Style Of The Week 22/11/06 - Witbier

[facter]

Okay partial mashers, I think I've stumbled on a winner! Just finished yesterday and I took a taste of it today, I reckon these things are great kegged right out of the fermenter and really fresh, certainly tastes damn fine, and I reckon better than a hoey hahaha. I formulated this from hints from a previous recipe, hints from this thread and my newly acquired Radical Brewing book





Witetch Belgium White


Batch Size (L): 23.00
OG: 1.052
IBU: 18.7
SRM: 5.1



Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name
----------------------------------------
9.8 0.50 kg. Rolled Wheat
35.3 1.80 kg. Pale Malt(2-row)
5.9 0.30 kg. Flaked Oats
13.7 0.70 kg. Wheat Malt
5.9 0.30 kg. Flaked Triticale
29.4 1.50 kg. Coopers LME - Wheat




Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.00 g. Smaragd Pellet 8.00 7.8 60 min.
8.00 g. Hallertau Hersbrucker Pellet 3.10 3.4 60 min.
6.00 g. Perle Pellet 9.00 7.5 60 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.00 gm Chamomille Herb 5 minutes
18.00 gm Corriander Seed Spice 5 Min
4.00 gm Juniper Berries Other 5 minutes
Zest 1 mandarine peel and two orange peels, oven dried 5 minutes
Half a teaspoon cumin


Yeast
-----

WYeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit

 

[tangent]

well my brew is almost down to FG and the ferment was that quick once i'd introduced the T58, that the fridge was set at 16C and it still brewed out in about 2 & 1/2 days getting up to about ~23-24C (according to the stick on thermometer)

unfortunately the change in yeast has resulted in almost no fruit and just spice.

i'm thinking of throwing in a few shots of curacao style liqueur and a clove in, but i'm buggered if i can think of a way to add banana and bubblegum...?

 

[Tony]

a couple of those bananna lollies and 2 pieces of pre-chewed hubba bubba

hehehe

cheers

Hey tangent..... would the T-58 be any good for a belgian pale ale?

 

[tangent]

something mild, yeah why not Tony?

 

[Tony]

well i have some in the fridge and i want to start my belgian exploration at the start.

Im not a fan of witbier so a pale ale it is.

Sorry for the hijac people.

on with the topic

cheers

 

[Steve]

why does the orange peel have to be dried?

 

[tangent]

i don't think it does, i've used fresh mandarin peel before. some people find dried easier to come across in asian grocers than fresh.

 

[Steve]

i don't think it does, i've used fresh mandarin peel before. some people find dried easier to come across in asian grocers than fresh.

Thanks Tangent, just wanted to make sure. Ive got two oranges as I couldnt find any bitter marmalade or dried peel. I'll just use them as is - without the white pithy stuff that is. Looking forward to this one. :beer:
Cheers
Steve

 

[DarkFaerytale]

placed an order over the weekend for a wit but not thinking properly i also placed and order for a california common, would i still be able to get banana flavour from forbidden fruit yeast at 18C (can be brewed as low as 17 according to wyeast website) if i under pitched it?

-Phill

 

[tangent]

FF yeast is supposed to be an acceptable substitute.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

i understand that, looking forward to brewing with it, but worried about not getting enough banana flavour from a lower temp than i'd rather be brewing the wit at as the grains are pre-crushed and i can only brew them together in the same fridge (should have probably explained that in my earlier post)

 

[tangent]

you should get some banana but a few extra C would pump out more.

 

[Stuster]

You could start it in the fridge and then after a day or two take it out and let it slowly warm up to ambient. That yeast should be fine with pretty high temps. You could cover it in a wet towel if you want, but other brewers have recommended using this above 24C so it should be fine without.

"If you love it, let it go."

 

[DarkFaerytale]

cheers tangent and stuster, if the weather is not to bad next week i'll try brewing outside the fridge. moving the brewery to the old mans garage this week and worried about temp fluctuations. as long as i get some banana i'll be happy

-Phill

 

[Snow]

Hey guys I just did a wit on the weekend using Wyeast 3944. I threw in a few spices, including coriender, orange peel and cumin. What are people's recommendations for conditioning a wit? Do you cold condition for a couple of weeks, condition at room temp for a while to let the flavour of spices blend more with the beer, sit it in primary for 2 weeks and the just keg/bottle? My gut feel is to rack to secondary after a week, then condition at room temp for 2 weeks before kegging. whaddayarekun?

Cheers - Snow.

ps - oh yeah, I used 500g of plain flour in the mash, too. Did a rest at 50c but still had big sparging problems. Anyone have any tips on mashing with flour?

 

[KoNG]

placed an order over the weekend for a wit but not thinking properly i also placed and order for a california common, would i still be able to get banana flavour from forbidden fruit yeast at 18C (can be brewed as low as 17 according to wyeast website) if i under pitched it?

-Phill

Phill, if you are looking for banana type flavours you might be better off looking at a german wheat yeast. just a thought

Hey guys I just did a wit on the weekend using Wyeast 3944. I threw in a few spices, including coriender, orange peel and cumin. What are people's recommendations for conditioning a wit? Do you cold condition for a couple of weeks, condition at room temp for a while to let the flavour of spices blend more with the beer, sit it in primary for 2 weeks and the just keg/bottle? My gut feel is to rack to secondary after a week, then condition at room temp for 2 weeks before kegging. whaddayarekun?

Cheers - Snow.

ps - oh yeah, I used 500g of plain flour in the mash, too. Did a rest at 50c but still had big sparging problems. Anyone have any tips on mashing with flour?

Snow,
Ive used flour and didnt really have a problem when batch sparging, i used half a fist of rice hulls just incase, but just added the flour after the main grist dough in.
as for getting it into the keg.. i would get primary fermentation complete and get it straight in there. Great style to drink fresh with a little yeast for nutrients/flavour

 

[Weizguy]

Steve, the orange peel need not be dried. I routinely peel with a potato peeler and add direct into the boil (or in a muslin bag).

Phil, I don't think that you should be looking for banana in a Witbier. That's Weizen territory. Maybe you should check the forum for weizen threads.
Seriously, I don't think I could stomach a phenolic/orange/coriander/banana brew.

Seth out

 

[DarkFaerytale]

don't you hate it when you type out a big post then you loose it by pressing the wrong button

anyway i'll keep it short, doing a hefeweizen next then a dunkelweizen, was ment to do the hefe this time around but plans tend to change alot when your a brewer

-Phill

 

[Snow]

Phill, if you are looking for banana type flavours you might be better off looking at a german wheat yeast. just a thought
Snow,
Ive used flour and didnt really have a problem when batch sparging, i used half a fist of rice hulls just incase, but just added the flour after the main grist dough in.
as for getting it into the keg.. i would get primary fermentation complete and get it straight in there. Great style to drink fresh with a little yeast for nutrients/flavour

Thanks Kong. I blended the flour with the grist before adding to the mash tun, so maybe that's where I went wrong....

Cheers - Snow

 

[tangent]

Check this out. I finally found dried orange peel in the local Asian grocery store.
Looking at the label closely, it seems to be some natural remedy for an unset guts.
Unfortunately it seems to be covered with saccharine and my guess would be citric acid.
Tastes bloody aweful!
Lucky i tried it before i was tempted to use it!