Belgian Honey Blonde-- Please Critique

Went to the LHBS and this is what we came up with..... What is your opinion??

1 lb German 2-row Pils
1/2 lb German Light Crystal
1/8 lb Honey Malt
3.3 lbs Light LME
1 lb light DME
3 lb Honey for 15 min
1 oz Fuggles for 50 min
1/2 oz Saaz for 20 min
1/2 oz Sazz for 1 min
1/2 oz Sweet Orange peel for 15 min
WLP 400 Belgian WIT yeast

OG 1.059
FG 1.013
Approx ABV- 5.9%
21 IBU
4.6 SRM


Should I use a starter since the OG is fairly high? Let me know what you think.

Any advice....... What do you guys think??

Looks pretty good. Between the honey and the wit yeast, be prepared for a lengthy primary.

Remember that the wit yeast has a tendency to beach itself on your fermeter wall and especially with a high sugar additive like honey, you'll need to keep that yeast swirled down off the walls.

Sounds like a nice mild dare-I-say slightly fruity recipe. When are you brewing?

I have to empty my primary first.......I am brewing on cinco de brewo..... Next Saturady. I expect 2-3 weeks in the primary. Should I "agitate" the yeast from time to time??

I am going to secondary prior to bottling.

Do you think the orange is "too much"??? That was a last minute "little kick". I think it will be a nice change.

hate to keep posting my own thread...... BUT..... Looking for advice and guidance on this recipe.

BierMuncher, I appreciate your input and I value your knowledge, thank you!! Keep the excellent posts coming for us!!

I think the orange peel will be a nice addition. For my first dozen brews or so, I didn't use a starter, but once I did, I do one every time now. I wouldn't expect you'll need to agitate the yeast, once those puppies start going, they'll take care of themselves.

I agree with XC.
The orange will do nicely with a Belgian.

Keep an eye on your fermenter walls. If you start to see thick krausen that looks like pudding up there... give the fermenter a slight swirl back and forth to wash it back down.

I do that regularly now with any Belgian wit yeast I use. It really helps the fermentation stay at its peak. Otherwise, you'll loose enough yeast to the walls that the fermentation may slow down.

Did you already brew it? I am doing something similar. Here is my recipe.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 37.2 %
2 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 18.6 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 18.6 %
1.00 oz UK Fuggles [4.00%] (60 min) Hops 13.7 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.00%] (30 min) Hops 10.5 IBU
1 Cinimon stick (9 min)
1.00 oz UK Fuggles [4.00%] (7 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
0.50 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 7.0 min) Misc
1 lbs 12.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 16.3 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 9.3 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Ale (Wyeast Labs #1214) Yeast-Ale
-----------------------
Measured Original Gravity: 1.070 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.9 %
Bitterness: 27.9 IBU
Est Color: 6.8 SRM

It is a bit darker than the style allows, but I'm not doing any comps yet so I should be fine... As far as these recipes go, I think we have something veryt similar. Can you smell orange in your primary? Mine has no scent of orange, and I may end up throwing in a whole orange cut in half when I transfer to the secondary (I'm primary fermenting for 10 days to make sure the honeyferments right). Do you thinkthe whole orange is a good or bad idea? Lets keep eachother posted on how these are going. I'll send you a bottle if you send me one, lol.

pa-in-utah said:

Goodluck with the cinnamon stick.

Click to expand...

Yeah, just experimenting a bit. I did the same as you, just went to the HBS and started buying. It came out to 50$, pretty expensive recipe. Let me know if you get a lot of orange aromas, because although I don't want it to overwhelm the beer, I do want some Orange in there.

Well good luck to you and