From Tins to All Grain - Just made the move

[the.cassowary]

Hello All.
I just decided to take the leap into All grain brewing, and got my hands on a brand new Guten 50l Microbrewery. I'm planning to do a brew-day soon, and I'm thinking about trying for a Hoegaarden Clone. I want to learn about how different ingredients change the flavour, so I'm thinking about aiming for a 30l batch, which I will split into 2 fermenters (15l each), and I'll pitch 2 different yeasts, one in each, to see the difference.
Couple of introductory questions:
- I've found a recipe (US units) that says it produces a yield of 19l. I assume if I want to try this, I just multiply the ingredients and water by 1.5.
- How do I know what water profile/water ph I should be aiming for?
- Am I already overthinking all this, should I just try and see?

Thanks in advance

 

[bradmcm]

Yep, you got it. It's just an even scaling up at this level, it can get a little out if you were scaling to or from a commercial size but essentially yes just times it all by 1.5.
Water - one of my favourite topics. You can get away with not knowing much about it for your first couple of brews but you will want to get it right once you get the hang of all grain brewing. You want to have a minimum of 50ppm calcium ions for best mash efficiency and long term beer stability and around 50-150ppm sulphate ions for a balanced flavour profile for this type of beer. To achieve that you need to know what your base water is. Your water might be OK for this straight up but if it's low in calcium it's likely all you would need to do would be to add a teaspoon of gypsum. More advanced water calculators are available free online or as part of brewing software. Brewer's Friend is a great place to start. Check here BF water profiles, a Belgian Wit just needs a balanced profile. Assuming you have enough buffering salts, your mash pH should sit around 5.4-5.6 probably nearing 5.6 since wheat malt is less acidic than regular pale barley malt but don't worry about pH at this stage.
Good luck with your brew, Witbier is not that hard to brew, starting gravity 1.045-55 (11-13.5 Plato) just equal amounts of pale malt, wheat malt, maybe 100g of flaked oats, enough European hops to get you 15-25 IBU, some citrus peel and coriander seed late in the boil and you are on your way. Which yeasts are you thinking of using?

 

[the.cassowary]

Yep, you got it. It's just an even scaling up at this level, it can get a little out if you were scaling to or from a commercial size but essentially yes just times it all by 1.5.
Water - one of my favourite topics. You can get away with not knowing much about it for your first couple of brews but you will want to get it right once you get the hang of all grain brewing. You want to have a minimum of 50ppm calcium ions for best mash efficiency and long term beer stability and around 50-150ppm sulphate ions for a balanced flavour profile for this type of beer. To achieve that you need to know what your base water is. Your water might be OK for this straight up but if it's low in calcium it's likely all you would need to do would be to add a teaspoon of gypsum. More advanced water calculators are available free online or as part of brewing software. Brewer's Friend is a great place to start. Check here BF water profiles, a Belgian Wit just needs a balanced profile. Assuming you have enough buffering salts, your mash pH should sit around 5.4-5.6 probably nearing 5.6 since wheat malt is less acidic than regular pale barley malt but don't worry about pH at this stage.
Good luck with your brew, Witbier is not that hard to brew, starting gravity 1.045-55 (11-13.5 Plato) just equal amounts of pale malt, wheat malt, maybe 100g of flaked oats, enough European hops to get you 15-25 IBU, some citrus peel and coriander seed late in the boil and you are on your way. Which yeasts are you thinking of using?

Thanks Brad, really appreciate that info about water. I think I'll to go for the balanced profile, and worry about the technical stuff after I've got a few more brews under the belt.
I'm looking at using :
Safbrew K-97 - German ale yeast; good for wheat beers
Safbrew BE-134 - Belgian style yeast; more fruity/clove tastes

I've also got to work out the right water amounts for the strike and the sparge, (and working out how if I'm supposed to adjust anything for the 6.6l deadspace in the microbrewery). But I suppose measuring OG after the boil will give me a better idea of what to do next time.

 

[bradmcm]

Nice yeast choices, you should be able to notice the differences. If you weren't aware, Lallemand do a dried witbier yeast, Lalbrew Wit. I've never tried it but it's out there if you want to try it in the future.