Belgian Wit Recipe

Im going for my first PM today, and here is my recipe! Any comments/ suggestions would be awesome. :rockin:



Belgian Style Witbier

OG 1.049
FG 1.012
IBU 23
ABV 4.8 %
SRM 7

Specifics
Boil Volume 6.00 gallons
Batch Size 5.00 gallons

Fermentables

3.30# Wheat Malt Extract
2.00# American Two-row Pale
0.50# CaraPils
1.00# Flaked Wheat
1.00# Belgian Aromatic

Hops

0.50g Liberty 4.5AA @FWH
0.50g Liberty 4.5AA @5
1.00g Glacier 6.0AA @20

1OZ Coriander @20
1OZ Bitter Orange Peel @20

Yeast - WLP575

Mash In - 152F
Sparge - 170F

So barring that the hops arent really to style (they were all I had), what do y'all think?


Also, I know its not really the right section, but I want to do a full boil with this, by my calculations there will be roughly 4.25 gallons of wort in the brewpot after the mash and sparge, where and when should I add another 1.75 gallons of water to the kettle to bring the boil volume to around 6?

Thanks!

It looks decent for first PM recipe. If it were me, I'd drop the Aromatic completely. Also, you should only do a 60 minute (or FWH as you listed) hop addition to maybe 15-20 IBUs total. No need for late additions in a Wit.

I'm not experienced enough to comment on your recipe, but as far as the extra water... I would add it to your sparge water & divide by two so you have 2 equal sized 170* sparges. I would also make sure you use DME, not LME and maybe do a late extract addition.

Good luck!

Why drop aromatic? I thought that would be pretty good to style.

As far as the DME, I really cant, I only have LME and I NEED to get rid of it, i guess if it doesnt turn out it doesnt turn out. What is considered late addition for LME/DME in a PM? @15-20?

Thanks for the help guys, Ill add the extra water to the sparge and see how that goes!

EamusCatuli said:

Why drop aromatic? I thought that would be pretty good to style.

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Aromatic would be fine for most Belgians, but not Wits. I'm unsure about Biere de Gard's or Saisons.

EamusCatuli said:

What is considered late addition for LME/DME in a PM? @15-20?

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Probably 15 minutes before flameout. Could also be added later than 15 minutes, but I really wouldn't recommend this.

I would drop the glacier at 20 minutes, or at least minimize the addition to 0.5 or 0.25 ounces. This is not an overly hoppy style.

You don't want to use aromatic malt because a Wit doesn't need a malty nose to it. You really want it to be crisp, fruity from the orange, and spicy from the coriander. The aromatic will subdue those qualities.

I just did a wit similiar to this recipe and even though i am drinking it after only 14 days from bottling, there is something over-powering it. I believe it is the late addition hops, or the corriander. I used only 3/4 ounce corriander though. It is really crisp and refereshing though, but has an unusual first bite to it.

maybe throw in a touch of simple sugar to help dry it out a tad. Also fresh zest not that packaged ****.
also wlp400 is the classic wit yeast.

here's my recipe, which is a slightly altered version of jamil's that I did the other day, but it was a decoction:

4lbs 6-row
4lbs White Wheat
1lb Oats
.5lb Cane sugar
2oz Acid Malt
1oz Vangaurd @ 5.5 % 40min
1 entire fresh orange zested 2mins
.5oz Crushed corriander 2mins
1tbsp flour @ flamout
Yeast: Wlp 400

+1 on the acidulated malt.

+1 on deleting flavor and aroma hops. Flavor and aroma should come from the yeast and spices only. Hops are only present in Witbier for their preservative qualities. The most traditional Witbiers use old, well-aged hops precisely for this reason.

+1 on deleting Aromatic. I'd also delete the CaraPils.

I suggest you mash 2# base malt, 1# flaked wheat and 1# flaked oats. The oats add a wonderful, slippery mouthfeel and full body, thus rendering the CaraPils superfluous.

I find I prefer the dried bitter orange peel to using the zest of a fresh orange. To my taste, the dried peel provides a flavor closer to the benchmarks like Hoegaarden.

If you want to add a certain undefinable something, consider adding a teaspoon or so of cracked grains of paradise. You won't be able to identify it, probably, but it adds that elusive "What is that?" flavor.

Cheers,

Bob

BobNQ3X said:

+1 on the acidulated malt.

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Why do you want to lower the pH of the wit?

Def drop all but the 60m addition hops. Your liberty hops should be fine, they are only for bittering and I have used the same hop for my wits and have no complaints. 1-1.5oz of liberty should be good for the 60m addition.

I would lower the amount of coriander, I typically use <0.5oz lightly crushed in a coffee grinder.

If you do use fresh orange zest, in my experience you need a lot. Last time i used 1.5oz, which equated to the outer peel of about 6 smaller sized oranges. The wort had a very strong and noticeable orange flavor, but after primary fermentation i felt it lost much of it. I have made a wit one other time with 1oz of the bagged stuff you buy at your LHBS and found it to have a much stronger flavor(oz for oz). I am making another one this week with fresh zest and I will be adding 3oz.

Besides some minor tweaks mentioned here and above i think you have your self a good recipe, good luck on your first PM!

Cugel said:

Why do you want to lower the pH of the wit?

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You know, I can't give you a cut-and-dried reason. I just know that the benchmark examples have a certain lactic twang that's part of the flavor profile. The Wits I used to make when I was brewing for a living had a small portion of lactic acid added directly to the mash and tasted wonderfully complex.

Cheers,

Bob

Well I finished it, seems like I could have done better though. I used the packaged dried bitter OP, sorry, haha. Maybe next time ill use fresh zest that seems like a good idea. I used about 1/2 OZ coriander instead of 1 full OZ. Other than that, im wishing I used even less hops and added the oats. Its going to be a good beer hopefully, would anyone think the WLP575 will be decent? Ive never used it.

Plus, I added the grain to the mash water fine but then I feel like I beat the grain bed up to **** with the two sparges since I had to add that water on top of the grain bed bleh, still no bubbling. . .

PS, where can I get grains of paradise???

PS, where can I get grains of paradise???

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Northern Brewer, item #9121.

Bob

EamusCatuli said:

Well I finished it, seems like I could have done better though. I used the packaged dried bitter OP, sorry, haha. Maybe next time ill use fresh zest that seems like a good idea. I used about 1/2 OZ coriander instead of 1 full OZ. Other than that, im wishing I used even less hops and added the oats. Its going to be a good beer hopefully, would anyone think the WLP575 will be decent? Ive never used it.

Plus, I added the grain to the mash water fine but then I feel like I beat the grain bed up to **** with the two sparges since I had to add that water on top of the grain bed bleh, still no bubbling. . .

PS, where can I get grains of paradise???

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leisure time and friar tuck both have them here in champaign.

so wait are you back now? I thought you didn't take your brewing stuff with you.