Witbier Austin Homebrew's Belgian White Beer

I have made that beer a few different times, it is an excellent recipe.

Alright,

Today I brewed this recipe with outstanding results. I'm going to primary it for 10 days then secondary for 14. So I will be posting some pics as soon as possible.

Happy Brewing,

Jacob

Is this an ale or pilsner - what's a good fermentation temp? If an ale, then why the pilsner malt (could you use an ale malt instead?)
I recently had a friend ask me if I've ever brewed a wit beer, and that weekend we had some Mothership Wit (New Belgium Brewing) and Blue Moon, and it really got me thinking or the homebrew possibilities! Also, do you use orange peel from the brew store, or actually scrape the outer rind from an orange? THANKS!!!


4.75 lb Belgian Pilsner (2 Row)
3.00 lb White Wheat Malt
2.5 lb Flaked Wheat
0.50 oz Cascade (7.5%) (30min)
0.50 oz Cascade (7.5%) (5 min)
0.50 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 15.0 min)
0.50 oz Coriander Seed, Crushed (Boil 15.0 min)
1 Pkg Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400)

Mash Schedule:
Single Infusion
Total Grain Weight (lb's)--10.25

Mash In:
4.0 gallons strike at 163 F to obtain 152 F 60 min
Mash Out:
3.0 Gallons at 172 F for 15 min

I'm fresh out of all brew right now, but I'm planning a brew day Saturday using this recipe. This beer is just as delicious as AHS's Blue Moon if not better. If there are any questions regarding the recipe, just let me know.

Happy brewing,
Jacob



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Mrsunshades wrote,
"Is this an ale or pilsner - what's a good fermentation temp? If an ale, then why the pilsner malt (could you use an ale malt instead?)
I recently had a friend ask me if I've ever brewed a wit beer, and that weekend we had some Mothership Wit (New Belgium Brewing) and Blue Moon, and it really got me thinking or the homebrew possibilities! Also, do you use orange peel from the brew store, or actually scrape the outer rind from an orange? THANKS!!!"

Well, first of all I didn't personally make this recipe. This is an AHS recipe. I imagine that you could use any pale base grain and thats why the creator of this recipe chose Belgian Pilsner. It isn't a Pilsner, it's a Belgian Ale, and is best fermented (According to White Labs,) from 67-74 F. The orange peel can be bought from the brew shop. I've never tried fresh orange, but I've heard of people putting zest in their brews. If you ask for the orange at your LHBS, they will know what you're talking about. Now I've made this recipe bunches of times and the grain bill seams to be good, so I haven't changed it.

mrsunshades said:

Is this an ale or pilsner - what's a good fermentation temp? If an ale, then why the pilsner malt (could you use an ale malt instead?)
I recently had a friend ask me if I've ever brewed a wit beer, and that weekend we had some Mothership Wit (New Belgium Brewing) and Blue Moon, and it really got me thinking or the homebrew possibilities! Also, do you use orange peel from the brew store, or actually scrape the outer rind from an orange? THANKS!!![/FONT]

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[/QUOTE]


pilsner malt is just the base grain, not the style. If you used a different base malt, you wouldn't be making the same beer.

pilsner malt is just the base grain, not the style. If you used a different base malt, you wouldn't be making the same beer.[/QUOTE]

Well said.

Hey, i was thinking about brewing this recipe soon. Just one quick question: is the boil time shorted (like 30 min) or do you still use a full 60 minute boil?

Chromados

chromados said:

Hey, i was thinking about brewing this recipe soon. Just one quick question: is the boil time shorted (like 30 min) or do you still use a full 60 minute boil?

Chromados

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For extract brewers 60 would be acceptable. For all grain, 90 is almosy always reccommended for recipes using pils malt to reduce dms.

I have also made this kit & it turned out very nice. I give a personal thumbs up to this recipe. Might be brewing it again this spring.

philrose said:

For extract brewers 60 would be acceptable. For all grain, 90 is almosy always reccommended for recipes using pils malt to reduce dms.

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This recipe is a 30 minute boil on purpose.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

This recipe is a 30 minute boil on purpose.

Forrest

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then go with that I 'spose. theres enough success with the recipe not to try and fuss with it.

Forrest, just wanted to make sure that you still use a 30 min boil for All Grain?

Thanks
Chromados

chromados said:

Forrest, just wanted to make sure that you still use a 30 min boil for All Grain?

Thanks
Chromados

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I'm also curious on that.

Once you extract the sugars from the grains you are boiling for the hops. White beer has no bittering hops (ie 60 minute hops). Only flavor and aroma hops (30 and 5 min hops). The beer would be too bitter for a white beer if you boiled for more than 30 minutes.

That is how this recipe is designed and advised by Pierre Celis.

Why mess with success?

Forrest

Well, I'd never say mess with success- Pierre Celis is the godfather of wit.

I don't really see why you couldn't just add the hops at 30 min left to go and do a regular boil.

I'm not questioning the recipe at all, I just don't understand why not. seems like all it could do is drive off dms.

philrose said:

Well, I'd never say mess with success- Pierre Celis is the godfather of wit.

I don't really see why you couldn't just add the hops at 30 min left to go and do a regular boil.

I'm not questioning the recipe at all, I just don't understand why not. seems like all it could do is drive off dms.

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Is it necessary to secondary this? Wouldn't I strive for a little cloudiness?

MeanGreen said:

Is it necessary to secondary this? Wouldn't I strive for a little cloudiness?

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you asking me?

In my personal brewing process I skip secondary for a longer stint on the yeast.

just made this minimash recipe. Blew off my airlock...about to happen again too...

I've made this one a couple of times, but I did a 60 minute boil. I just added the flavoring/aroma hops at the appropriate times and it came out awesome.

Try making the beer as intended first. Then tweak it out if you want. It is a great recipe.

Forrest

I followed this one exact. Its being bottle conditioned as we speak. The color seemed a little dark to me. Do you think I did something wrong or is that jsut from using extract brewing

Just picked up the ingredients for this today, but the HBS was out of cascade! Hopefully they'll stock up by the end of the week or I'll be doing an unintended substitution. Anybody got any ideas if this becomes the case?

gtpro said:

Just picked up the ingredients for this today, but the HBS was out of cascade! Hopefully they'll stock up by the end of the week or I'll be doing an unintended substitution. Anybody got any ideas if this becomes the case?

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Find a different HBS.

Eric

Or, use one of these substitutions, making sure to adjust for AA differences.

I thought I'd try this recipe out. The only thing is that I couldn't find the yeast locally so I bought Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier Yeast. Apparently it's a substitute for White Labs WLP410 Belgian Wit II Yeast.

Will there be a dramatic difference with this yeast strain and what does it taste like compared to WLP400? Has anyone tried it before?

xt-lee said:

I thought I'd try this recipe out. The only thing is that I couldn't find the yeast locally so I bought Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier Yeast. Apparently it's a substitute for White Labs WLP410 Belgian Wit II Yeast.

Will there be a dramatic difference with this yeast strain and what does it taste like compared to WLP400? Has anyone tried it before?

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In short, you will be fine. Here's what White Labs has to say about WLP410, when compared to WLP400:

Less phenolic than WLP400, and more spicy. Will leave a bit more sweetness, and flocculation is higher than WLP400. Use to produce Belgian Wit, spiced Ales, wheat Ales, and specialty Beers.

Eric

After looking over the recipe, I notice there is a mash out. Does this mean there is no sparging involved?

How does that effect efficiency?

Well, I brewed this recipe today conforming to the mash schedule and grain bill. I put the recipe into beersmith. After the mash out, I sparged with a little over a gallon of sparge water. I had the right post boil gravity, however I ended up 4 points short or 64% efficiency with 1.044. I used my hydrometer while the wort was still hot and then re-adjusted with the beersmith calculator. Maybe that method is not entirely accurate. A little short of target but still within acceptable range. With the mash out and sparge, I ended up with 5.5 gallons of wort after the boil and cold break.

Can't wait to see how this turns out!

man, I'm brewing this today and I'm a bit shocked at how light the wort is in color, almost like a deep straw color, I realize this is a light colored beer by design but its unnerving to see this for the first time.

gtpro said:

man, I'm brewing this today and I'm a bit shocked at how light the wort is in color, almost like a deep straw color, I realize this is a light colored beer by design but its unnerving to see this for the first time.

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Don't worry, it is a very light colored beer. Also, the hydrometer sample will taste very bitter because of the flameout addition, but don't let that worry you either. That flavor does not carry though to the finish.

Eric

Okay, this beer has been in primary for 2.5 weeks now and basically it smells like crap. Anybody else had this? I'm not sure if its th sulfur byproducts of this yeast or what but it is not pleasant. Should I just let it primary longer?

Well, I'm drinking mine now...lol

The yeast originally gave a band-aid/plastic taste to the beer which seems to have dissipated. From what I read, phenolic is most likely the taste. It took about 3 weeks from start of fermentation. I have since re-used the yeast cake and the second batch does not have the plastic character.

As for taste, I am very picky about light beers. I generally like sweet beers over bitter ones. This one is a bit bitter but also tart. Very interesting flavor. I can't really compare it to anything commercial but it is indeed a Belgium style. If anything, it has the light taste and color of Hoegaarden but the spice of Alexander Keith's White. Citrus taste is there but not pronounced. There is more citrus aroma than taste. Blue Moon has a high citrus taste compared to this. A sliced orange seems to compliment this beer. I carbonated at 2.9 vol. which seems to be good. Not overly gassy, but just enough.

Out of all the beers I've Brewed, this one is outstanding! I would definitely make this again.

so are you saying the smell cleared up with some time in the bottle?

I plan on brewing this next week but I have a couple questions. The boil time is listed as 5o minutes in the recipe but a post from Austin homebrew says it is 30 minutes. Which is correct? Also would it be ok to leave this in the primary for 2 to 3 weeks and not even secondary it? Plan is to then bottle it and then condition it in the basement.

Thanks for helping a rookie.

gtpro said:

Okay, this beer has been in primary for 2.5 weeks now and basically it smells like crap. Anybody else had this? I'm not sure if its th sulfur byproducts of this yeast or what but it is not pleasant. Should I just let it primary longer?

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The Belgian Wit yeast tends to give off a bad sulfur odor. It should clear up with time.

Toivo said:

I plan on brewing this next week but I have a couple questions. The boil time is listed as 5o minutes in the recipe but a post from Austin homebrew says it is 30 minutes. Which is correct? Also would it be ok to leave this in the primary for 2 to 3 weeks and not even secondary it? Plan is to then bottle it and then condition it in the basement.

Thanks for helping a rookie.

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If Forest says that it's a 30 minute boil, then it's a 30 minute boil. I guess it was a typo in the OP. I don't see why 3 weeks in the secondary would be a problem.

I'm making a similar beer but I guess what I confused about is the white wheat malt. I've read that white wheat needs a protein rest but this recipe doesn't call for it. Does it need a protein rest? I've only done single-infusion and not sure If I want to complicate the process in my cooler for the protein rest.

Berock said:

I'm making a similar beer but I guess what I confused about is the white wheat malt. I've read that white wheat needs a protein rest but this recipe doesn't call for it. Does it need a protein rest? I've only done single-infusion and not sure If I want to complicate the process in my cooler for the protein rest.

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No, it doesn't necessarily need one. I always just mash mine in the normal Sach rest range and I get great efficiency.

J

brewed this today. 1.048 effic... 5 gallons.

When I put this recipe into BeerAlchemy, I get about 13 IBU. Does this sound right to someone who's brewed this? (I'm not 100% sure I trust BeerAlchemy yet, so I'd like confirmation that I'm using it right, if it's not too much trouble.) Thanks!