Holiday Belgian Wit Recipe??

[MikeRoberts]

Okay, so I want to know if anyone has a great partial mash/ extract recipe for a Wintery Beer that I can have ready by Christmas. I want to stay on the lighter side. I just made a Nutbrown Ale and a heavy German Rye, so I wanted something like a Belgian Witbier that I can add some warm spices and maybe orange peel. Everyone has the dark beers for the holidays and I wanted to do something else. A friend of mine recommended a Sam Adams White Christmas clone. I dont exactly remember the beer. Thoughts?

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I hear NB has great Wit kits.

 

[joshesmusica]

I hear NB has great Wit kits.

hahahaha, I hear they cause quite the fuss!

 

[joshesmusica]

Okay, so I want to know if anyone has a great partial mash/ extract recipe for a Wintery Beer that I can have ready by Christmas. I want to stay on the lighter side. I just made a Nutbrown Ale and a heavy German Rye, so I wanted something like a Belgian Witbier that I can add some warm spices and maybe orange peel. Everyone has the dark beers for the holidays and I wanted to do something else. A friend of mine recommended a Sam Adams White Christmas clone. I dont exactly remember the beer. Thoughts?

Most of the time people add coriander seeds and bitter orange peel to their wits. The yeast will produce a bit of that clove flavor for you.

I would say if you want a true witbier, then you do need to do a partial mash. This in order to get some of those hazy proteins from the wheat, which you won't really get from wheat extract.

Here's one that I brewed last winter, but I was going for more of a hoppy witbier. I would go with only a traditional landrace variety hop, like just the saaz. Then I would use the bitter orange peel, not the sweet. Then I would think of adding some cinnamon to it maybe, and drop the coriander seeds (those add a bit of spiciness, but also an almost lemony tartness in the background). I think that will really give you a fairly "holiday" tasting witbier.

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.50 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC) Grain 1 15.9 %
0.50 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 15.9 %
0.25 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 3 7.9 %
15.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 6.9 IBUs
1.50 kg Wheat Dry Extract [Boil for 5 min](15.8 Dry Extract 5 47.6 %
20.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 1.8 IBUs
28.00 g Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 7 -
21.00 g Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 8 -
0.40 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) [Boil for 5 min]( Sugar 9 12.7 %
10.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpoo Hop 10 3.4 IBUs
10.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 mi Hop 11 1.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) [35 Yeast 12 -
20.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Da Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
20.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 3.15 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Saccharification Add 18.09 l of water at 66.9 C 65.5 C 60 min

 

[RM-MN]

I'd suggest you start looking through the recipes here on HomeBrewTalk. I think all the recipes here have been tried (no theoretical recipes) and proven. Here's a good place to start looking for your witbeers. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70 Make sure to see if the recipe is for extract or all grain before you start buying the ingredients. I noticed one for a honey orange hefeweizen that listed as multiple recipes even.

After you have perused the wheat and rye beer recipes you might want to branch out into more styles so you need to look at the complete database. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=82

 

[MikeRoberts]

Most of the time people add coriander seeds and bitter orange peel to their wits. The yeast will produce a bit of that clove flavor for you.

I would say if you want a true witbier, then you do need to do a partial mash. This in order to get some of those hazy proteins from the wheat, which you won't really get from wheat extract.

Here's one that I brewed last winter, but I was going for more of a hoppy witbier. I would go with only a traditional landrace variety hop, like just the saaz. Then I would use the bitter orange peel, not the sweet. Then I would think of adding some cinnamon to it maybe, and drop the coriander seeds (those add a bit of spiciness, but also an almost lemony tartness in the background). I think that will really give you a fairly "holiday" tasting witbier.

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.50 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC) Grain 1 15.9 %
0.50 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 15.9 %
0.25 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 3 7.9 %
15.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 6.9 IBUs
1.50 kg Wheat Dry Extract [Boil for 5 min](15.8 Dry Extract 5 47.6 %
20.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 1.8 IBUs
28.00 g Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 7 -
21.00 g Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 8 -
0.40 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) [Boil for 5 min]( Sugar 9 12.7 %
10.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpoo Hop 10 3.4 IBUs
10.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 mi Hop 11 1.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) [35 Yeast 12 -
20.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Da Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
20.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 3.15 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Saccharification Add 18.09 l of water at 66.9 C 65.5 C 60 min

Thanks for sharing your insight and recipe. I'm fairly new to brewing, so looking at this recipe is a little daunting. If I print it up and bring it to the local home brew shop, I'm sure they can help me with the procedures right?

 

[joshesmusica]

Thanks for sharing your insight and recipe. I'm fairly new to brewing, so looking at this recipe is a little daunting. If I print it up and bring it to the local home brew shop, I'm sure they can help me with the procedures right?

Yeah, sorry about that. I'll make it easier to understand what to do with it in a new post.

 

[joshesmusica]

This is for a 19L/5G batch. If you're doing a full volume boil (every bit of liquid that you'll use is in the boil), then you'll add it all at the beginning. Heat it up to around 150-152F, put the bag that will hold the grains into the pot and add the grains (the pilsner, the wheat, and the oats). Let this sit for 60 mins, wrapping the pot in order to keep the heat it. Or if the pot fits in your oven, while you're heating the water, also preheat your oven to 150. Then after you add the grains, put the pot in the oven. You can just leave them be for 60 mins, but I personally like to give the grains a stir every 20 mins.

After the 60 mins is up, then you want to remove the grains, hopefully in a colander draining over the pot (if you don't have a colander, then find some way to let all of the wort drain out of the grains, there are precious sugars in there still. You can drain them into a different pot or a bowl or something and squeeze the crap out of the bag, if it's easier than having it over your boil kettle). Once the grains are removed, you want to start bringing your wort to a boil.

Once the wort reaches a full-on boil, add your first addition of hops in. You can use a hop bag or just throw them right into the pot. Either one will work. Set a timer for 55 minutes. During those 55 minutes prepare all of the rest of the items. Since there's a lot to add in at the 5-min mark. Measure out your hops, sugar, orange peel, and coriander seed, and make sure to crush the coriander seed.

When your timer goes off, add in the rest of the ingredients, and set your timer for 5 more mins. After it goes off again, turn off your stove, and mix in the dry extract. Then cool down per your usual method.

When using liquid yeast, I highly recommend a starter prepared 3 days before brew day. 48 hrs to ferment, 24 hrs to cold crash. This will ensure the proper amount of healthy, viable yeast. For that you would just make up a wort of 100g dry malt extract and 1L of water. After you cold crash, pour out most of the liquid that's above the yeast, leaving just a small bit behind in order to swirl up the yeast at the bottom.

I'll convert kg to pounds, and g to ounces for you, but the conversion isn't always exact, so I'll just round it.

0.50 kg/1lbs -- Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC) (you can use any base malt really)
0.50 kg/1lbs -- Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC)
0.25 kg/.5lbs -- Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC)
15.00 g/.5oz -- Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
20.00 g/.75oz -- Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min
28.00 g/1oz -- Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 mins)
21.00 g/.75oz -- Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.40 kg/14oz -- Sugar, Table (Sucrose) [Boil for 5 min]
1.50 kg/3.3lbs -- Wheat Dry Extract [Mix in after you've turned off the stove]
1.0 pkg -- Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400)

For the Saaz hops, if you only wanted to buy 1oz of hops, then just bring the second addition down to .5oz as well. If you were wanting to make it more of a christmas spice type of thing, I would drop the coriander seed and add in some cinnamon (probably 4-5 cinnamon sticks) add in at the same time. You could also potentially add in some cloves, although you will get some clove flavor from the yeast. And with cloves a little goes a long way. If you do the sweet orange peel I think that will help bring around that christmas spice feeling.

 

[MikeRoberts]

This is incredibly helpful. Another question. I don't do kegging yet, I only bottle. I'm assuming I need to add priming sugar before bottling, right?

Also, what do you think is the timeframe on primary and secondary. Like normal, 5-7 days in primary, 7-10 in secondary? 3 weeks in bottles? And also, is there certain temperatures for storing in each stage? Thanks man!

 

[joshesmusica]

This is incredibly helpful. Another question. I don't do kegging yet, I only bottle. I'm assuming I need to add priming sugar before bottling, right?

Also, what do you think is the timeframe on primary and secondary. Like normal, 5-7 days in primary, 7-10 in secondary? 3 weeks in bottles? And also, is there certain temperatures for storing in each stage? Thanks man!

No problem at all. That's what this forum is here for!

I use this calculator for priming sugar:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/

If I think I might have say 24.5 liters, I'll just go ahead and type in 24 just to not overdo it. As for the temperature, I go ahead and put in the temperature when I'm bottling. You'll want to dissolve the amount that it says in something like 100ml of water and boil it. You don't have to actually boil for very long, as flash pasteurization happens below the boiling point. So I usually add the sugar when it starts steaming and stir it to ensure it all dissolves until it starts boiling. Then cool it down to at least 40C, pour it in your bottling bucket, then rack the beer on top of it. Make sure to have your siphon all the way to the bottom and have it kinda wrapping around the sides. This will ensure you don't oxidize the beer, and it will also cause a swirling/whirlpool motion, which will help thoroughly mix in the sugar. If you do this correctly, there's no need to stir at all.

As far as timeline, I would say there's no need for a secondary. I would go 3 weeks primary for this one, which could include a cold crash if you have that capability. I would ferment around 66-68F for the most vigorous part of fermentation, then when you can see that activity is beginning to slow down (or if you use a carboy and can see the krausen has dropped), then you could warm it up to about 72F for the remained of the time in the primary. Then bottle condition for three weeks. This one should be good consumed fresh (3 weeks in the bottle), but I can imagine the flavors melding together a little better as time goes.

My reasoning with secondary is that I only do it when necessary. The times when it is necessary for me are:
1) If I need to harvest the yeast and plan on dry-hopping or adding some other kind of adjunct.
2) If it was a smaller batch, and I need the primary fermentor for a bigger batch that I'm about to brew. (I have 25L buckets and a 22L PET carboy).
3) If I plan on long-term aging it; meaning longer than like 2 months (I've never run into this particular one yet). This can apply to high abv beers, something I'm inoculating with wild bacteria/yeast, or something that I would lager for a couple of months.

Other than those three the risks of racking to a secondary outweigh the risks of using it.

 

[MikeRoberts]

No problem at all. That's what this forum is here for!

I use this calculator for priming sugar:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/

If I think I might have say 24.5 liters, I'll just go ahead and type in 24 just to not overdo it. As for the temperature, I go ahead and put in the temperature when I'm bottling. You'll want to dissolve the amount that it says in something like 100ml of water and boil it. You don't have to actually boil for very long, as flash pasteurization happens below the boiling point. So I usually add the sugar when it starts steaming and stir it to ensure it all dissolves until it starts boiling. Then cool it down to at least 40C, pour it in your bottling bucket, then rack the beer on top of it. Make sure to have your siphon all the way to the bottom and have it kinda wrapping around the sides. This will ensure you don't oxidize the beer, and it will also cause a swirling/whirlpool motion, which will help thoroughly mix in the sugar. If you do this correctly, there's no need to stir at all.

As far as timeline, I would say there's no need for a secondary. I would go 3 weeks primary for this one, which could include a cold crash if you have that capability. I would ferment around 66-68F for the most vigorous part of fermentation, then when you can see that activity is beginning to slow down (or if you use a carboy and can see the krausen has dropped), then you could warm it up to about 72F for the remained of the time in the primary. Then bottle condition for three weeks. This one should be good consumed fresh (3 weeks in the bottle), but I can imagine the flavors melding together a little better as time goes.

My reasoning with secondary is that I only do it when necessary. The times when it is necessary for me are:
1) If I need to harvest the yeast and plan on dry-hopping or adding some other kind of adjunct.
2) If it was a smaller batch, and I need the primary fermentor for a bigger batch that I'm about to brew. (I have 25L buckets and a 22L PET carboy).
3) If I plan on long-term aging it; meaning longer than like 2 months (I've never run into this particular one yet). This can apply to high abv beers, something I'm inoculating with wild bacteria/yeast, or something that I would lager for a couple of months.

Other than those three the risks of racking to a secondary outweigh the risks of using it.

Okay great! Thanks! Should I leave the spices and orange peel in the carboy during fermentation, or strain it out before.

 

[joshesmusica]

I would just leave them in, personally. That might be something that you would want to search around and get other people's opinions about, though.

 

[m00ps]

when ive added orange peels in the fermentor, I just leave them in until bottling.