Belgian White AG

[JMath]

Despite being an IPA fan, the beer from Ghostfish that impressed me most was their Belgian White. They nailed the style while making it completely indecipherable from traditional beer. And with it being summer, I find myself craving it. Here's my planned attempt at replication.

9 lbs Pale Millet Malt
1 lbs Biscuit Rice Malt
2 lbs Buckwheat Malt
1 oz Saaz Hops (60 min)

1 oz Coriander (flameout)
1 oz Sweet Orange Peel (flameout)
Safbrew WB-06

1.049 OG @ 75% efficiency

I'm not quite sure about these grain ratios. I see that traditional Belgian Wits are about 50% pilsner and 50% wheat. I have two more lbs of biscuit rice I could add while lowering the pale millet, but I worry about it adding too much color. Also, should I throw in some Bob's GF rolled oats, or will the buckwheat suffice?

 

[skleice]

My passion fruit Wit (posted in the favorite style thread) has been my best beer. I used more biscuit rice and thought it really brought a nice, clean & light sweetness. I also used oats to help appearance and mouth feel. It is a little darker than a traditional wit, but it matches what I was cloning.

I also used Mangrove Jack M21 which is very nice. You may get more hefe flavors from WB-06. T-58 is supposed to work pretty well too.

 

[JMath]

That's good data to have. Since you went 40% biscuit and it was a little darker, that makes me feel comfortable with 1lb biscuit and 2lbs buckwheat in mine. I did consider M21 yeast but I had very slow fermentations in my last two batches using Mangrove Jack's, plus glutenfreehomebrewing didn't have it in stock.

I had a hard time choosing between T-58 and WB-06. I think I just saw more recommendations for WB-06 from this forum over the years.

Did you use any fining in that recipe?

 

[skleice]

It wasn’t in my recipe, but I believe I threw in whirlfloc.

 

[JMath]

I think I'll bring the pale millet down to 9lbs, which gives me 1.049, more in line with the style.

 

[JMath]

I brewed this on Saturday, the first 48 hours of fermentation were intense! It went from 1.054 to 1.022 in that time, with my cooler set to 64°F.

Based on that, there could be something to the extra yeast nutrient theory (see my other post), as my previous AG batches have been slow to start or slow to finish. Of course it could just be the yeast.

I tasted a sample and it was spot on for the style.

 

[glutarded-chris]

I was in Seattle a few weeks ago and went to Ghostfish twice. I tried everything they had at the time. I was really impressed with all of their beers. I was with non GF beer drinkers that know their beers and used their opinions to gauge the "authenticity" of the styles. The sour beers, for instance, were judged to be proper sours, especially the brown. Now I know what a sour tastes like. Not my favorite but I am stoked to have had some. One of the things I noticed is how good some of the very low IBU beers were, like the Belgian White. Menu listed them at 15 IBU! I think I have been over bittering! The batch I put in last weekend went in that direction, but it will take me a few batches to dial it in. I probably never totally recovered from my sorghum syrup days where I went hop heavy to hide twang. I think I am going to try the recipe in this post next. Let us know how it turns out and what changes you would suggest. I won't brew again for another month or so.

 

[Silly Yak]

I live in Seattle and we're pretty spoiled with easy access to Ghostfish and Groundbreaker beers. My favorites from Ghostfish are probably the Grapefruit IPA and Kick Step IPA. I did recently try the Shrouded Summit White Ale and agree that it's very tasty. I might have to put this recipe on the short list.

Question for folks not in the PNW. Do you guys have easy access to production GF beers where you live currently?

 

[skleice]

Question for folks not in the PNW. Do you guys have easy access to production GF beers where you live currently?

I'm in CT and the selection is awful. Redbridge, Bards, etc. The best I can get is Glutenberg, but it's usually so old that it's not worth it. If I go to MA, I can get Ground Breaker IPA or Ollalie (but I haven't really enjoyed them). Some others like New Planet (also did not like).

Anyway, before I started brewing I had some Ghostfish shipped to me to just to see if good GF beer was possible. Peakbuster was my favorite. Others were very good too (did not try the wit). They sold me on GF beer.

 

[JMath]

I'm in Columbus and it's pretty bad here. The gluten-reduced beers have taken over all the stores and taps. I used to see New Planet and St. Peter's occasionally but not anymore.

However, Glutenberg recently popped up in at least one store. We have one local brewery, Rockmill, that makes a saison from millet and rice, but it is only available on tap in few locations.

There are two GF breweries within a few hours drive that I want to check out (Aurochs in Pittsburgh and Rolling Mill in Cincinnati). It's kinda surprising no one has started one in Columbus, considering we are getting close to 50 breweries now.

 

[glutarded-chris]

Southeast is a gluten free beer wasteland. Good ciders in North Carolina, but nothing in Florida that i am aware of. We cant even get Glutenburg. I was never a big cider fan but have had to become one out of self defense. Problem is the ones restaurants and bars have are usually too sweet. Every now and then i find a Magners or something that is relatively dry.

 

[Silly Yak]

Sounds like an opportunity awaits for many parts of the country. From what I've seen in my various visits to the Ghostfish Brewery and taproom they've grown exponentially over the last few years so the market is definitely there. Unfortunately many big chain stores seem to only stock gluten reduced beers and awful sweet ciders. On a side note, I brewed the Ed's Wort's Apfelwein recipe https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/man-i-love-apfelwein.14860/ awhile back and that was delicious, fast and cheap. Anyways I hope the Wit turns out great. Cheers!

 

[JMath]

Back to the topic of the post, I bottled the Belgian White yesterday at 1.011. At 9 days, it is by far the fastest finishing AG brew that I've done. The color was light, but darker than desired for the style. I'm not sure we could really get the bright yellow color since we can't use actual wheat.

I'll post some tasting notes and pictures when I crack one. I plan to try it alongside the last can of Ghostfish that I have. My main concern is whether the buckwheat and biscuit rice were too much.

 

[glutarded-chris]

If you used pale buckwheat, I cannot imagine that being too much. I use 1.5 to 2 lb pale buckwheat in almost every pale ale batch. When I have run out of buckwheat I don't think I noticed a huge flavor change.
Did you use 1lb of crystal, or biscuit rice as stated in the original post?

 

[JMath]

Whoops, yes it was biscuit as stated in the original recipe. I've just edited the previous reply where I said crystal. I imagine 1lb doesn't make much difference either way.

That's good to know about the buckwheat, I hope to use it in every batch for the mouthfeel/head retention.

 

[JMath]

I should have posted an update earlier, I am extremely happy with how this came out! It has a spot-on Belgian Wit taste, crisp and refreshing. Very similar to Hoegaarden, to the best of my memory (although I think Hoegaarden uses lemon instead of orange).

The grain ratios ended up being fine. The color was light, almost exactly the same as Ghostfish's Shrouded Summit. I would consider swapping out the biscuit malt for a vienna malt for a more complex flavor. But I don't think it matters much at only 1lb. It's nice to know I can make an amazing beer with just pale, biscuit, and buckwheat.

Personally I like the spicyness level, but other tasters have commented that it is a bit too much for their liking. So, I may tone down the coriander to 0.75oz the next time to see how it balances.

I tasted it up against the Ghostfish, which had a much more subtle flavor. It was less carbonated, less spicy, and less crisp, but had a fruity, almost wine-like complexity that mine lacked. I will note that the can of Ghostfish was several months old. I like them both, but mine is just more crisp and clean with the Belgian taste that I remember.

 

[JMath]

Here is the Ghostfish on the left and mine on the right.