Brewing a Witbier this weekend.
I think that I have found the recipe that I would like to use, but I have a couple of questions since the only thing close that I have brewed was a Heffe and that was done as an extract beer.
Here is the ingredient list that I will be using-
MASH INGREDIENTS
--3.5 lbs. Weyermann Pale Wheat
--3.5 lbs. Belgian Pilsner
--1 lbs. Flaked Oats
HOPS AND OTHER INGREDIENTS
--2 oz Strisselspalt
--1 oz Coriander Seeds
--1 oz Bitter Orange Peel
I know since I am going to be using wheat, a lot of brewers add in rice hulls to make it easter when sparging. I have a fly sparging system, and a false bottom in a keggle for my system. Should I worry about adding rice hulls in?
For the yeast I was thinking of doing a white labs yeast and not worrying about a starter, and suggestions on which one that I might use?
Just anything else I might want to keep in mind while doing this, just a 5 gal recipe this time.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Soper on -
I would use rice hulls with that recipe. I would also probably use wlp400 wit yeast.
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2012 BoardPermalink Reply by Rob Fullmer on -
Make sure you use Indian Corriander and not sourced from Mexico. Mexican corriander (while excellent) has a celery-like profile and can make your beer smell like hot dog water.
If you purchase from a brewstore you should be OK.
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2012 BoardPermalink Reply by Jon Badalamenti on -
I just made one last week.+1 on the Indian coriander. Any middle eastern/Asian market in the valley will have it. I'd actually stay away from the stuff at the brew store...pretty sure I saw one pack say on the back that it was from Mexico.
Pretty sure a wit calls for unmalted, flaked wheat at about 45-50% of the grist. I'm worried you won't have enough diastatic power from the pilsner. You might be better off with US 2-row. That's what I used and even then it took a while to convert. Having some amylase enzyme powder on hand couldn't hurt. Rice hulls are a must, probably 1-2 pounds (depending on your system) to get it flowing. I also grind the oats and wheat to a fine powder, but that's personal preference. If you're using a cooler for a mashtun, I know some people to a mini-mash when using a bunch of adjuncts...you basically take a portion of the base malt and a portion of the adjuncts and do a mini protein rest around 115-120F...then add that back to the mash plus the remainder of the water you need to hit your mash temp.
Hops and everything else looks fine. And although I'd call not doing a yeast starter blasphemy, I think you *could* get away with it ;)
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Permalink Reply by Sean Morrill on -
Thanks for the tips guys, I will look around for the indian corriander. Generally I get my spices from Penzey's, not out of the brew store that way I know I get fresh ingredients (not saying that they might not be fresh in the brewstore, but I like using a place with higher turnover of product).
I will not be doing a cooler mash, have a Keggle with a false bottom.
Jon, when you talk about grinding to a fine powder, do you use something liek a food processor for that? I have a maltmill for crushing grains, but since the oat should be flaked and my mill does not adjust the rollers I am thinking this would be the next logical way to get it done.
I might just use the 2-row, I am open to ideas. My OG target will be 1.040-1.050 or so, not getting too picky though. This brew is going to be a split batch with someone who has never homebrewed before and hopefully they like the hobby.
One other thing. I generally use RO water from a water and ice store near my house (I don't trust what is coming out of my faucet). On my regular ales I usually throw in some Burton Water Salts for mineral content. Should I keep on with that or do something different for this Wit?
Brewday got moved back a week so I will probably still do a starter now that I have more time.
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2012 BoardPermalink Reply by Jon Badalamenti on -
Ok, keggle mash = I'd do a protein/glucan rest around 115F for 20-30 minutes just to cut down on some of the gloopiness you get with the unmalted grains.Yeah, I just grind the wheat and oats in a food processor or blender.
I think you'll be better off with 2-row. I'd hate for you to run into issues with conversion in front of an impressionable future homebrewer!
For the water, you can pull up profiles online for different places in Belgium and I'd shoot for that. Burton salts are going to way too high in sulfate and will accentuate bitterness, which isn't what you want in a wit. I'd say Belgian water is pretty clean, so I'd stick with RO all the way, maybe put 0.5 gal of the mash water from the tap and leave it at that, or add some salts to achieve a Belgian water profile. But stay away fom Burton salts.
I think the starter is a safe bet. Belgian strains naturally produce the funky flavors that make them Belgian--no need to underpitch to accentuate them (as you would do with a Hefeweizen). I've heard that underpitching Belgian strains can make the fermentation a little crazy and leave some a much more aggressive clove/ester profile.
Oh, and one more quick thing: I know some people also put in an equal amount of sweet orange peel to balance out the oranges. But the bitter orange peel is definitely a necessity. The stuff at the homebrew shop is fine, but the pith that comes with it can be harsh, so if you can manage to find fresh sour oranges (Seville or Curacao) and use a microplane to get fresh peel without the pith, it'd be better, but I'd go with pithy bitter orange peel over no orange peel at all.
I swear I'm not an expert on Wits...it's all still fresh in my mind from having just brewed one!
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Permalink Reply by Sean Morrill on
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I will take all I can get :)
Honestly this is really good info and hopefully if someone else is brewing one up for the summer beer season this will help them out as well.
I am basing my recipe off of a Hoegaarten/blue moon like beer. This is what the potential homebrewer tends to like in a wheat beer so I don't want ot go to far out there but I believe the suggestions you guys have made will still hold true.
For my other Belgian beers I have made up some pretty big starters, so this should be easy enough to do for this beer as well.
Sour Oranges- hmm, well not sure how much of those I can find, will look around at some of the stores like whole foods and whatnot, I have not seen the sour oranges at the farmer's markets lately, but at least I already have a microplane. If this turns out what I might do next time is use a bit of blood orange juice for fun for the sweetness balance.
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2012 BoardPermalink Reply by Jon Badalamenti on -
The recipe you posted is a classic grist for a Belgian Wit: 40-50% pale malt, 40-50% unmalted wheat, and 10% oats, less than 20 IBU. Use a suitable yeast and something VERY similar to Hoegaarden is what you'll get!
If you live anywhere close to ASU, the oranges growing on campus are actually Sevilles. That's how I got mine. Nobody eats them anyway! I can let you know where the trees are if you want to steal some.
My wit was a 10 gallon batch, half of which I'm going to add blood orange juice to the secondary, so we're definitely on the same page there!
Happy brewing!
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Permalink Reply by Sean Morrill on
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Ah, well it just so happens that I attend classes at ASU, so I know where I will be getting my oranges :) I always wonder what they do with the fruit, now I know- Nothing!! Most of the trees there have some sort of lable but if you know specifically where they are that is fine, I go to class at the Brickyard.
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2012 BoardPermalink Reply by Jon Badalamenti on -
I work over on the east side of campus (Biodesign, by the light rail stop) so I only know what's over here. If you see a tree somewhere else with the Seville label have at it. There are two places I know of: in front of Noble library and in front of physical education east. 5-6 oranges will give you enough peel (~1 oz.) for your 5 gal batch. They smell fantastic!
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2012 BoardPermalink Reply by Rob Fullmer on -
More on ASU's bounty:
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2011/03/asu_secretly_growing...
There are plenty of ornamental orange varieties that grow in the valley that can work. Bear in mind that the zest is all you need. You don't care about the quality of fruit inside.
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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Jones on -
Side note about the New Times article and fruit growing around ASU. The White Sapote is really good eating. I wish that it was more of a "secret". If you're around the area in late summer you might be able to get a taste. They are best when they are ripe enough to fall off the tree by themselves.
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