Dark Wit / Porter hybrid

[Shawn Hargreaves]

I find myself intrigued by the idea of making a hybrid Wit / Porter, or to put this another way, a dark colored Wit that includes some roastey malts. Anyone ever tried anything like this, or care to offer any advice before I try it out?

Here's what I'm planning right now (partial mash):

2.5 lb 6 Row
1.5 lb Flaked Wheat
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb Crystal 40
0.25 lb Black Patent

(60 min mash @ 154)

3 lb Dry Wheat Extract (late addition)
1 oz Saaz (AA 5.5, 30 min)
1 oz Bitter Orange Peel (5 min)
0.75 oz Coriander Seed (5 min)

WLP400 (Belgian Wit Ale)

OG 1.052
FG 1.012
IBU 13.8

I'd normally hop a dark beer much more heavily than this, but kept the hops low since I want to leave plenty of room for the orange peel.

I'm particularly undecided how much crystal to include. I toyed with none at all (maybe some flaked oats instead like I would normally use in a Wit?) but I worry that the dark malts will need at least a little crystal for it to even remotely resemble a Porter.

 

[JesseRC]

I wonder if it would be like a dunkel weisen?

 

[Malticulous]

Randy Mosher wrote about a dark Wit called Peetermann. It was stronger with twice the hops and a six hour boil.

 

[Shawn Hargreaves]

I bottled this yesterday, lookin' good so far, nice and light (in body, not color!) with an interesting chocolate/citrus balance.

 

[Synovia]

Try a dunkelweizen.


I'm worried about a Porter/Wit. Porters tend to need some aging, and wits hate aging.

 

[Shawn Hargreaves]

I guess only time will tell for sure

I'm not too worried, though: the need for aging a porter or stout is mostly proportional to the amount of roasted malts (and alcohol content of course), and this is fairly light on the roast...