Witbier Simplicity Partial Mash Witbier

The Partial Mash is simple to measure (as everything comes by the pound) and simple to do:

1 pound of Quaker Quick Oats (It comes in a 16 ounce package for $1.25)
1 pound of American Red Wheat (Rahr)
1 pound of American 2-Row (Rahr)
1 pound of Vienna Malt

Bring 1.5 gallons of water up to 154 degrees for the mash, and hold it there for at least an hour (I needed 80-90 minutes for full conversion; lots of oat to chew through, I guess?) In a separate pot, get a gallon of water up to 170 degrees to sparge.

For the rest:
3 lbs of Briess Bavarian Wheat DME
2 ounces of Czech Saaz hops@60
1.5 tablespoon of Fresh, Cracked Coriander @5
3 bags of Chamomile Tea @5
1 tablespoon of Fresh, Sweet Orange Peel @5
1 pound floral/wildflower honey stirred in @0


(Beginners' note: You don't even need a huge boil kettle for this one, as you're only really ever going to have 2-2.5 gallons water at a time in your kettle, maybe up to 3 once the DME is added.)

Top up in the fermenter with sterilized water at fridge temperature and it should be really close to pitching temperature. There really wasn't a huge boil, so just topping it up with chilled water will cool it off fast.

Use

Wyeast Belgian Saison

Start it at warm ale temps, at 68-72 degrees, then after a couple days put it somewhere warm for ten or twleve more days. (I used the late summer garage, 90 degrees thereabouts in the afternoon)

Bottle conditioned with corn sugar and ready to drink (and served at a wedding) after seven more days!

Watch the final gravity before bottling. This yeast is famously finicky to the finish line.

I wish there was any of it left to take a picture. This stuff went fast.

Beginners to brewing who want a blood simple and fast fermentation without even bothering to open the top are advised to use wyeast French Saison instead of Belgian. After 14 days at ale temps, you will be ready to bottle for sure!

Updated with more info below...

I have been doing this all grain over and over by popular demand.
5 gallons
2 pounds 6-row
2 pounds Vienna
2 pounds red wheat
1 pound flaked oats
1 pound honey
15 ibu from Belgian-appropriate hops at 60 minutes, like Saaz or Celeja
Coriander 1.5 teaspoons, cracked
Chamomile 1 teaspoon
Black pepper, 1 teaspoon cracked
Orange peel, from zest of one sweet orange.

With either Wyeast Belgian Saison or Safbrew T-58, started cold and warmed up to close to 90 to finish.

I have tried a couple different hops from necessity. saaz and Celeja are the best, glacier is all right, and hallertau doesn't work at all. Think Floral, not spicy.

I do it brew-in-a-bag, dough in cold before I even turn the heat on, and push it up to 112 F. Rest there for 15 minutes, then slowly raise the heat over about fifteen minutes to half an hour to mash temperature of 153F. Hold there for half an hour, then raise it up to mash out at 168F. A nice, long boil at 75 minutes, or even up to 90 if I have plenty of time, and I have to stir it close for quite a while with all that potential boilover from the oats and wheat malt.

Chill the wort down to 50 degrees to pitch, and then let the temperature rise slowly over a couple days up to 90 degrees. (Or, "room temperature" as they say in South Texas...)

Leave it in the primary for at least two weeks with Safbrew, and up to 4 with Belgian Saison. The latter can really be slow to finish.

I can't seem to make enough of this. It is sort of a hybrid witbier and saison, and very easy to drink.

I am trying to upload a picture.

Thank you for the recipe.

I brewed this recipe on April 04. When I got home from the lhbs, I realized I had purchased 3 lbs of light/pilsner DME instead of Briess Bavarian Wheat DME... I went ahead and brewed with the light/pilsner DME.

I also mistakenly pitched too warm at around 90F, but brought the wort temp down using an ice bath when I realized my mistake 3 hours after pitching.

I'm not very confident, but am hopeful this will turn out well and will keep you posted.

Subbed. I like the idea of a dump and brew, and I can do this one easily until I can get my hands on a scale (again )


-Kingboomer

BousDeuce said:

Thank you for the recipe.

I brewed this recipe on April 04. When I got home from the lhbs, I realized I had purchased 3 lbs of light/pilsner DME instead of Briess Bavarian Wheat DME... I went ahead and brewed with the light/pilsner DME.

I also mistakenly pitched too warm at around 90F, but brought the wort temp down using an ice bath when I realized my mistake 3 hours after pitching.

I'm not very confident, but am hopeful this will turn out well and will keep you posted.

Click to expand...

It is clearly ruined. Send to me for immediate disposal.

nah, I wouldn't worry. If the yeast doesn't take, just try again with a new packet.

I am sure the Pilsner will be just fine, if more on the Saison end than the Witbier end. Lemme know how it goes!

Thankfully , fermentation took off within a few hours.

Just bottled the batch, the gravity sample tasted great!