Wittekerke Belgian White Beer

Hey guys I went to a belgian beer fest and tried Wittekerke and really liked it and on top of that my girlfriend really likes it as well. So I want to try and make a clone but I am not having much luck finding a recipe.

Does anyone have a clone recipe for this? or have anything that is close to it?

I do full boil extract brews so any help would be appreciated.

Witbier is one of those rare styles very difficult to brew unless you can conduct at least a partial mash. Hell, it's hard to brew properly for any brewer!

Several of the essential ingredients just can't be utilized properly in extract-and-steep, including flaked oats. All you'll get are the oils and fats, which will destroy the foam. Plus there's unmalted wheat, which is rubbery, sticky and hard to handle, and you won't get anything worthwhile out of it from a steep.

There are those who'll tell you you can make a good Witbier from wheat extract alone, and they're not wrong! It'll be fresh, delicious and yours. Use ~6 lbs of wheat LME, an ounce of low-alpha hops to bitter (a half-hour in the boil!), coriander and orange peel to taste and flameout, a true Witbier yeast. Yummy!


But it won't be the world-class beer Wittekerke is. For that, you need to dig deeper. If you can get at least a partial mash, we can try to get close.

Witbier is very complex in the nose and palate. Peppery coriander, sweet and bitter oranges, zesty lemons, tangy wheat, spice from the yeast, creamy wheat, slick and nutty oats. Wittekerke differs from other Witbiers in that it lacks the lactic sourness and overt, in-your-face yeast esters of Hoegaarden.

I don't think you're going to find a clone recipe for this one. A rather deep Google search failed to turn one up for me. But there are enough Hoegaarden clone recipes out there that knowing the differences between Wittekerke and Hoegaarden ought to get you in the ballpark.

Cheers,

Bob

I have yet to do a partial mash but for this beer I am whilling to try it. I am going to swing by my LHBS and see if the guy in there has any ideas.

I haven't had the beer. If I can find it here, I'll pick one up and see if I can help you build a somewhat-clone. (EDIT: looks like the local store doesn't have it. )

DeathBrewer has a good Hoegaarden clone. I'm brewing a Celis White clone next weekend. Both are AG, and complicated multistep mashes at that. Unfortunately it's a style that is nearly impossible to do well without going all grain, since a true Wit is made with 50% raw wheat. Wheat malt, which is all you can get for extract, has a different color and flavor, so it won't make a true Wit but it will still make a good wheat beer.

Whatever you do I would definitely recommend a partial mash. My other recommendations are to use Indian coriander (from a specialty foods market -- it tastes and smells like grapefruits) and plenty of fresh orange zest. You can also use European orange marmalade for orange flavor if you want a strong orange flavor. The coriander and orange peel sold at homebrew supply stores isn't suitable for anything except landfill.

I agree with everything Saccharomyces says except that last bit. I find it impossible to support, given that the benchmark examples of the style use - gasp! - the same dried orange peel you get from the homebrew store. Hell, when I brewed for a living, you could put my Wit side by side with Hoegaarden and confuse them.

I'm not telling anyone to not use fresh zest; you may find the ingredient preferable. All I'm saying is that it's bull to opine that dried orange peel is useless; the professional brewers who brew the benchmark examples of the style disagree.

Cheers,

Bob

I think I need to get some Hoegaarden and try it out. That seems like it might be easier to make but I am not sure that I will like it as much.

MgMt_Home_Brew said:

Hey guys I went to a belgian beer fest and tried Wittekerke and really liked it and on top of that my girlfriend really likes it as well. So I want to try and make a clone but I am not having much luck finding a recipe.

Does anyone have a clone recipe for this? or have anything that is close to it?

I do full boil extract brews so any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Check out this site, there are a couple of Witbier recipes, extract, pm, & all-grain.

Witbier Recipes - Brew-Monkey.Com

So I am still digging for info to try and create a recipe. Im still sort of new to Belgian Wits so I found some into on what the typical ingredient are:
-Barley Malt (40-60% malt bill)
-Wheat Malt (40-60% malt bill)
-Hops (varies, but normally a "noble" hops"
-Yeast - A belgian strain - normally adds some "spiciness" to the overall beer
-Orange Peel (bitter and/or sweet)
-Coriander (this is normally the spice that people find objectionable if they don't like this beer style)

Like I said before if I can come up with a possible recipe but it requiers that I do a partial mash, I am totally up for the task.

Wittekerke is an amazing beer, but I have had it on tap and in the can. The can, in my opinion, was no good, had a really bad after taste. On tap however, it was clearly the best wheat beer I have ever tasted(schnieder weisse as a close second). If you get a recipie let me know I am interested!

Yeah I am still in search of a recipe for this. I drink it from the can all the time and it tastes just as good from the bottle. I have never had it from a tap....

Here is my hoegaarden clone: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/whogarden-hoegaarden-clone-76543/

It's still a work in progress, but it's a damn fine wit-bier and there is a partial mash recipe in the thread.

I would also recommend looking through my partial mash thread...it has helped a few brewers make the step rather easily: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/

Cheers,
DB

Wittekerke is my favorite wit as well. Also, unless you got a bad batch, the cans are just as good as the tap. You can also get it in bottles.

I do not have a recipe for this. My best advice is to do a well established Ho's garden clone then do a side by side comparison with a Wittekerke and your beer. Spend a long time discussing the flavors and what you need to change. Then come back here with all your notes and we can have a big discussion about what to change. After a number of tries we can probably get close.

I will parrot the fact that doing a true wit will be very difficult on an extract base. I brewed Sam C's kiwi wit beer that he published in BYO a while back. That was extract and a great beer, but it was not a true wit.

You can do a kind-of-wit with extract, but you will get much better results from a partial mash.

The key is unmalted wheat, plus often a smaller amount of oats. I like to use a small quantity of acidulated malt, too: check the partial mash Wit recipe in my pulldown.

Saccharomyces said:

The coriander and orange peel sold at homebrew supply stores isn't suitable for anything except landfill.

Click to expand...

Just look at the stuff!

+1 to using fresh orange zest.

You can do a pretty good job with a partial mash. You'll need some thought, but it can be done.

Use Wheat extract as your base. Just know the percentages of your extract. For example, IIRC Briess Wheat extract is 65/35 Wheat/Barley. Alexanders is 50/50.

For your partial mash, you'll need flaked oats at the very least. Raw wheat berries are traditional, but incredibly difficult to mill - they're like milling little rubber BBs. I've had good results with flaked wheat as a substitute; it's unmalted. The balance should be Pilsner malt from Europe. Not necessarily Belgian, as most Belgian brewers use German Pils malt (odd, but true). I'd do 2 lbs of Pils malt and a pound each of flaked grains. For procedure, follow DeathBrewer's outstanding tutorial. Make up the rest of the OG with Wheat extract and roll with your hops and spices.

Speaking of hops and spices, you've witnessed yet another round of the "dried peel vs. fresh zest" argument. I made my position clear in support of the traditional ingredient, because I think the people who support zest do so for the wrong reasons. Now let me add a few more observations.

Don't overhop, and for heaven's sake don't use flavoring or aroma hops. Most of the bitterness and all of the flavor must come from the spices, not hops. That's why the commercial examples use bitter peel. This is precisely why I think supporters of zest are wrong; there is no bitterness inherent in the zest to perform this necessary function. In fact, you're deliberately told to leave the bitterness-carrying pith behind.

Feel free to play around with spices. While coriander and orange peel are the de rigeur spices, you can use others to great effect. Paradise seed, cardamom, rosemary, star anise, chamomile - all of these have been used. Wit is a bucolic throwback to the 15th century, when you brewed your harvest ales for rapid consumption and balanced the malt with what you had around. It definitely had characteristics of gruit beer. So go nuts with your spice cabinet.

Definitely do use a dedicated Belgian wheat strain. Wyeast's Wit and Forbidden Fruit have given good results for me. I know nothing of the White Labs offerings.

Have fun with your Wit journey. It's a fun and very free style to brew. As long as it tastes good to you, it doesn't matter what jerks like me say!

Bob

I have started doing partial mashes thanks to DeathBrewer's awesome tutorial. It was actually really simple. I just received ingredients for the SWMBO Slayer Belgian wit on this forum. I got Bries Wheat DME and I think it was 60% wheat and 40% barley. I also got some flaked wheat so it looks like I am on the right track.

I can't wait to brew this next wit but I am moving and can't start anything until I am done which sucks!!!

As always thanks for the input. Once I am done with my next wit I will try to gather some comparisons to Wittekerke and bring them back to this thread.

Its good, its easy, best of all its cheap

Cheap "Belgian Wit" Ale (AKA. "Rickard's/Alexander Keith's/Blue Moon's" White Ale Clone)

Steve

bump on this... i would love some help with the recipe. i have done a few ho clones, but nothing has come close yet. imo, ho has a completely different flavor profile than wittekerke.

anyone who would doesn't have access to it and would like to help build a recipe, pm me with your address and i will send a 6'er out.

I wish austin home brew supply (AHS) would make a kit for this, there kits are so spot on!

williec30 said:

bump on this... i would love some help with the recipe. i have done a few ho clones, but nothing has come close yet. imo, ho has a completely different flavor profile than wittekerke.

anyone who would doesn't have access to it and would like to help build a recipe, pm me with your address and i will send a 6'er out.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I am talking about!

I recently moved and the local beer store has ordered it but it hasn't come in. Hopefully they can get it soon cause I started working on learning how to brew AG so my process shouldn't limit what ingredients I can use anymore.

So, understanding that AG or partial mash are most desirable,,,what was the closest you got to the Wittikerke for a recipe using extract?

i have at the ready: 3lbs of pilsen crushed, 2lbs of wheat malt crushed, 1lb each rolled oats and flaked wheat. 1oz coriander, 1oz bitter orange peel, and some grains of paradise (should i use them?) .... the intention is to use deathbrewer's easy partial mash but this will almost be completely an all grain... can i just throw them all in my grain bag or should i follow some special procedure? I'm trying to get close to wittekerke... love that beer... but i know it will be difficult. comments and thoughts appreciated greatly...
-Pat

ps. using wyeast witbier strain... dunno if that will give me what i want or not.. what do you think?