Witbier not fully attenuating

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markp

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Hookers yard wit - https://share.brewfather.app/qGf9TyFZz32oKy
Would like mhb to chime in on this, I have brewed the above witbier twice now and it has struggled to finish up both times stopping at 1.018-1.020.
The first time I suspected a bad batch of yeast so I re brewed and came up way short again.
Can anyone tell what the issue may be from the above recipe ?
Cheers in advance [emoji482]
 
Going to suggest you add a glucan/protein rest at 45-50oC, you are up around 50% unmalted adjunct.
I don't know your system so you will have to work out the best approach, You could mash in heavy (say 2-2.5:1) to hit 45oC, give it 15-20 minutes, add hot (boiling, and stir like buggery) water to reach your scarification temperature (perhaps bring that down to 64-65oC). Plenty of good on line calculators will help with the hot water additions. You might even have room to make another addition to take you up to your mash out temperature, really going to be down to your mash tun volume.
Be a lot easier on a system with programable infusion.

You are also adding 10 times as much orange peal as the most authentic Hoegaarden recipe I can find, something I find can overpower the rest of the beer.
You might find your efficiency could come up a bit, with proper milling, a good mash regime and a decent sized (slow) sparge there is no reason you wont be getting low 80% efficiency.
I like Hoegaarden but have always used the Wyeast smack pack, according to the info sheet the dry yeast should get down to 1.010 or so giving you the ~5% ABV you are looking for.
About all I can think of at this point

Serendipitously I'm brewing tomorrow, there is a fair wack of toasted Oat flake in the recipe. Spent the afternoon shuffling trays of oats in and out of the oven, right now its sitting on the stove top in a 20L pot, on low, mixed with a bit (10%) of milled Maris, am letting it rise from about 35oC to 80oC to get it fully gelatinised, tomorrow it will go into the mash.
Too much unmalted Oats can play hob with the flow on a Braumeister, this way it will be nice and fluid and I wanted a toasted Oat flavour for our ANZAC Ale (and golden syrup, coconut...), time to check the temperature and get the second pot ready.
Mark
 
Thanks for your input mark, I’m brewing on a grainfather so the protein rest is not a problem, I crush my own grain and condition it before milling and always hit my numbers and don’t suffer stuck mashes or sparges so I believe after trial and error with mill settings I have that part right.
I always use yeast nutrient and pitch more than adequate amounts of yeast so I’m not thinking that is my issue.
I hate things beating me so will try this recipe again using your suggestions.
Thanks for your input.
 
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