I just had a Hoegaarden Witbier and it was very intriguing. It was a new experience for me. My wife even liked it, and she's typically non-committal about beers. I'd like to try brewing something like this out of extracts (will consider PM too). Can anyone direct me to a good noob recipe for this sort of beer?
extract-based Hoegaarden-like recipe?
- Thread starter FSBrewer
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Bob
Well-Known Member
Depends on how traditional you want to be. Witbier traditionally has oats as part of the grist. It isn't really possible to use oats without at least a partial mash.
That said, you can make a reasonable approximation of Witbier with only extracts. Wit is a wheat beer, so start with a good wheat extract. I like Muntons; it's 60/40% wheat/barley and ferments rather dry.
Witbier is a light-colored beer. So you'll want to brew this with the "late-extract" method, adding most of the extract quite late in the boil. I use 5 lbs of Dry Malt Extract (DME), dissolving two pounds in 3 gallons of water in my brewkettle. This is what I boil. I add the rest of the DME at the end of the boil.
Bitter with an ounce or so of low-alpha hops like Styrian Goldings or Hallertau or something. Whatever you can find that isn't Cascades or one of the other citrusy, obviously American hops varieties.
Towards the end of the boil, add an ounce each of orange peel and cracked coriander. You can buy dried peel from your homebrew store or simply peel an orange. Some will tell you to use only the zest, but (IMO) you want the pith, too - part of the bittering in Witbier comes from the peel. Coriander you can get at any Asian market; otherwise check the LHBS.
The most important part of Wit is the yeast. Both Wyeast and White Labs make high-quality liquid Wit yeasts. Definitely use one of those.
Have fun!
Bob
That said, you can make a reasonable approximation of Witbier with only extracts. Wit is a wheat beer, so start with a good wheat extract. I like Muntons; it's 60/40% wheat/barley and ferments rather dry.
Witbier is a light-colored beer. So you'll want to brew this with the "late-extract" method, adding most of the extract quite late in the boil. I use 5 lbs of Dry Malt Extract (DME), dissolving two pounds in 3 gallons of water in my brewkettle. This is what I boil. I add the rest of the DME at the end of the boil.
Bitter with an ounce or so of low-alpha hops like Styrian Goldings or Hallertau or something. Whatever you can find that isn't Cascades or one of the other citrusy, obviously American hops varieties.
Towards the end of the boil, add an ounce each of orange peel and cracked coriander. You can buy dried peel from your homebrew store or simply peel an orange. Some will tell you to use only the zest, but (IMO) you want the pith, too - part of the bittering in Witbier comes from the peel. Coriander you can get at any Asian market; otherwise check the LHBS.
The most important part of Wit is the yeast. Both Wyeast and White Labs make high-quality liquid Wit yeasts. Definitely use one of those.
Have fun!
Bob
noisy123
Well-Known Member
You might be interested in this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com//showthread.php?t=3834
Note that Papazian has an extract based Hoegaarden Grand Cru clone that does not use any wheat extract. I always wanted to try that.
Northern Brewer has this extract kit which looks pretty simple: http://www.northernbrewer.com/docs/kis-html/1221.html. Austin HB has one too, but they don't list the ingredients so that's kind of a deterrent to me: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_43_252&products_id=1939
Anyone every tried either of these?
Anyone every tried either of these?
Bob
Well-Known Member
While I haven't personally tried Northern Brewer's kit, that's essentially the same recipe as I was suggesting. The only difference is I use dry extract (5 pounds). It'll make a fine beer!
I recommend the liquid yeast solely because I haven't yet tried the Brewferm dry yeast.
Cheers,
Bob
I recommend the liquid yeast solely because I haven't yet tried the Brewferm dry yeast.
Cheers,
Bob
I tried the Brewers Best kit, the taste was on point, but I was hoping for a whiter color like a Hoegaarden, instead I got a more orange color like Blue Moon or Shocktop. I think it comes with Bavarian Wheat LME, is there anothere LME that would be lighter in color and still suitable for this style? I don't know of any Witbier that's the color of Hoegaarden, how do they do that?
Similar threads
