This Belgian Wit is spot on for a Blue Moon

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BierMuncher

...My Junk is Ugly...
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I'm tellin ya...maybe I have a flexible palate, but this Belgian Wit Recipe turned out as close to a Blue Moon as...well...Blue Moon.

I just kegged and force carb'd it this afternoon and it's still about 5-6 degrees from being cold enough...but it is perfect. Even my daughter who's a server at a college town pub says it's "spot on".

I'm definitely repeating this one. Great summer brew.

Belgian_Wit_1.JPG
Belgian_Wit_2.JPG
 
Back before Miller screwed over Pierre Celis and he had his brewery in Austin, Tx I tried the Celis Wit and I enjoyed it very much. When I went on the brewery tour before it was closed I was amazed at how much coriander and orange peel was added per batch but that was before I began homebrewing. I've never brewed a wit so I'm going to follow your recipe but just scale it up to a 10 gallon batch size. I do have a question though. A friend of mine harvested oranges from his parents trees so I know they don't have any pesticides or weed herbicides sprayed on them and I thought of using those oranges and simply zesting them with a microplane kitchen gadget. These hybrid trees aren't curacao orange but the rind certainly are bitter. I can't really come up with a good way of determining how much of these oranges to use to get the same bitterness and flavour essense as the curacao other than weight. When you were devloping your recipe did you read of others who brewed this style while not using the curacao orange rind?
Thanks,
Jeffrey
 
runhard said:
Back before Miller screwed over Pierre Celis and he had his brewery in Austin, Tx I tried the Celis Wit and I enjoyed it very much. When I went on the brewery tour before it was closed I was amazed at how much coriander and orange peel was added per batch but that was before I began homebrewing. I've never brewed a wit so I'm going to follow your recipe but just scale it up to a 10 gallon batch size. I do have a question though. A friend of mine harvested oranges from his parents trees so I know they don't have any pesticides or weed herbicides sprayed on them and I thought of using those oranges and simply zesting them with a microplane kitchen gadget. These hybrid trees aren't curacao orange but the rind certainly are bitter. I can't really come up with a good way of determining how much of these oranges to use to get the same bitterness and flavour essense as the curacao other than weight. When you were devloping your recipe did you read of others who brewed this style while not using the curacao orange rind?
Thanks,
Jeffrey
The orange bitter I used was dried so weight would need to be adjusted to convert to fresh. On the other hand, I'd imagine that fresh grated orange peel would have more concentrated oils and essence.

My guess would be if I used 3/4 Oz dried peel, then double that for fresh.

Maybe start out with 1 1/4 Oz (per 5 gallon batch) then taste test when racking to the secondary. If it is still light, boil some more orange rind in a cup or two of water, cool and add to the secondary.

That's my shoot-from-the-hip guess, but I tend to be pretty good around a kitchen.
 
Thanks for the tips, I'll give it a try this coming weekend and see where I end up when I rack to the secondary. I do have a food dehydrator so I guess I could zest and then dehydrate but as you said some of the oils may be volatile at the dehydration temperatures. This will be fun.
Jeffrey
 
I've made 4 wits, and found that getting the orange and coriander amounts just right is the trickiest part. A little goes a LONG way. I wouldn't mind making another one sometime soon.
 
brewman ! said:
This is my next brew ! Thanks for sharing and providing so much information !

Which of these yeasts would you use ?
http://www.paddockwood.com/index.php?cPath=71_79_80
The 3944 is perfect. I used a Whitelabs Belgian #400 which is the counterpart to the Wyeast version. I actually ordered the Wyeast 3944, but they were out so sub'd the Whitelabs instead.

You'll love the beer. Make sure to crush those coriander seeds.
 
I got Begian Wheat yeast #3942. I'm brewing this tonight. Could someone PLEASE explain how the coriander and orange peel should be prepared ?

Also, I don't see any protein or enzyme rests. Should it have one ?

Thanks.
 
I used WLP 410 (Belgian Wit II) in my White Christmas brew, and it turned out quite tasty!

If you're using dried orange peel, just toss it into the boil with 5 to 15 minutes remaining. Fresh orange peel needs to be zested first, and, as mentioned above, you'll need more of it. The coriander seeds should be crushed and added toward the end of the boil as well (perhaps at flameout). I used a clean pepper grinder attached to a cordless drill for about 2 oz of coriander in a 15 gallon brew.
 
Thanks. I'm using a fresh orange. I intend to wash it and then use a fine cheeze grater to remove the zest. Is that a good way to do it ?

I understand one doesn't want any pith, the white stuff. Is that right ?
 
brewman ! said:
Thanks. I'm using a fresh orange. I intend to wash it and then use a fine cheeze grater to remove the zest. Is that a good way to do it ?

I understand one doesn't want any pith, the white stuff. Is that right ?
That should work just fine. You're going to get just a bit of the pith, but you want to go as shallow as possible into it.
 
brewman ! said:
Also, I don't see any protein or enzyme rests. Should it have one ?

I am brewing this tomorrow with some modifications (adding 2lbs 6-row, 1 lb rolled oats, and some grapefruit zest) and was wondering this too. Anyone?
 
I've found that Austin Homerbrews Belgian Wit recipe is one of the best of the style I've had, homebrew or otherwise.
 
I just got done brewing this. The session went OK, but I had a yeast issue. First time using a liquid yeast and I should have started the starter a few days ago. You can read about it here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25581

I brewed a 3 gallon batch (3+ gallons into the primary, 3 gallons into the secondary.)

I did a rest at 122F for about an hour. Actually, it started at about 130F and went down to 122F as I had the lid on my cooler open. For my setup with a preheated cooler, my strike water needs to be about 8F higher than the mash in temp. I overshot that. I had company watching me brew and I wasn't paying attention to things.

I used 1.2 litres per pound of untreated water.

Then I held it at 154 for a little over an hour. I was visiting. Then I mashed out at 168 for a few minutes.

I had a SG of 1.050 from 6 pounds. I batch sparged for the first time. The first time I drained the bed stuck. Then I started draining slower and I was fine. I should have fly sparged instead.

I got the zest of the orange by using a fine cheese grater. That worked pretty good. As soon as the peel became yellowish, I moved to a fresh area so as not to go deeper. I used 1 ounce of freshly grated orange zest and it took one medium sized orange to attain that. There was enough yellow stuff (pith) left on the orange to peel it. I tried cutting the zest off and that didn't work well at all, too much pith.

I ground the coriander seeds with a morter and pestal (sp !). I used 0.5 ounces for 3 gallons. It worked OK, but it was a bit slow and the knob on the grinding thing was way too small and my hand got a cramp.

Right now I am praying that the yeast catches and the beer starts fermenting. If it doesn't catch with the liquid yeast, I'll repitch with a dry yeast.

One more thing. My LHBS didn't have flaked wheat so I had to use milled wheat.

I hope this helps someone.
 
So how do I finish this beer ? Its in my fridge lagering right now. I'd like to bottle it later this week.

The yeast has settled out, but its still cloudy. Should I fine it with Bentonite ?

I have to bottle condition it. How much sugar and what kind should I use ?
 
brewman ! said:
So how do I finish this beer ? Its in my fridge lagering right now. I'd like to bottle it later this week.

The yeast has settled out, but its still cloudy. Should I fine it with Bentonite ?

I have to bottle condition it. How much sugar and what kind should I use ?
This Belgian has enough wheat that it will stay slightly cloudy. My final product was very light in color and crisp looking, with a slight coudiness typical of american wheats. (Just like the Blue Moon)

One thing I liked about this recipe is it is a fast recipe. I kegged mine after only two days in the secondary, following 1 week in the primary. I force carb'd and was drinking within two weeks of brewing.

If you're confident the fermentation has ceased, go ahead and bottle.

If it were me (adjusting for the 3 gallon batch size) I would get a level 1/2 cup of corn sugar, scoop out one rounded teaspoon and and use that much. (The less than half cup, not the teaspoon :cross: )

This gets you close to the .45 cups of priming sugar. THe Belgian Wit is a crisp beer so you want good carbonation. Don't over do it though. No need to ruin a batch with too much sugar and have gushers on your hand. :mug:
 
Thanks.

Its done fermenting, but its only been 10days since it was brewed. I'll leave it as is and bottle it next week. BTW: I didn't put any Irish moss in it. Are you sure I shouldn't fine it with something ?
 
brewman ! said:
Thanks.

Its done fermenting, but its only been 10days since it was brewed. I'll leave it as is and bottle it next week. BTW: I didn't put any Irish moss in it. Are you sure I shouldn't fine it with something ?
Since it's sitting for another week, go ahead.

I did use IM. It may not clear it up comletely, but enough to at least brighten the color.
 
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