Belgian Wit - 1.065 OG?! - AND racked first beer to secondary.

So, today I was bored and realized I had a 2.5 gallon (Mr. Beer) fermenter I wanted to do something with. I had some extra wheat DME (3lb.) and hallerteur hops (1oz.) so I decided to do a 1/2 batch (or maybe slightly less than half) of Belgian Wit. I ran to the grocery store and picked up some spices to mix it up a bit. Basically my recipe was as follows:

3lb. Wheat/Barley DME
1/2 oz. Hallerteur Hops
for 60 minute boil

Last 10 minutes of boil I added another 1/4 oz. Hallerteur, 3/4 tsp. corriander, 1/2oz. bitter orange peel (dry).

Yeast: White Labs Belgian Wit WLP400?

Anyway, I took the OG expecting to be around 1.048 or so and I was actually around 1.065. I guess with 3lb. DME to only 2 gallons (after boil-off) maybe this isn't too crazy? Just wondering what y'all thought.

Think this one will turn out OK? Won't this be pretty strong for a wheat beer? I'm just spitballing here, but if it ferments down to even 1.015 or so, that would be around 6.5% ABV. Pretty potent for a refreshing wit, no? Also, hopefully I didn't spice it too much. I basically found a 5 gallon wheat recipe online and decreased it by a little over 1/2 so I don't think so, but who knows.

Also in the news: I racked my holiday ale to a secondary today after sanitizing it (the carboy) with StarSan (first time using this; pretty potent stuff). OG on the holiday ale was 1.050 and the FG was 1.013. 74% attenuation seemed pretty good; ~4.8% alcohol (? if i calculated correctly ?) was exactly what I was looking for. All is well thus far...

Well, for giggles I threw the recipe in BeerSmith (should have done this prior) and looks like everything went as it should have for the recipe (other than I'm a little out of the 'style' of a witbeer).

Beersmith estimated OG to be 1.066 and final ABV to be 6.4. Also, bitterness at 26ish IBUs when the style is like 6-20IBU.

Maybe it will still be good? Anyone know of any stronger Belgian wheats like this?

Oh I also forgot to ask, what's the protocol on bottling a wheat beer? I know most are cloudy when drank, so does this go to a secondary normally or just straight to bottles when completed?

Would it be a good idea to maybe water this down with 1/2 gallon of water?! Fermentation has yet to start (4-5 hours) so maybe I could put some in yet?

SilkkyBrew said:

Would it be a good idea to maybe water this down with 1/2 gallon of water?! Fermentation has yet to start (4-5 hours) so maybe I could put some in yet?

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Just let it do it's thing. You won't notice fermentation until tomorrow.

Sounds like you made a good one, now let it do it's thing. Put it in a secondary and bottle when it's ready.

Thanks man. I like a little reassurance. A 6.0%+ Wit wasn't what I had envisioned, but I suppose it will work. And at the very least I only made 2/5 of a batch, so I guess its not a huge loss even if I don't like it...