First Wit Beer Attempt - Thoughts?

[jimmy01]

Thanks for the encouragement Gav80. I didn't make a starter I just poured in the smack pack (after a good 4 hours to swell). Hopefullly this gets started in a cpl days. If you think it's not worth racking to secondary I'm happy not too. As I'll be bulk priming I'll at least be racking to another vessel before bottling to hopefully get rid of any excess trub.

Here is my full recipe and mash schedule.


BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Wit
Style: Witbier
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (47.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 37.95 l
Post Boil Volume: 28.95 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 25.00 l
Bottling Volume: 23.30 l
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 8.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 18.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes



3kg - Briess Torrefied Wheat - Soft red wheat
3kg - Bestmalz Pilsner
38g - East Kent Goldings
1 pk - Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier yeast

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.97 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (6.3 EBC) Grain 1 47.6 % (ACTUALLY USED BESTMALZ PILSNER HERE)
2.97 kg Wheat, Flaked (3.2 EBC) Grain 2 47.6 % (ACTUALLY USED BRIESS TORREFIED WHEAT - SOFT RED WHEAT HERE)
0.30 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 3 4.8 % (I THINK ROLLED OATS WERE USED HERE FROM G&G)
37.23 g Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop 4 18.9 IBUs
20.00 g Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 5 -
20.00 g Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 6 -
1.0 pkg Belgian Witbier (Wyeast Labs #3944) [124 Yeast 7 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 6.25 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 21.29 l of water at 73.6 C 67.8 C 60 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 27.92 l water at 75.6 C

When planning a beer with a lot of wheat I always lower my expected efficiency on beer smith. I usually get about 70% on lagers and bitters, but only 58-60% for my wit beers.

 

[maldridge]

Yeh my pot is a 70L pot, I read on here somewhere the boil off rate is 9L so thats what ive entered. but I don't think I come close to that.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Thanks for the encouragement Gav80. I didn't make a starter I just poured in the smack pack (after a good 4 hours to swell). Hopefullly this gets started in a cpl days. If you think it's not worth racking to secondary I'm happy not too. As I'll be bulk priming I'll at least be racking to another vessel before bottling to hopefully get rid of any excess trub.
...........................

I guess you would bulk prime when bottling so you can rack off into the bottling bucket first but I reckon with this beer and most beers your just wasting time racking to a secondary fermenter.
What system are you using for a brewery setup? Is it an eski for a mash tun? How fast did you fly sparge. Just trying to work out why your efficiency was so bad?

 

[nathan_madness]

Yeh my pot is a 70L pot, I read on here somewhere the boil off rate is 9L so thats what ive entered. but I don't think I come close to that.

I have my boil off rate set to 6.81L that is what it came set as as the standard "Pot (18.5 Gal/70 L) - BIAB" in Beersmith. It is actually more like 5.5L with my size boil.

 

[maldridge]

Hi Gav, I have another 70L ss pot for my mash tun with false bottom. When I was fly sparging I can't remember exactly, but it seemed like it took about 30 mins, maybe less, to complete the sparge and to achieve my post boil volumes.

As Nathan mentioned I will definitely adjust my boil off rates next time round.

Btw why is it that my efficiency is 'bad' rather than good. Didn't I end up with too much wort as opposed to not enough? Or is that not how it works.....

 

[nathan_madness]

Hi Gav, I have another 70L ss pot for my mash tun with false bottom. When I was fly sparging I can't remember exactly, but it seemed like it took about 30 mins, maybe less, to complete the sparge and to achieve my post boil volumes.

As Nathan mentioned I will definitely adjust my boil off rates next time round.

Btw why is it that my efficiency is 'bad' rather than good. Didn't I end up with too much wort as opposed to not enough? Or is that not how it works.....

Your efficiency is calculated by your OG and your volume into the fermenter. So in your case low OG but over shot the fermenter volume.

 

[maldridge]

Sorry to bring this back, but since my beer has now been in the fermenter for 8 days, I've been regularly taking hydrometer readings. I decided against racking to secondary as per somebodies instructions on here - they said it wasn't really necessary.

Firstly my gravity just after putting it into the fermenter was about 1035 or so. It's now sitting at 1008. I'll be leaving it in the fermenter till next monday, when I plan to bottle. No doubt it will have finished by then.

With these low gravities will I just end up with a fairly weak beer? It was fermented at 19.4 degrees.

Will there be any other issues?

Cheers.

 

[hsb]

1035/1008 = 3.6%ABV

You never said what your Mash temperature was? Beer will probably be a bit thin bodywise but might turn out nice with a wheatie.

Your original target was 1051?
1050/1010 would have been 5.6%ABV

 

[maldridge]

My mash temp was mentioned in my brew sheet that I posted.

67.8 C for 60 min. Only dropped a couple of degrees over that time.

Yes OG target was 1051, and FG target was 1012.

 

[fcmcg]

Hi Gav, I have another 70L ss pot for my mash tun with false bottom. When I was fly sparging I can't remember exactly, but it seemed like it took about 30 mins, maybe less, to complete the sparge and to achieve my post boil volumes.

As Nathan mentioned I will definitely adjust my boil off rates next time round.

Btw why is it that my efficiency is 'bad' rather than good. Didn't I end up with too much wort as opposed to not enough? Or is that not how it works.....

Mate,
I always fly sparge for at least an hour , if i can....no point in rushing through it and leaving some sugar behind....that may also help up your efficiency....your efficincy is bad as you ended up with a lower OG than you were aiming for .If you had a higher OG and less wort . you could have always just watered it down.....

 

[maldridge]

I never realised it was supposed to take that long unfortunately.

One more question, should I bother cold condition this brew before bottling? I imagine it should be quite a cloudy beer being a wit and all...

Cheers.

 

[carniebrew]

I never realised it was supposed to take that long unfortunately.

One more question, should I bother cold condition this brew before bottling? I imagine it should be quite a cloudy beer being a wit and all...

Cheers.

Do you like cloudy beer? Some brewers are so driven by crystal clear beer, but I personally being a fan of the true wheat style much prefer cloudy, hence the no secondary and no cold conditioning for me.

Oh and also, while your gravity readings of 1035/1008 give you 3.6% abv after fermentation (provided it doesn't drop any further before you bottle), you'll of course get another .4/.5 bump by bottle priming. Wheat beers are generally carbed much higher than your average home brew, as much as 50% more, if you're into that...so being mindful of bottle bombs, you could use 300gm of dex to bulk prime 23 litres of wheat beer kept at 20 degrees. You could end up with a 4.1/4.2 abv wheat which means you can squeeze in a coupla extra each night....

 

[maldridge]

Thanks for the reply, that sounds good. I was actually aiming for 2.8 volumes of co2 which for 25 L is 193 grams of dextrose. 300gm would be a **** load! That would be early 3.9 vol co2!

My beersmith recipe suggests only 2.6 (however after shooting for 2.4 with my first Dr Smurto Golden Ale last time and finding it was slightly under carbed for my liking, I was going to aim a bit higher this time round...)

 

[carniebrew]

Thanks for the reply, that sounds good. I was actually aiming for 2.8 volumes of co2 which for 25 L is 193 grams of dextrose. 300gm would be a **** load! That would be early 3.9 vol co2!

My beersmith recipe suggests only 2.6 (however after shooting for 2.4 with my first Dr Smurto Golden Ale last time and finding it was slightly under carbed for my liking, I was going to aim a bit higher this time round...)

Yeah, the bulk priming calculator suggests as high as 3.6-4.5 volumes in a weizen. Even the Wikipedia entry for wheat beer says:
"The hefeweizen style is particularly noted for its low hop bitterness (about 15 IBUs) and relatively high carbonation (approaching four volumes)"

It's a bloody lot if you're not used to it, but will help get that abv up a little...

 

[maldridge]

I see, perhaps I'll shoot for a little more carbonation then to aid with the ABV also. Surprised why the original Beersmith recipe didn't call for higher co2 volumes.

 

[carniebrew]

I see, perhaps I'll shoot for a little more carbonation then to aid with the ABV also. Surprised why the original Beersmith recipe didn't call for higher co2 volumes.

All the Beersmith sample recipes seem to call for only 2.3 or 2.4 volumes, probably just the recipe provider's preference. Maybe he's British? :icon_cheers: