Christmas Wit/Bitter hybrid recipe

[rollermt]

I'm brewing a beer for my company's holiday party in a couple weeks. I did some surveys of my coworkers about what flavors they might like, and I got a lot of comments for earthy, woody, and floral things that remind people of the holiday (pine trees, campfires, that sort of thing). The idea of a snowman came up a lot too. Since it was for a party, the idea of doing a big, malty beer was out.

This led me down a path that is part Witbier, part Best Bitter. The witbier contributes a light color and holiday spice note, while bitter brings a fruitiness from the yeast and an earthy, woody element from the hops.

What do you think of this recipe? Would love any feedback from others who have attempted to make more session-able versions of holiday ales that are on the lighter side.

OG: 1.046
FG: 1.012
IBU: 32
SRM: 3
ABV: 4.4%

5# Pale 2-row
4# Flaked wheat
.25# Munich

.5 oz each Northern Brewer and EKG @60 min
.5 oz each Northern Brewer and EKG @10 min
1 oz EKG @ 0 min
1.5 oz orange zest @ 0 min
.25 tsp allspice @ 0 min

24oz Carrot puree, added during primary

Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

What are you hoping to achieve with carrot purée addition? Or is that for the snowman crowd?

 

[rollermt]

I think the carrot will be both a funny nod to the snowman reference (we're probably going to give the beer some sort of snowman name), as well as add a sweet earthiness. Since most holiday ales have different types of spices and adjuncts, this is a way to do that in a way that's a little unexpected.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Well, I recently brewed a pumpkin porter with heffe yeast wanting to get the clove from it. Turned out pretty good, so experiment on. The sugars will likely ferment out the color will likely stay and if you don't peel your carrots, guessing you'll be juicing your own that peel taste would probably stay. Mind you, I have never brewed with carrot so my comments are merely educated guesses.

Let us know how this turns out, please.

 

[rollermt]

Update to this beer. It turned out pretty good, keg was kicked in an hour and half by the party! I let the London III 1318 ramp up pretty warm and got the fruity quality one would expect from a belgian wit. Pleasantly fruity. It was also plenty dry from a low OG and earthy from the british hops. Slight orange tint from golden promise and carrot, so not as light as I might have liked.

I got a slight bitterness in the back of my throat, something I haven't tasted in any beer before. This led me to wonder if this came from the fermented carrot since it was a unique ingredient. No one else detected this flavor, even after I asked them, so it might not have been anything. Obviously, I didn't do any control batches without the carrot, but I think I would make this beer again and continue to explore this as a light, wheated English bitter.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Empty keg, yes success.