New Hoegaarden Clone

[chillihilli]

Well I enjoyed my Hoegaarden clone so much the first time around, I thought I'd have another crack at it as stocks are starting to dwindle (everyone loves it).

I dropped in to see the good folk at the LHBS and described how I would like to pimp it up a little with a better yeast and some hops. After some good discussion the guy says "Have you tried steeping some grains?" .. Not yet, but I think I'm about to! was the answer.

So tonight, here's what I put together:

300G cracked wheat grainy things in 600 ml water
- 5 litre boil
- 1 x Black Rock Whispering Wheat
- 1 x Thomas Coopers Liquid Wheat Malt Extract
- 15 G cracked coriander
- 10 G sweet belgian orange peel
- 1/2 a Kaffir Lime Leaf (why not?)
- SAAZ hop pellets - 20G for 60 mins, 20G for 30 Mins
- WyeYeast 3944 Belgian Wit
- Made up to 21 Litres with 15 litres of refrigerated, filtered water

Just waiting for the temp to come down a couple of degrees so I can pitch the yeast and check the gravity.

Gravity is 1059

The grains were interesting. Kind of ended up like wheat porridge, so I put it in a strainer and pressed it with a kitchen scraper. Out comes all this lovely cloudy wheaty slightly sweet juice.

Will report how it goes. The hops will make it interesting.

Next one is a Coopers Pale Ale with some more grains and some Citra hops. Woohoo!

I must say, great service from the G&G in Yarraville. I wouldn't even have considered the grains had it not been suggested.

It was also mandatory to down a couple of my Coopers Pale Ale whilst I was doing it. Thirsty work this brewing business.

 

[Swinging Beef]

HA!
Looks like you are heading down a slippery slope and will be AG brewing in no time.
The key to Hoegaarden clones is entirely yeast related.
Hmm.. I reckon I might whip up a wit next week, too.

 

[Fourstar]

sounds good. im assuming they have given you some type of crystal malt as all you might be doing is adding starch to your beer if it does not go through a mash rest period. do you remember the name of the grain?

As for the 3944. This will be the clincher to an awesome beer. My current witbier has hit its peak @ two weeks old and is tart, citrusy and delicious. Unfortunatly after this period in the keg its diamond bright without a crash chill or filter process. :blink: So much for it being a low flocculant yeast!

Either way it tastes better now than it did with yeast in suspension so im cautious of disturbing the keg. haha

Enjoy the 3944. You will wonder why you didnt get liquid yeasts earlier!

 

[pcmfisher]

I am not sure how bitter Black Rock Whispering Wheat is but 20g@60min and 20g@30min will give a good deal of extra bitterness.

 

[chillihilli]

im assuming they have given you some type of crystal malt as all you might be doing is adding starch to your beer if it does not go through a mash rest period. do you remember the name of the grain?

The receipt says its Weyermann Wheat Pale.

Regarding the yeast, I also picked up Wyeyeast American Ale for the Pale Ale. Can't wait to try it, but with this heat I'm stuck to brewing one batch at a time in the cellar (and even then it sits on 23 deg C)

The last Hoey clone was good, but I wanted less orange (it looked REALLY orange) and more coriander. The kaffir lime was just because I can. I wanted the hops to counterbalance the sweetness of the orange, and the G&G dude gave me a quick education on alpha acid content and bitterness. I don't really care much for the colour or clarity/cloudiness of the beer. I typically roll them to murk them up before pouring to get the flavour of the yeast sediment through the beer. My theory is if you don't like the look, close your eyes whilst your drinking it.

I do care for the aroma, and this was great on the first Hoey clone.

I also want to do HeffeWeizen soon.

Hey Swinging Beef, what Wit are you going to put together?