Wedding Witbier recipe

Hey guys about 3 months ago my childhood best friend got married (I flew all the way from Germany to be there) The whole day was a blast but here is the best part his step father and himself had brewed all of the beer for the reception (and had enough to last all night long!) and every single one of them was amazing.which started my journey into brewing so I thank him for that! ..My wife had her first hoegaarden the other day and is now begging me to make a wit because she loved the one at his wedding reception as well.......well I got my buddy to fwd his recipe and now I'm stuck between making it the exact same way he did or trying to tweak a bit...What do you guys think? I have not made a wit yet so If I tweak it im going to need some advice the one thing I've seen people advise is to add some paradise seed..would that jive with this recipe? Well enough talk here is the recipe please feel free to add criticism or advice. I will be doing the partial mash version.

Ingredients:

* 2 lbs. pale malt
* 2 lbs. malted wheat
* 1 lb. flaked wheat
* 1 lb. flaked oats
* 2 lbs. unhopped wheat dry malt extract (DME)
* 0.75 oz East Kent Goldings hops
* 0.5 oz Saaz hops
* 1/8 oz. lightly crushed coriander seed
* 1/4 oz. dried Curacao orange peel, shredded
* 1 cup unhopped light dry malt extract to prime
* 1.75 oz deez nutz


Step by Step:
Heat 9 quarts water to 163° F. Crush whole grains and add, with flaked grains as well, to liquor. Hold mash at 152° F for 90 minutes. Runoff and sparge with 12 quarts water at 170° F. Add DME, stir well, bring to a boil. Add East Kent Goldings hops, boil 45 minutes. Add Saaz hops, boil 15 minutes. Remove from heat, remove hops if possible. Add coriander and orange peel, steep 30 minutes.

Pour into fermenter along with enough pre-boiled and chilled water to make up 5.25 gallons. Cool to 70° F, pitch yeast. Ferment at 65° F for two weeks, rack to secondary and condition cooler (45° F) for three to four weeks. Prime with DME, bottle and age three to four weeks at 45° to 50° F. Serve at 40° F in a heavy glass tumbler with a side of deez nutz.

All-grain option: Replace the dried malt extract with another 1.5 lbs. each of pale malt and malted wheat. Increase mash water to 12 quarts and sparge water to 15 quarts. Mash time and temperatures will be the same. Proceed as above from boiling.

All-extract option: Omit pale and wheat malts. Steep flaked wheat and oats in 3 gallons at 150° F for 30 minutes. Remove grains. Increase DME to 5 lbs., proceed as above from boiling.

The only thing im finding in beertools that is off is the color is off the charts....not terribly important to me as I remember this beer rocked but it would be cool to somehow preserve the flavor and get that nice light hazy wit color..

1.75oz. of deez nuts eh? I don't think I've ever seen someone put that in a recipe. It made me chuckle though.

The recipe looks great as is. If I was going to change anything, I would probably substitute the pale malt for a pilsner malt. It's just a little lighter in color. Also, if I were you, I'd go the all-grain way. This is a pretty delicate beer, although easy to brew. I feel like the extract just doesn't cut it for Wit's. So if you go all-grain, then up your pale malt to about 4lbs. of pilsner malt and you should be set.

Also, paradise seeds are used by some. Really, you can add anything for your "secret spice" as long as it doesn't overpower the main ingredients which are the yeast, corriander, and orange peel. I use a little bit of cinnamon at flameout and steep for 20 minutes before cooling.

This is by far one of my favorite brews to do. Maybe that's because I can't keep it on tap. I've done probably 5 batches in the last 4 months.

I dont have any real all grain equipment I could always try to do deathbrewers stove top all grain...keep in mind this is only my 4th batch that I have done..

but honestly he did his as partial mash and it was amazing at the wedding so I may just go the easy route for now...i will definitely be keeping this recipe

oh yeah...duhhh

what yeast would you guys recommend?

I always use Wyeast Belgian Wit 3944 or Wyeast Belgian Wheat 3942. Regardless of what company you use, make sure it's for belgian wheat beers. There's a specific flavor that comes from belgian wheats that is added by the yeast.

thats what I just ordered thanks for the help!

here is what I ordered..I did the best to find exact matches but couldnt find exact names such as belgian wheat etc..

1557 $2.75 1 US Saaz Pellet Hops 1 oz.
1873 $2.75 1 Kent Goldings 5.0% Leaf Hops 1 oz.
3015B $1.30 2 White Wheat (Rahr)- 1 lb.
3017B $1.25 1 Flaked Oats (Oio) 1 lb.
3034A $1.55 2 Pale Malt (Crisp)1 lb.
3042B $1.25 1 Flaked Wheat (Oio) 1 lb.
7655 $1.75 1 Paradise Seeds- 2g
7700 $2.40 1 Bitter Orange Peel- 1 oz.
7720 $1.50 1 Coriander Seed- 1 oz
B3091 $4.40 1 Briess Dried Malt Extract- Golden Light- 1 Lb.
M3114 $4.75 2 Munton & Fison (UK) Wheat DME (1 lbs.)
W3944 $4.50 1 Belgian Witbier Wyeast W3944- 1.75 oz.