Witbier Recipe Comments

So I am looking to do a Witbier because it is summer and my wife really likes them so here is what I have come up with. I do BIAB and will be doing a protein rest during the mash.

Looking for any thoughts or comments! Thanks in advance!!



Witbier (16 A)

5 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 1 47.6 %
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 38.1 %
1 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.5 %
8.0 oz Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 4 4.8 %
0.50 oz Tradition [5.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 9.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Tettnang (Tettnang Tettnager) [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 4.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 7 -
1.00 oz Tettnang (Tettnang Tettnager) [5.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) [35.49 ml] Yeast 9 -

This recipe looks pretty good. You're gonna make a wit, you just have to decide what flavors you want to focus on.
Some thoughts which are just cheap advice:
most belgian wits use pilsner malt over american 2 row or MO
make sure you use coriander meant for brewing. The McCormick stuff in the supermarket is not the same type of coriander and will taste lousy in beer. Give the seeds a light crush.
adjust your fermenting temp based on how much belgian funk you want. Many wits have a lower level of "funk" flavors compared to other belgians so maybe keep it around 68F
Wits depend on flavors/aroma from coriander, the yeast, and sometimes citrus peel. Hops flavor is not a big part of wits so maybe just the bittering hops?

Enjoy

Thanks for the inputs.

I can get some pilsner but what if I switched the MO for more Belgian Pale Malt?

I will make sure I have the right coriander. I do not want to much Belgian yeast funk so I will keep the ferm temps low as you recommended.

I will likely ditch the additional hops too (not the bittering).

Thanks again!

Pilsner vs 2 row is not a biggy. The subtle difference in base malt will be mostly covered over by the other flavors. I've made wits with 50% 2 row, 50% wheat and it was just great. It's just that pilsner is more traditional and you might anger some purist out there

The temps and coriander are more important to the flavor.

If your SWMBO is into wits then you'll probably make the beer style a bunch of times. You should try different things to see what you like. Some folks like to add some flaked oats, another time maybe some dried or fresh orange zest to the end of the boil, maybe ferment a bit higher another time. Have fun with it! Wits are pretty forgiving.

Thanks again. I am tweaking the recipe. Sticking with some MO. I will be changing the hop profile a bit. I am an experimenter so I am not too worried about purists. I will get around to doing a batch for them.

It doesn't sound like I have a fatal flaw in the recipe. I will let you know what the final recipe and results are... this will ultimately be in a friendly completion of friends so I think the female vote with be the decider.... thinking maybe some honey :rockin:

Sounds like you got it figured out. With the MO it's not really a Witbier anymore. "Belgian Wheat Beer" would be more appropriate.

Why the torrified AND the flaked wheat? They are essentially the same, the torrified being more pre-gelatinized than the flakes, you couldn't tell the difference in the end.

I just brewed a Witbier, 50% Pilsner, 25% flaked white wheat, 15% red wheat malt, 10% oats. Tettnanger for hops, 60' and 15'. Coriander and bitter orange peel, 3.5 grams each, pulverized and presoaked in hot wort for 15', added at flameout with 2 tablespoons of flour (slurry) to keep the haze. Sweet wort tasted great. OG 1.052 right on the button.

Yeast: ECY11 (Belgian White) from a 1.6l starter. That took 3 days to crash.

If you want to use honey add it to the secondary, or primary if you don't want to rack (oxidation/infection risk), but only after it is 90% done. You'll keep more honey flavor, and get less fusels. Orange blossom would be great. No clover. A good wild flower honey can be amazing, if your guests like a bit of funky flavor.

BTW, you'll also need to consider your mash temp. I'd suggest something in the 150-152F range. You could even go a touch higher. If you go below 150F you risk having it be too thin. I think of a wit as a hearty, spring season ale with some body.

If you use pilsner for the bulk of the base malt then you'll want to do a 90 min boil to reduce DMS, otherwise 60 min will be fine.

Thanks all.

IslandLizard,

I certainly don't have it all figured out. I just made a decision and reserve the right to change it at anytime I have been recording all of the comments here for future use. Whatever I end up with will be the baseline and I will start dialing it in. If I use honey your recommendations will be the way I go.

Cider, your mash profile sounds great. I will give it a shot.

Thanks for all the help folks!

Cider123 said:

BTW, you'll also need to consider your mash temp. I'd suggest something in the 150-152F range. You could even go a touch higher. If you go below 150F you risk having it be too thin. I think of a wit as a hearty, spring season ale with some body.

If you use pilsner for the bulk of the base malt then you'll want to do a 90 min boil to reduce DMS, otherwise 60 min will be fine.

Click to expand...

Excellent point on the mash temps.
On my system mashing a Witbier grist at 156°F for 60' works well (grain/water ratio of 1.6). It drops to 154°F at the end using a cooler mash tun, mash covered with foil. 2 batch sparges with equal volumes. Runnings were 1.082, 1.040, and 1.020.

Don't forget to mix in 4-6 oz of rice hulls with that much wheat, to make your mash lauterable.

Thanks all for the help. Hopefully everything turned out good.

I reconsidered and went to get some Bel Pils instead of the pale malt but they the LBS was sold out!! So I used what I had available in stock.

So here is what I ended up with.

Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 8.0 oz Total Hops: 0.75 oz oz.
---MASH/STEEP PROCESS------MASH PH:5.20 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 1 47.6 %
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 38.1 %
1 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.5 %
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.8 %


Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Protein Rest Add 24.04 qt of water at 131.0 F 124.6 F 15 min
Saccharification Add 0.00 qt of water and heat to 150.0 150.0 F 15 min
Saccharification Add -0.00 qt of water and heat to 150.0 150.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min


---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.044 SG Est OG: 1.050 SG
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.75 oz Tradition [5.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 14.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 6 -
0.50 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 7 -

Update, this came out very good. Next time I will try it with Bel Pils and see if it gets even better.