Belgian Wit Recipe Help

I want to brew a wit similar to New Belgium's Mothership Wit. Here's what I've come up with so far.

5# Briess Bavarian Wheat LME
1.5# Briess Pilsen Light LME
1# Carapils

1 oz. Hallertau (60 min)

.75 oz. Ground Coriander Seed (15 min)
.25 oz. Valencia Orange Peel (15 min)
.25 oz. California Lemon Peel (15 min)
.25 oz. Valencia Orange Peel (5 min)
.25 oz. California Lemon Peel (5 min)

The only thing I'm unsure of is the amounts of coriander, orange, and lemon peel. If you guys could help me out with that, and any other things you see wrong, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

They definitely use lemon in there beer. I'm an all grain brewer so spicing is they only advice I can give. Coriander gives you the orangy taste, bitter orange peel gives you more of a earthy taste. 1 oz of each in 5 gallons is quite a bit for any beer. I would use about half that and taste your beer at racking to the secondary. If you want more spice, add it then. You and add, but you can't retract.

Like .75 oz of coriander at 15
.25 oz of lemon and orange peel at 15 and another .25 at 5

Then see where to go from there

Just my 2 cents

wardenwheat said:

They definitely use lemon in there beer. I'm an all grain brewer so spicing is they only advice I can give. Coriander gives you the orangy taste, bitter orange peel gives you more of a earthy taste. 1 oz of each in 5 gallons is quite a bit for any beer. I would use about half that and taste your beer at racking to the secondary. If you want more spice, add it then. You and add, but you can't retract.

Like .75 oz of coriander at 15
.25 oz of lemon and orange peel at 15 and another .25 at 5

Then see where to go from there

Just my 2 cents

Click to expand...

Alright, I think I'll cut back on the spices a little bit then. Has anyone found a good ratio of coriander, orange, and lemon peel for a mothership clone? Somebody has to have tried to clone it.

Anybody else have any suggestions?

I brewed this today. Here's the final recipe I ended up brewing.

Step-Mothership Wit - Witbier
================================================================================
Batch Size: 5.000 gal
Boil Size: 3.000 gal
Boil Time: 1.000 hr
Efficiency: 70%%
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.013
ABV: 4.6%%
Bitterness: 14.2 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 7 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
================================================================================
Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Wheat Liquid Extract Extract 2.750 lb No Yes 78%% 8 L
Wheat Liquid Extract Extract 2.750 lb No No 78%% 8 L
Pilsner Liquid Extract Extract 8.000 oz No Yes 78%% 4 L
Pilsner Liquid Extract Extract 8.000 oz No No 78%% 4 L
Cara-Pils/Dextrine Grain 8.000 oz No No 72%% 2 L
Total grain: 7.000 lb

Hops
================================================================================
Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Hallertau 4.0%% 1.000 oz Boil 1.000 hr Pellet 14.2

Misc
================================================================================
Name Type Use Amount Time
Coriander Spice Boil 0.750 oz 15.000 min
Valencia Orange Peel Spice Boil 0.250 oz 5.000 min
Valencia Orange Peel Spice Boil 0.250 oz 15.000 min
California Lemon Peel Spice Boil 0.250 oz 5.000 min
California Lemon Peel Spice Boil 0.250 oz 15.000 min

Yeast
================================================================================
Name Type Form Amount Stage
Safbrew T-58 Ale Dry 0.406 oz Primary

I just have to say, T-58 is pretty awesome. It's only been 5 hours and the airlock's already bubbling like crazy.

This beer turned out pretty good. I ended up adding zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange peel to the primary fermenter. It tastes very similar to Mothership, but the color turned out more like Blue Moon. Next time I'm gonna try a partial mash and see if I can get the color lighter.

MrNic, how long would you recommend leaving this in the primary, and at what temperature? I am new to T-58.

Old thread I know, hope you remember this recipe! Thanks.

Horseflesh said:

MrNic, how long would you recommend leaving this in the primary, and at what temperature? I am new to T-58.

Old thread I know, hope you remember this recipe! Thanks.

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I'm looking at my notes and it looks like I left it in primary for 27 days and then bottled (no secondary). I almost forgot about this thread haha. I don't even remember what this beer tasted like, but I hope it works well for you.

Well, your notes above said that it came out tasting similar to Mothership, which is what I was looking for.

Thanks for the info!

Horseflesh said:

Well, your notes above said that it came out tasting similar to Mothership, which is what I was looking for.

Thanks for the info!

Click to expand...

No problem. I can't remember the fermentation temp. I think I just tried keeping it under 70 as best as I could.

I looked at the recommended range on the packet and chose 66F. I bet it will work out fine.