Hoegaarden clone

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grnich

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I made a hoegaarden clone a few weeks ago from Beer Captured. Last night, tried it for the first time. I must say, it's pretty good beer, but tastes nothing like Hoegaarden.

It has a real hoppy flavor to it. Which isn't a bad thing, but I wouldn't call Hoegaarden hoppy. I followed the recipe to the letter pretty much.

However, I did have to leave it for over a week in the primary because the Wyeast Witbier yeast was really slow to ferment and I did not strain my wort. Could the hoppy flavor be caused by the leftover hops sitting in the trub from the boil for over a week?

If that's the case, I guess I'll be straining from now on.
 
grnich said:
I made a hoegaarden clone a few weeks ago from Beer Captured. Last night, tried it for the first time. I must say, it's pretty good beer, but tastes nothing like Hoegaarden.

It has a real hoppy flavor to it. Which isn't a bad thing, but I wouldn't call Hoegaarden hoppy. I followed the recipe to the letter pretty much.

However, I did have to leave it for over a week in the primary because the Wyeast Witbier yeast was really slow to ferment and I did not strain my wort. Could the hoppy flavor be caused by the leftover hops sitting in the trub from the boil for over a week?

If that's the case, I guess I'll be straining from now on.
Click to expand...

If your recipe is anything like the one in my sig, it takes about 6 months to age and then it'll taste perfect.
 
Cheesefood said:
If your recipe is anything like the one in my sig, it takes about 6 months to age and then it'll taste perfect.
Click to expand...

Actually, that looks just like the recipe from beer captured. If that's the case, I will set aside next to my wine and let it age.

Thanks!
 
Cheesefood said:
If your recipe is anything like the one in my sig, it takes about 6 months to age and then it'll taste perfect.
Click to expand...

I have a Hoegarrden clone conditioning at present in PET Bottles and am frustrated that after 3 1/2 weeks still have no carbonation. Does wheat beer take longer than barley based beers?
 
I made a Belgian Wit with WhiteLabs yeast. My recipe included Corriander and Orange Peel (although its not near as detailed as the recipe posted above). Do y'all think this will take 4-6 months to condition itself as discussed above? I thought you were supposed to drink wheat-beer while it was "young"?
 
SilkkyBrew said:
I made a Belgian Wit with WhiteLabs yeast. My recipe included Corriander and Orange Peel (although its not near as detailed as the recipe posted above). Do y'all think this will take 4-6 months to condition itself as discussed above? I thought you were supposed to drink wheat-beer while it was "young"?
Click to expand...

The coriander and orange need to mellow. They were too strong in mine until I let them sit for a few months.

Brewing beer teaches us patience. You can't rush the aging process. After you've tasted your first properly aged homebrew, you'll never rush into drinking them again.
 
SilkkyBrew said:
I made a Belgian Wit with WhiteLabs yeast. My recipe included Corriander and Orange Peel (although its not near as detailed as the recipe posted above). Do y'all think this will take 4-6 months to condition itself as discussed above? I thought you were supposed to drink wheat-beer while it was "young"?
Click to expand...

The grand cru kit in my sig had corriander and orange peel. It was "ready" in 6 weeks, but VERY drinkable after 4. I didn't notice any significant change after the 6 week mark.

It's one of those things - try it. If it's great - drink it! If it's not what you expected, give it some time.
 
Blaine said:
I have a Hoegarrden clone conditioning at present in PET Bottles and am frustrated that after 3 1/2 weeks still have no carbonation. Does wheat beer take longer than barley based beers?
Click to expand...

Not that I know of. How much time did it spend in secondary? What temps are your bottles conditioning at?

I've been having the same "problem" with alot of my brews since it got colder. Oh well...just gotta be patient. They'll be better with some aging anyway.
 
Cheesefood said:
The coriander and orange need to mellow. They were too strong in mine until I let them sit for a few months.

Brewing beer teaches us patience. You can't rush the aging process. After you've tasted your first properly aged homebrew, you'll never rush into drinking them again.
Click to expand...

Oh, I have no problem letting it sit for 4 months if need be to get the correct flavor; I was just curious as I always heard to dring wheat based beers when they are young. Maybe this was just for "unspiced" wheat beers...

Anyway, I tasted the beer when racking to secondary and neither the orange nor corriander seemed overbearing in my brew. I may be OK after 2 months or so...
 
Tried it again after a couple more weeks. The hoppiness has definitely subsided. I can definitely taste the orange peel more now. If that mellows out a bit more, it'll be pretty close(close enough for me) to Hoegaarden. Actually, it might be better since Hoegaarden is almost too mellow.
 

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