Witbier

I brewed a witbier this weekend. I was ultimately shooting for a thai-style wit with kaffir lime zest & leaves, ginger, and lemongrass, but the asian market had NONE of the above. They were even out of ginger, dammit. So instead, I made a more traditional wit, but with blood orange, ruby-red grapefruit, and conventional lime zest, along with coriander and chamomile.

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4.25 lbs Belgian Pils
4 lbs flaked wheat
0.75 lbs flaked oats
1 lb rice hulls

Mashed @ 152, batch sparged.

60 minute boil

60 min - 1.3 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker (3%)
5 min - citrus zest (5 blood oranges, 1 ruby-red grapefruit, 3 limes)
5 min - 1.6 g chamomile (from 100% chamomile teabags)
5 min - 0.6 oz indian coriander, pulsed briefly in a coffee grinder

1L starter of WLP400 - Belgian Wit

OG: 1.048
75% efficiency
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Hope it comes out good, it went into the fermenter smelling like Froot Loops (shades of Leinenkugel's sickly sweet Sunset Wheat), so I hope it mellows a bit in the coming week and a half.

It'll mellow out some. A lot of fruit will get blown out during fermentation, so you should end up with a more balanced beer when you get to drinking it.

carnevoodoo said:

It'll mellow out some. A lot of fruit will get blown out during fermentation, so you should end up with a more balanced beer when you get to drinking it.

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Good to hear, I was a bit worried about this one. With all that different citrus zest, would this still technically be in style for a category 16A Witbier? Not that I care abut style too much, just good to know if it turns out well enough to enter in any contests...

Swankyswede, do you recall how this beer turned out? I made a batch yesterday that is very similar to yours except for the chamomile, and it went into the fermenter smelling exactly like froot loops. I want it to be a citrusy wheat beer, but that smell scared me to thinking it's going to end up like a Sunset Wheat.

brian_n said:

Swankyswede, do you recall how this beer turned out? I made a batch yesterday that is very similar to yours except for the chamomile, and it went into the fermenter smelling exactly like froot loops. I want it to be a citrusy wheat beer, but that smell scared me to thinking it's going to end up like a Sunset Wheat.

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I actually never got to drink this one. It picked up something in the fermenter, and by the time I cracked open the bucket to bottle, there was a nice furry mold floating on top. Sigh. It smelled delicious going down the drain, like a wit with real nice citrus and some killer grapefruit aroma, none of the froot loops aroma it had going into the fermenter. Good luck!