A good Belgian Wit Beer

Hi ... I would like to know your opinions on this recipe I put togeather. My girlfriend loves wheat beer and I found a recipe for it on this website but decided to mess around a bit with it. I wanted to use:

6.5 pounds of Wheat malt extract
2 pounds White wheat malt
1 pound Belgian candi sugar, clear

1 oz kent golding hops (10 minutes)
1 oz Perle hops (30 minutes)
.5 oz Hallertau hops (60 minutes)

1 oz fresh crused corriander seed
.75 oz bitter orange peel

White labs Belgian wit ale yeast


This is the first recipe I have played with so any and all comments are welcome.

Just a little thought that Wit doesn't have to be wheat. )

I recently did one that used Belgian Wit yeast:

5 pounds extra light DME
2 pounds honey, light
1 ounce sweet orange peel, dried
2 ounces whole coriander seeds
1.5 ounces Hallertauer (60 minutes)
0.5 ounce Hallertauer (10 minutes)

You can use ground coriander, but grinding them yourself makes the taste far better.

I boiled the DME, orange peel, coriander and hops as specified, but added the honey in the last 15 minutes of the boil. There are lots of combinations, I suppose. This is the one that worked best for me.

After straining and sparging, topping off to five gallons and reducing the temp to 75 degrees, I pitched White Labs Belgian Wit Yeast.

It's a good summer beer, and I think anyone who likes wheat beers will like this Wit Ale.

Tony

BG73395 said:

Hi ...
1 pound Belgian candi sugar, clear

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I like the idea of adding candi sugar, it's like a hybrid between a belgian wit and a belgian ale.
Let me know how it turns out.

I've used ground coriander in belgian wits before and I havent been impressed with them. buy whole coriander seeds if you can and crush them yourself.

Muss said:

I like the idea of adding candi sugar, it's like a hybrid between a belgian wit and a belgian ale.
Let me know how it turns out.

I've used ground coriander in belgian wits before and I havent been impressed with them. buy whole coriander seeds if you can and crush them yourself.

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I am getting excited about brewing this beer. Getting whole coriander seeds isnt a problem, as I work as a cook in a restaurant and we have a tub of the things. Thanks for the input so far!

I have brewed a B wit very close to yours many times with excelent results.
I would use regular fresh orange zest instead of bitter.

Watch your krausen. Belgian wit yeast tends to get thick and frothy.

Also, your IBU's look pretty high for a wit. When I plug your numbers into Beersmith, I'm getting a 41-IBU on a style that should stay between 15-25.

Remember that the coriander adds a real nice "spice" to the wit and you want to be careful not to overbitter your beer with hops because of that.

My wit recipe for a 5-gallon batch calls for only 1-Oz of EKG for 60 minutes.

I'm just afraid a 41 IBU and the coriander would be pretty bitter.

BierMuncher said:

Watch your krausen. Belgian wit yeast tends to get thick and frothy.

Also, your IBU's look pretty high for a wit. When I plug your numbers into Beersmith, I'm getting a 41-IBU on a style that should stay between 15-25.

Remember that the coriander adds a real nice "spice" to the wit and you want to be careful not to overbitter your beer with hops because of that.

My wit recipe for a 5-gallon batch calls for only 1-Oz of EKG for 60 minutes.

I'm just afraid a 41 IBU and the coriander would be pretty bitter.

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Thanks for the advice ... the girlfriend doesnt like bitter beer at all so I will try to rework the recipe out

BG73395 said:

Thanks for the advice ... the girlfriend doesnt like bitter beer at all so I will try to rework the recipe out

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Not a problem. I would use the 1 Oz of EKG and go with the 1 Oz of coriander. My recipe calls for 3/4 Oz of coriander, but the extra 1/4 Oz won't make too big an impact unless you boil for a long time.

How long were you planning on boiling the spice additives? I find that 20 minutes works very well.

BierMuncher said:

Not a problem. I would use the 1 Oz of EKG and go with the 1 Oz of coriander. My recipe calls for 3/4 Oz of coriander, but the extra 1/4 Oz won't make too big an impact unless you boil for a long time.

How long were you planning on boiling the spice additives? I find that 20 minutes works very well.

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I was thinking in the neighborhood of 10 minutes for the coriander, but I will give the 20 minutes a try and I will only use the 1 oz of hops. I need to get my IPA out of the primary and give this one a shot.