High OG - orange/coriander Witbier

After I cooled the wort and added water up to 5 gallons my OG came to 1.105. (Was supposed to be around 1.051 for this Witbier) So once I noticed the original boil was supposed to be 2.5 gal rather than 3, I added more water to dilute what was going in the fermenter. I got it down to 1.074 OG and the volume came to approximately 6.1gal.

Will standard yeast pack suffice?
Should I let it set longer in the fermenter to account for the extra volume?
Any recommendations would greatly be appreciated! I really don't know what to expect and I don't want to lose this beer!

i think you'll be alright ....though even with a 6.5 -7.0 carboy you'll probably have some blow-off....

let it ferment until it quits like normal.....you could rack it over to a secondary for a few days or let it set for an extra few in the primary but either way it will be drankable and probably have more mouth feel or higher ABV than a lower gravity wit but that's not a bad thing. usually a witbier with my experience can be served in a few weeks .....you could chose to age it for a week or so. i would try it after the second week if your are bottlling. if kegged two weeks.......i really don't feel you will be diappointed...beer is most forgiving...

betcha it tastes great!

GD

A high gravity witbeer? Sounds like a panty dropper to me!

GD,
Thank you very much for the feedback. This makes me feel much better about this brew.
I think I'm going to rack over 3 pounds of oranges then set in empty tertiary for 1wk. Crossing my fingers.

Darwin,
One can only hope.

i can't advise you about the out come of racking onto 3lbs of oranges after fermenting.......

that's what makes homebrewing so interesting it brings out a person's creativity.

i do know that lambic belgian brews do what you are suggesting.

i've brewed a triple layered belgian twice. it was an award winning recipe from a LHBS. my experience for the trouble of exrra racking and brewing, it never panned out to be as good as a regular wit bier. i'm thinking it was just a good markenting poly to sell a recipe...

good luck!
gd

Just transferred into secondary and re-measured SG, came out to 1.014. Tasted great. On track to push 8% !!! Since I'm going for over the top orange, I added 6tbsp fresh squeezed naval orange juice to secondary, then racked. Upon second thought, I was worried about the whole cut oranges increasing my chance of infection. Thanks for the advice

Recipe Please!!!

Been looking for a recipe similar to this local beer.