Sour Belgian Wit???

My Winter Wit II (WWII) has been bottled now for 3 weeks. I've been trying them each week to see how the flavor is progressing, drinking like a bottle a week. There's a sour note in the taste of the beer that's been developing into something stronger each week i think. It's nothing too nasty, but definately has a sourness to it.

What could be the cause of this problem?

I did boil the ginger, orange peels, and cloves for the majority of the boil, where some ppl put these ingredients in towards the end, but I used the same technique on the 1st batch (WWI), and it came out fantastic; sweeter and spicy.

Here are some of the differences in my brewing of the WWI vs WWII:

- I used half the amount of cloves on this batch (1oz vs. 2 oz).
- Some late addition extract
- No lemon peels, only orange peels

The only thing I can come up with is that the orange peels I used were extremely tart. We've all had those oranges before; the bad orange. That's kinda the flavor, but with beer.

Should I expect this beer to get sourer??? Any ideas on the cause of sourness???

5gB

You never know...it could be stray yeast...an accidental lambic of sorts. hehe.

Did you use the peel (zest) of fresh oranges? As opposed to the dried orange peel that is usually used in Wits and other Belgians?

I used fresh lemon zest in an APA once: I wasn't too thrilled with the lemon flavor. I would have characterized it more as bitter than sour, but maybe that's the flavor you're tasting?

Maybe that's it, cweston...

I did use pretty fresh orange peels. They were peeled the night before, kept in some tupperware, and stored in the fridge. Pretty dang fresh.

I'll have to dry them next time.

I'm not familiar with making 'lambic' ales. Though I had one this past weekend, and it was sour. bah. Not my bag for beer. How could I have accidentally made a lambic?

5gB

5gBrewer said:

I'll have to dry them next time.

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I'm not sure what the process is: I usually just buy it from the HBS. It comes in bitter and sweet varieties (recipies usually say which--wits generally call for bitter.)

The problem with fresh zest seems to be that it doesn't like being boiled too well. It would probably be fine for a cold infusion, like dry-hopping, though.

5gBrewer said:

Maybe that's it, cweston...

I did use pretty fresh orange peels. They were peeled the night before, kept in some tupperware, and stored in the fridge. Pretty dang fresh.

I'll have to dry them next time.

I'm not familiar with making 'lambic' ales. Though I had one this past weekend, and it was sour. bah. Not my bag for beer. How could I have accidentally made a lambic?

5gB

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Awww, I'm a lambic FREAK. Gimme some organic Cantillon, or Hanssens, any day.

Lambic gets its sourness from brettanomyces yeast; it's always possible that it, or something like it, infiltrated and infected your beer. Especially if it's getting worse.

If you end up with a Wit Lambic and you don't like it, I'll take it off yer hands.

If you end up with a Wit Lambic and you don't like it, I'll take it off yer hands.

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Give half to me! I would be very happy with an accidental Lambic. Heck, I try to make them on purpose.