Style Of The Week 22/11/06 - Witbier

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Going to have a crack at my first Wit on sunday

The forbidden fruit yeast is an animal and finnished the starter in a little over 24 hrs, and i have some good pilsner malt for the job now thanks to the generous efforts of a fellow AHB'er

The only thing im nervous about is the spice additions. Im making a 54 liter batch and after a lot of reading it seems less is more when spicing this style up. I have some great dried orange peel and indian coriander, and im thinking one 10 min addition in the boil of about 20g of each., maybe 15 g of the orange as i dont want it to dominate.

Also..... will uncle tobys qiuck oats be ok for this style?

If your going for your first wit, why don't you do something simple (no spices, wheat malt and single hop)???

Good luck!

 

[Tony]

If your going for your first wit, why don't you do something simple (no spices, wheat malt and single hop)???

Good luck!

:lol: Me.......... Simple......... naaaaa never.

Its going to be about 50% torrified wheat, 43% pils and 7% oats, but no way in hell am i skipping the spice....... i love the spice.

Its just going to be a suck it and see exercise and improve it the next time i guess.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

I had some advice from James at Brewz2you here in WA. Be gentle with the spice and work upwards slowly...... good advice because I wanted to bomb the **** out of it with coriander and orange.
I ended up going with (20L brew)
3 teaspoons of angus park mixed peel @10 (pressed for time - couldnt get oranges)
2 teaspoons of coriander seeds roasted and crushed @ flameout
I used stryian goldings up to 14 IBU's - also his advice.

It is very nice and subtle, turned out well using the Wyeast belgian wit. Next time I might increase both a bit - maybe 5 teaspoons of peel and 3 of coriander.
Brew on
Cheers
BBB

 

[Tony]

ok... so a bit more peel than coriander hey.

Those amounts sound very close to what im planning so id say im on the money or there abouts.

Cheers for the info

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

ok... so a bit more peel than coriander hey.

Those amounts sound very close to what im planning so id say im on the money or there abouts.

Cheers for the info

Let me know !!!!!! I'll be doing this again in about 6 weeks
Cheers Tony
BBB

 

[Nick JD]

Step ... away ... from ... the corriander

Nah, seriously though - the two style faults of a Wit are "celery" and "ham". I've managed to do them both and yup, it's an aftertaste of SOUP. Ham bone soup ... heavy on the celery, like Nana used to make.

Orange peel? Bung as much as you want in. No worries. Hoegaarden has a reasonably heavy citrus flavour. Just watch the pith. Get dried tangerine from the Chinese Supermarket if you can - it rocks.

Just hold back on the corriander or you'll get celery.

 

[Tony]

i wish we had chinese grocers around here....... in fact, i rarely see asian people around here so very small market i guess....... shame as i love asian cooking!

The indian coriander i have has a wonderful lemon character an i think i will toast it up first to intinsify it and try and stop some of that raw vegitable flavour.

Good thinking

 

[jakub76]

will uncle tobys qiuck oats be ok for this style?

I used supermarket quick oats in my last 2 wits and it worked great. I tried boiling/gelatinizing some oats for a recent pale ale - I got better efficiency out of the oats but the goo gummed up my mash so I won't be boiling them again.

As for corriander I wouldn't be scared of it. As long as you grind the whole seeds yourself just before using them it adds a beautiful citrus flavour and aroma. I use 15g for a 24 litre batch. I also use a single star anise and 14g of chamomile tea. I tried dried, bitter orange peel and got nothing out of it...maybe some dust flavour and a little bitterness. I now use fresh orange Zest, 2 oranges for a 24L batch. I tried zest of 6 oranges in a batch and it overwhelmed it.

I add all of the spices in with 5 minutes boil remaining...a lot of people do flameout and whirlpool only - too long in the boil will drive off all that aroma.

 

[Tony]

mmmmm just realised i didnt buy torrified wheat....... i bought JW Raw wheat

it heated up the pully on the mills motor from the drive belt slipping trying to pull it through the 10 inch wide rollers

Now to work out if any special rest stops are needed for raw wheat.

cheers

 

[bullsneck]

mmmmm just realised i didnt buy torrified wheat....... i bought JW Raw wheat

it heated up the pully on the mills motor from the drive belt slipping trying to pull it through the 10 inch wide rollers

Now to work out if any special rest stops are needed for raw wheat.

cheers

I am brewing a Wit here on Saturday. I'm interested in how your Raw Wheat worked.

Here's the recipe...


BOAB Witbier (Witbier)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.050 (P): 12.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (P): 3.3
Alcohol (ABV): 4.91 %
Colour (SRM): 3.4 (EBC): 6.6
Bitterness (IBU): 19.2 (Tinseth)

54.7% Weyermann FM Bohemien Pilsner
34.29% Torrified Wheat
11.01% Flaked Oats

1.5 g/L Saaz (3.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1 g/L Saaz (3.7% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil)

0.2 g/L Calcium Chloride @ 0 Minutes (Mash)
0.7 g/L Chamomile @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
0.3 g/L Corriander Seed @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
1.9 g/L Orange Peel @ 1 Minutes (Boil)

Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 18C with Wyeast 3944 - Belgian Witbier

Notes: Mash

52 for 15

68 for 45mins

76 out for 15

Grains
Wheat and Oats (mill hard!)

Zest 5 oranges

Grind the Corriander seeds well

Carbonate to 3.0 volumes

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

I've heard that a Cereal mash will help with the main mash and efficiency. Anyone care to elaborate what their process was if they have gone down this path?

Cheers,

bullsneck

 

[bullsneck]

Bump-erooni!

 

[sirotilc]

Has anyone seen dried bitter orange peel for sale lately? CB and G&G used to have it but no longer it seems.

Also to contribute - native pepperberries (small amount <5g) are an excellent addition to a wit, it's a very unique flavour.

 

[hoohaaman]

Has anyone seen dried bitter orange peel for sale lately? CB and G&G used to have it but no longer it seems.

Also to contribute - native pepperberries (small amount <5g) are an excellent addition to a wit, it's a very unique flavour.

Good to use substitutes,that is why this style is around.Pepperberries would meld with the Saaz great i think.

 

[rbtmc]

Hey guy's

Just came across some komquats recently and was thinking of doing a witbier with them, searched the forum to no avail.

Anyone here tried this? What did you think?

Recipe so far:
50% JWM Pils
50% Torrefied Wheat (Grain & Grape don't do raw?)

Zest of 5(?) komquats
Coriander seeds
Hallertau to 16 IBU

Wyeast 3942

Any ideas on quantities would be appreciated.

 

[brettprevans]

Hey guy's

Just came across some komquats recently and was thinking of doing a witbier with them, searched the forum to no avail.

Anyone here tried this? What did you think?

Recipe so far:
50% JWM Pils
50% Torrefied Wheat (Grain & Grape don't do raw?)

Zest of 5(?) komquats
Coriander seeds
Hallertau to 16 IBU

Wyeast 3942

Any ideas on quantities would be appreciated.

taste the zest of the kumquat and judge as to whether it will hold up. you could always puree some kumquats and add to secondary if the zest doesnt impart enough flavour.

as for terrified wheat, some prefer it to raw wheat as you dont need to muck around with it, you can add straight into the mash and not do a cerial mash. imparts the same qualities as raw wheat.

 

[mje1980]

Hey guys, a question. If using unmalted/raw wheat ( 50% ) in your witbiers, do you do any extra steps in the mash??. I've read a long protein rest can help. Im comfortable with doing infusion step mashing. Been a few years since i did a wit, which was lovely, but i used malted wheat then, and would like to try another, but a bit more "authentic"

Cheers

 

[r055c0]

Resurrecting a bit of an old topic here and my apologies in advance if this has been covered elsewhere, I'm going to put together a very simple witbier (50% torrified wheat, 50% pils, orange peel, corriander) and having a look around on the interwebs I see traditionally the style was brewed without hops. Has anyone ever brewed a wit without hops? Is it worth repeating?

 

[gap]

This is the first I have heard of this, no hops!!!

Also you should use one of the liquid Wit yeasts with this as the flavours
are driven by the yeast, the raw wheat and by the subtle use of spice and dried Orange peel.

 

[r055c0]

The no hops thing surprised me also, that why I thought I should ask the question. I know the hops isn't really supposed to be apparent in the style.

I plan to use Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier.

 

[RelaxedBrewer]

A couple of things.

I never had one without any hops. I read the the orange peel was originally used to add some bitterness as hops were very expensive/hard to get.
I have used saaz and goldings with good results. I usually aim for an IBU of ~15.

I suggest adding 5-10% rolled oats