my A-wit has been in primary for 7 days now and is still bubbling away every 4 seconds, so as people have mentioned WLP410 Wit II (and probably the the others) is a slow constant worker. I've let the temp come up a little now (low 20's), as i think it has another 6 points or so to go (its @ 1.016). Tasting good, if a little sweet.
Style Of The Week 22/11/06 - Witbier
- Thread starter Stuster
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jayse
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It must be a case of great northern adelaide minds think alike here as I'am doing a wit tomorow aswell. :super:
Long overdue brew for me and its been a piss poor year for me brew wise with only a few brews down.
Anyway thanks for the tip on the fodder I'll have to go get some in the morning as I did have the wheat to do the brew from almost 12 months ago but it seems the mice have had a little party in it. I think its meant to be tart but I don't think mouse piss is the kind of tartness we're after. <_<
Whats the go with peel what did you end up getting there and were from?
To stuster this thread is going great so far and seems to have sparked some interest being the perfect time of year. To anyone reading the thread and interested don't forget to read the links posted in the first post.
One point i'll add about the wits I judged at anawbs this years was there were at least 50% of the wits in there which the orange peel was overdone. Not only that but the peel was a sweet orange juice flavour type and very overpowering and to me I think the wit charater should be dominated by the yeast and raw wheat with the spices and what not being as balanced as possible.
Anyway I'll be loading up the tun to do a 50 litre batch tomorow to get some much needed beer supply on.
Blanche de skunkfartingtonsworth.
Jayse
geez jayse, you have been quiet... but "a few" sounds drastic, hope you can remove the rut in the new year... :beerbang:
This thread was perfectly timed by Stuster i brewed my Wit just a few days before he posted.
but i would say the thread sparked me to brew back to back wits for the festive season.
i reduced most of the late additions (corriander and orange peel) and kept the bittering fairly low in both brews... but i think it is a fine line to get it right each brew.
Fresh chamomile made it into my second brew, i hope it doesnt dominate, but sit in the background.
Cant wait to see the faces of family over the festive season as they take that first tart sip. :lol:
Weizguy
Barley Bomber
They left this for me to answer, Tangent.Yep, mash low for an easy drinker, with little body. A dry Saison can prob go as low as 62-63C, Wits at 65ish, whereas a Baltic porter can mash at 70 C, for an almost gluggy beer.
Dryer guzzling beers may benefit from a multi-step mash, with an acid rest at 40C, protein rest at around 50C and a saccarification rest at about 64-65C. Many variations exist, and you should first try what other brewers say works for their version.
Beerz
Seth
warrenlw63
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Hey Jayse. My money's more on that flavour being from excessive corriander. To me it's where the majority of the citrusy character seems to derive from. Not that keen on corriander overload personally. :blink:
Warren -
tangent
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thanks weizguy
regarding the coriander and orange - my measurements up the top are guideline only (for me) usually when it comes to measuring it out i'll stop at, say 10grams, and say "oh sh!t, that's more than enough"
definitely agree that both can be overdone easily
i've actually still got a heap of fresh coriander in the garden going to seed and i'm thinking about dry hopping with some.
regarding the coriander and orange - my measurements up the top are guideline only (for me) usually when it comes to measuring it out i'll stop at, say 10grams, and say "oh sh!t, that's more than enough"
definitely agree that both can be overdone easily
i've actually still got a heap of fresh coriander in the garden going to seed and i'm thinking about dry hopping with some.
warrenlw63
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Hippies is Manly. Yuppies in Mosman. Puppies in Penrith. Skippies in Lakemba... No! Hang on a minute.
Warren -
Warren -
my post wasnt meant to derail the thread... BUT, yes we do have hippies, they even make you do all the work in their shop (being a co-op :blink: ), i had to open sacks of grain, transfer to buckets, fill my own bags, weigh the product.... all, while the hippy was sending an sms up at the counter!! (so maybe "faux" hippies)
Hey Josh & others
So how much coriander & orange do you use? Also what type of coriander (eg Indian) & orange (eg bitter)?
Also how much do you grind the spices up - I read somewhere that the more finely ground the spices, the stronger the flavour.
I have found that getting the right balance of spices is one of the many challenges of brewing a good wit.
cheers
HStB
Josh
WSB
My last wit used 10g Saaz, 10g Coriander seed from the supermarket crushed up with a mortar and pestle, 35g dried orange peel from the local chinese grocer (I'm guessing it's bitter orange?) all added at 10 minutes. Then Saaz for bittering hops to 14IBU.
2.35kg Pilsener malt
2.45kg Torrified wheat
220g Rolled oats
mashed at 65C 45mins, 72C 15mins
Slightly lower efficiency, dextrose added to 1.050 OG
WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale yeast
Exactly, and i think that is the point HStB,
Unlike malts and hops where you are well equiped to know the results you will get from each addition (i.e effeciency from the malt or IBU's etc) you just dont know what to expect from your spice additions from brew to brew, unless you get your spice in bulk for the next few attempts. The few times i've bought corriander i have noticed vast differences in the aroma as soon as i crush it.
Even though its not totally to 'hoegaarden' style so to speak, i have been aiming at reducing the spice additions so they are there but not too dominant and using hops to get some of the flavour-aroma (only small amounts obviously).. the yanks on TBN have had success with a little cascade for citrus.
So i guess everyones amounts added late in the boil is going to differ greatly because of the variation in the product.
i think the key is not so much how much of each spice you use but what proportions. eg grains of paradise can be overwhelming but if you put them in with some coriander you soften the impact. or star anise can be horrible but combined with ginger and pepper it's totally different. different spices can mask eachother, or blend to create superspices.
it also depends on what yeast you use and what sort of esters you're going to get as to how much room there is for the spice flavour.
i like to try minute amounts of each blend sprinkled and stirred on a glass of whatever beer is on hand (could be commercial beer). then scale it up.
and if you overspice a batch, leave it for 6 months - a year to fade a bit (obviously only with the higher grav belgians)
it also depends on what yeast you use and what sort of esters you're going to get as to how much room there is for the spice flavour.
i like to try minute amounts of each blend sprinkled and stirred on a glass of whatever beer is on hand (could be commercial beer). then scale it up.
and if you overspice a batch, leave it for 6 months - a year to fade a bit (obviously only with the higher grav belgians)
i was actually thinking the same thing Tangent, i'm probably ready to bottle tomorrow night (being a wit, no secondary), so i thought i might crush some corriander into the bottling bucket with the dex, let it rest for 20 minutes, then bottle.
(it will involve a trip back to the hippy shop though, which may be the deciding factor)
(it will involve a trip back to the hippy shop though, which may be the deciding factor)
yes sorry i was crapping on a bit there got off the subject of the thread.
2 years ago i made a very weird witbier where i just added GOP and pepper - yechh. tasted like sucking on a 2B pencil. it put me off brewing witbiers until right now.on the other hand GOP has worked very well for me (in other belgian styles) mixed in with coriander and other softer spices so that is why i say blending the spices together makes the difference rather than how much of each spice you add individually.
current wit has: coriander, peel, plus cardamom, ginger, star anise, pepper, aniseed, cinnamon (chai mix). tasting pre-bottling, sharp spices balance with the sweet spices. you can't pick out any of the individual spices but you sure know there's spice in there.
also got to give thumbs up to 3522 like warren - goes like a rocket, sets like concrete. and tastes very nice.
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