All-Grain - W (Belgian Wit)

adamjab19 · 02-15-2009, 11:51 PM

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 3944
Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 10
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 at 64*F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): in bottle
Tasting Notes: Nice rounded spice/orange/ester flavors.

2lbs American Two-Row
2lbs Pils Two-Row
1lbs Flaked Oats
2.5lbs Soft White Wheat
1lbs Torrified Wheat
.25lbs Acid Malt

1oz. Strisselspalt Pellet Hops (2.5%) at 60 minutes

.5oz Crushed Corriander
.5oz bitter orange peel
.5oz sweet orange peel
zest from 2 navel oranges
2 chamomile tea bags
1tbls. flour
The above was added in a hop bag the last 5 minutes of the boil and for the cooling of the wort.

Basically did a "one of everything" type brew here. There is so mch info. out there and types of ingredients that can be added to a wit so I just sort of picked these and did middle of the road weights and times. Brewed with the BIAB method. Started with about 5 gallons of water. Conducted a reast for 20mins. at 128*F. Stepped up to sacc. rest at 153*F for 45 minutes. Stepped up to mash out at 170*F. I added an extra gallon of water here that was around 180*f or so to assist with getting to the mashing out temp. then proceded to the boil.

Fermented for 2 weeks at 62-66*F.

Very nice tasting Wit so far. Just enough orange and spice for me. My one friend commented that it was better than a local brewery! I'll see how it mellows out. It's only been in the bottle for a few days.

maui808 · 03-15-2009, 09:24 PM

Thanks for the post! Your beer looks great. I am going to brew something similar for my second batch in a couple weeks and I have been trying to figure out if you throw the orange and coriander right in loose or use a hop bag. So you answered that one for me.

How did adding bitter peel, sweet peel and zest work out? I have never seen a recipe calling for all three.

adamjab19 · 03-15-2009, 10:44 PM

It tastes great I think. Nice and orangey enough for me. And a sweet orange flavor actually. I suppose you wouldn't have to do all three orange additions, but at least the bitter orange peel as it balances out the sweetness of the sweet orange peel. If I didn't have fresh orange zest around I probably would have just added a whole ounce of dried sweet peel instead. But since I am cheap ass I bought one ounce of sweet peel and now have it for two batches!

It took the spices about 2 weeks or so to balance out. At first it was a little bitter from the corriander, bitter peel, and chamomile.