April Witbier

[Osangar]

From a bit of reading I have come up with this recipe .

What are your thoughts ?
Am I making any glaring mistakes ?


Belgian Witbier 25L

Grain
3kg pale malt
3kg raw wheat

Mash:
Boil wheat 15 min
35c 10 min
50c 30 min, remove decoction @ 10 min
Decoction 20 min
67c 60 min
75c 10 min

Hops
46g Saaz 4% @ 60 min
25g Saaz 4% @ 5 min

Other additions
27g Coriander
15g Sweet Orange Peel
15g Bitter Orange Peel
5g Lemon peel


wit yeast
Ferment at 18c

 

[samhighley]

Looks pretty good.

I'd add about 5-10% oats for a nice creamy mouthfeel.

The bitterness is too high. I'd personally aim for more like 15-20 IBU's, which is more to style.

I use Pacific Hallertau in my version, and it's a ripper.

Weyermann Pilsner 45%
Weyermann Pale Wheat 40%
Flaked Oats 9%
Weyermann Acidulated 3%
Weyermann Munich I 3%

Pacific Hallertau to 19 IBU

Boil these last 5 minutes:
Coriander seed crushed 10gm
Orange peel bitter 10gm
Orange peel sweet 10gm

Yeast: Wyeast Belgian Witbier (#3944)

The jury is out on the Acidulated malt, but I use it in mine, and I like the result. It probably does nothing.

I use the dried belgian orange peel from Grain and Grape.

 

[geoffi]

Is there a reason for using raw wheat as opposed to malted? Malted wheat has several advantages. Easy to find, easier to crack, easier to mash. Does raw wheat contribute a noticeably different flavour or appearance?

I tried a superb Witbier last night made with about 50/50 pils/wheat, but the wheat was a combo of mainly pale malted wheat, some torrified wheat and a little wheat flour.

I've made one myself with 50% pils, 30% pale wheat malt and 20% white flour. Came out very nicely.

 

[A3k]

I havent made a Wit yet, but its on my soon to do list.

From what Ive read though, unmalted wheat is a must in a wit as it adds haze and more of a wheat flavor than malted wheat.
Torrefied wheat, flour and raw wheat are just different types of unmalted wheat.

I could be wrong here though.

Cheers,
Al

 

[gap]

In traditional Belgian Wits such as Hoegaarden Raw Wheat is used not Malted Wheat.

What you do is up to you.

Regards

Graeme

 

[Westoz]

Also found puffed wheat works well used it in a wit i made recently. Super market stocks in health food aisle.
Steep 200g @65c for 40 mins boil up your additions and some of the malt .As suggested go easy on the hops
i used late hallertau in mine woked a treat.Yeast i found is critical used s06 in first atempt was way to dry
second try use wyeast wheat came out a winner.

 

[SumnerH]

Flaked or raw wheat is important to a traditional wit. As noted above, flaked oats are somewhat common too.

More importantly, you don't want to use any sweet orange peel in a true wit; using it will give you more of a crossover wit/American pale wheat beer (a la Blue Moon).

If you're aiming for a true Hoegaarden/St Bernardus Wit/Allagash White Belgian-style witbier, the "citrusy" taste actually comes from the coriander; if possible you want the Indian-style coriander seeds (more oblong/rugby-ball shaped), though the European style will do in a pinch. Whichever you get, you want to crack them open but not powder them. The 27g you're using is at the high end of the good range, if you can get nice fresh Indian coriander seeds you might want to cut back to 20g or even 15.

Also, in a wit you should think of the bitter orange peel as a part of the bittering/hops schedule more than as a spice addition.

Allagash uses a fairly typical bittering schedule:
20g Tettnanger @60mins
20g Saaz @60 mins
7g Saaz @flameout
7g bitter orange peel @flameout