Do you think a belgian yeast like wyeast 1762 – Belgian Abbey II would be a good fit?
Any insight would be great.
Cheers!
Yeah! Belgian porter with cardamom sounds very interesting! I chose 1056 for clean esters so the cardamom and orange can shine. Keep that in mind when you use 1762. If you brew something similar, I would definitely brew it on the lower end of the temp range for 1762 to minimize the esters. But who knows, the yeast profile and cardamom could be a good marriage.
The brew came out great! I will be doing a tasting review sometime soon and will post it. Really good imperial porter base. The spices are in the background and meld well with porter.
Hey all! I have good news to report!
This brew took third place in category at the Homebrew Alley 5 competition in New York City.
It turned out very well!
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Damnit. I’ve been making these cardamom pistachio chocolate cookies. And I just told my husband that I think our next beer should be a cardamom orange chocolate porter. He thought it was genius. So did I. A bit bummed to see it’s been done. But glad to know it worked out so well. Can’t wait to make it. Thanks for sharing yours!
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