Quick Ideas

[j1gsaw]

Hey all.
Im just in the process of steeping some wheat bix and oats for a hoegaarden recipe,
I found out i dont have an orange in the house, so just the corriander will get chucked in.
I do however have some citric acid... which reads on the label can be used as a substitute for lemons etc, so i figured it wouldnt hurt to add a dash to the mix?? Good or bad idea?
Im using a can of coopers brewmaster wheat, and also a 1.5kg can of Morgans WME
Should i be adding anything else to the list?
My local HBS didnt have any K -97 yeast or anything better for that matter, so sadly the kit yeast is goin in.

 

[KingPython]

Umm you need grain to modify the oats to get fermentable sugars i.e. do a partial mash. I'd leave any dried orange peel substitute out.

 

[j1gsaw]

So basically the oats wont do jack sh*t in there now?

 

[lczaban]

Sorry to hear on the yeast front. Wheat beers rely on the ester productions from their yeast as a fairly major component of their flavour. All you will end up with is a light beer that will have a coriander taste to it if you just use the kit yeast. I have brewed two Hoegaarden-esque beers using a WLP300 liquid yeast, and they both had the ester flavours associated with wheat beers. I stand to be corrected, but you may be wasting your time getting close to a Hoegaarden if you are just using the kit yeast...

Edit - passion fingers...

 

[KingPython]

Honestly I have not made a wit, but yes the oats will do jack shit. From my hazy knowledge wits can contain 'raw' wheat (weet-bix) but I'm pretty sure the oats need to be mashed. Do a search or use google.

 

[chappo1970]

J1G,
Steeping wheetbix and oats is a waste of time mate, you have no enzymes there to convert the starches etc to sugars. All you'll get is some sugars in the wheetbix, maybe malt additive abd a heap of cloudiness. You really need to be doing a mini mash with some grains, yeah?
Citric Acid ain't lemon either it's acid so all it will impart is a tart sour taste. Whack your finger in the powder and shove it in ya gob... now look at a mirror... does ya gob look like your bottom hole?

Love your experimentations mate but you need to plan just a little before shoving everything into the fermenter and crossing your fingers.

Other than that looks great? :icon_cheers:

Cheers

Chappo

Edit: beat again! +1 need to do a mash

 

[Pennywise]

IMO the orange rind is pretty much a must if you trying to get near a hoegaarden

 

[j1gsaw]

All i have here is some uncracked pearl barley grain, but cant imagine that will help

 

[KingPython]

You've got something along the lines of an American Wheat. For something approaching Hoegaarden you need the yeast, coriander and dried orange peel. The oats and wheat really can be left out if need be.

 

[lczaban]

Regarding the oats, they needed to be "mashed" with some cracked grains as opposed to "steeped". The reason is that oats contain complex starches that need to be converted to simpler sugars by enzymes in order to be fermented. Oats do not contain these enzymes, but grains do. The idea is that by mashing the oats with some grains, the enzymes present in the grains will convert both grain and oat starches in the mash. Speciality grains already have simple enough sugars present and so steeping these is fine, but for oats a mash is required if the starches are to be properly converted.

FWIW, I added some oats to my 2nd wheat beer and I didn't do any mashing to allow this starch conversion to occur (depsite having a good steeping process that turned the oats into mush). I went through and fermented/bottled my beer as per normal, blissfully unaware of my mistake. This beer is still nice and very drinkable, so if you are past the point of no return don't stress about it too much. Put this one down to experience and attack the next brew with better knowledge. In the meantime, RDWHAHB... :beer:

 

[RetsamHsam]

I wonder if you added 'dry beer enzyme' to the mix of weet bix and water if you would get any conversion.. From what I have heard the DBE is just Amylase, so is there any reason why it wouldn't work??

 

[RetsamHsam]

All i have here is some uncracked pearl barley grain, but cant imagine that will help

If you crack it and chuck it in at about 64 degrees it will do the trick..

How much do you have, you will at least need a 1:1 ratio of grain to weet-bix/oats for decent conversion.

 

[KingPython]

You probably need more bittering hops too.

 

[chappo1970]

All i have here is some uncracked pearl barley grain, but cant imagine that will help

OK pearl has diastase of only 45L but there is still enough activity to convert for example 5% of Crystal malt and 5 -10% of cooked adjunct (e.g. flaked maize). Mashing is normally at a fixed temperature of about 65C, so modification has to be high to cope with this and a coarse grist is normally used.

So if you have 1kg of pearl you can mash 50 to 100gr of oats and or wheetbix (which I would class as a cooked adjunct).

So in answer to your question: yes it would help if your keen but I feel the pearl would push your attempt away from a Hoegy style.

 

[j1gsaw]

only have 250g... i just wacked it to death with a hammer and it went in the stocking too... probably wont be enough, but any is better then none i guess.
Thanks for the tips gents..

 

[chappo1970]

only have 250g... i just wacked it to death with a hammer and it went in the stocking too... probably wont be enough, but any is better then none i guess.
Thanks for the tips gents..

65C J1G! And boil it for at least 15-20mins.

 

[j1gsaw]

Sweet! and when do i add the 4 kg of castor sugar chappo? hahahahah

 

[Steve]

J1gsaw - for future reference if you make another wheat use WB06 or Danstar Munch Yeast. These are true wheat yeasts. K97 is NOT a wheat yeast.
Cheers
Steve

 

[lczaban]

Sweet! and when do i add the 4 kg of castor sugar chappo? hahahahah

Now that's bein' plain ol' nasty now, init?? :lol:

 

[RetsamHsam]

Sweet! and when do i add the 4 kg of castor sugar chappo? hahahahah

I knew the old jigsaw was in there somewhere!!! :lol: