My first beer: Belgian White

[onipar]

Hey all. So, I've been hounding the forum for a few weeks now, and I thought it only right to post my first brew.

This is just shy of 2 weeks in the bottle. I tasted one bottle after 1 week, and it had a strong banana flavor. This taste test had significant loss of banana flavor. In fact, the citrus really came through this time (not so much coriander though).

The head, as you can see, is fairly weak, and left no lacing. The after taste is almost like seltzer in that it's a very light beer with low alcohol (3.5 %). The flavor is good though, and very "thirst quenching."

I'm hoping another week or two will bring out even more flavor.

The longer it sits out, the less carbonation there is. I'm wondering if the lack of head and loss of carbonation means it still needs more carb time...

 

[rizomee]

All I can say when I look a picture of a glass of beer-->priceless (and now I'm thirsty)!

 

[BenjaminBier]

looks awesome dude, good job! it can take a while to carb up, so just give it some time.

keep telling myself not to drink more than 1 per week til its really ready, but it never seems to work out that way. happy weekend!

 

[onipar]

Thanks!

Yeah, I know they are going to be so much better next week, but with memorial weekend and all, I *had* to put a sixer in the fridge. It just wouldn't be right to barbecue over the holiday without a homebrew in hand. Got some Dogfish Head to supplement the homebrew though.

 

[OriginalIrishman]

It looks really good my first batch is still in secondary I hope it turns out as good. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks man.

 

[Nightbiker]

That looks downright TASTY! And now I want a beer!

 

[onipar]

Thanks, all!

Too bad my cell phone camera didn't do it justice. There are these beautiful lines of bubbles jetting through the beer.

I'm glad they were carbed and tasty enough to put a few in the fridge for the long weekend. I also can't wait to do my next batch (Nut Brown Ale), because this time I'll actually have a homebrew to drink while I do it.

 

[Teromous]

I'm wondering if the lack of head and loss of carbonation means it still needs more carb time...

This is likely the culprit. If your head stays up without fading too fast, but it just isn't large enough, odds are you just need to give it some more time. If it carbonates fully and still has a weak head, you should take another look at what grains you've used in the recipe.

 

[Shoegaze99]

This is likely the culprit. If your head stays up without fading too fast, but it just isn't large enough, odds are you just need to give it some more time.

Yep. I just brewed a Belgian white, too. Same thing.

To the OP: At two weeks it will be drinkable, but you really want to give it a full three. I thought mine was fine at two -- okay taste, thin at the back end, head didn't last -- but the most recent batch is at four weeks now and it tastes great, has a great aroma, and retains a nice head.

One week was too early to try it. IMO, opening a beer at one week to taste it is always a waste of a beer.

 

[Bensiff]

It seems like it takes a good 4-5 weeks for beers to fully carb. Sure you will get bubbles in a week or two, but for the CO2 to be created and then dissolved fully into the liquid takes a little more time.

 

[Shoegaze99]

Yeah, 4-5 seems to be the sweet spot for most of my brews. They're drinkable at 3, so that's usually my target for the first taste test, but they don't seem to settle into place for another week or two.

There is a summer weiss I've done multiple times that doesn't come into its own until 6 weeks in the bottle. I don't know why that is, but it's pretty consistent that way. Between weeks 6-12, though, it's pretty damn good.

 

[onipar]

Yep. I just brewed a Belgian white, too. Same thing.

To the OP: At two weeks it will be drinkable, but you really want to give it a full three. I thought mine was fine at two -- okay taste, thin at the back end, head didn't last -- but the most recent batch is at four weeks now and it tastes great, has a great aroma, and retains a nice head.

One week was too early to try it. IMO, opening a beer at one week to taste it is always a waste of a beer.

Thanks! Yeah, this is what I figured.

I blame my restlessness on two things: This being my fist ever brew, and wanting a few bottles for Memorial weekend. I figured I'd sacrifice a few bottles a bit early simply to have some homebrew for the BBQ, and I'm saving the rest to finish conditioning.

The way you describe the backend as being thin is exactly how mine tastes at the moment. Definitely drinkable, but I'm sure by next week and beyond I'll be kicking myself for wasting six bottles this weekend.

EDIT: Oh, and I didn't use any specialty grains for this, which may be why there isn't much head retention. This being my first beer, the ingredients were just LME, DME, Orange peel, and Coriander.

 

[onipar]

I just had my first taste of Hoegaarden, and it has occurred to me that I didn't make a Blue Moon clone. I made a Hoegaarden clone.

 

[Shoegaze99]

That's a GOOD thing!

 

[onipar]

That's a GOOD thing!

I thought so too. I like the lighter flavor. It's a nice refreshing ale for the summer.

 

[onipar]

So, sort of an interesting development, I thought I'd share. The pictures I posted on the first page were from a few bottles we placed in the fridge for Memorial weekend. I had one left in the fridge (I guess it'd been in there for about a week at this point), so I figured I'd drink it and pop a few more in to chill.

I poured it and was immediately struck by how *clear* it looked compared to the first bottle we opened. Now, this is a Belgian White, so it's supposed to be a bit cloudy of course.

I assume it looks so clear from the amount of time in the fridge, but I didn't realize a Wit would clear at all.

 

[Ryan1977]

That's interesting....It does seem really clear. I just bottled my first Belgian Wit Wednesday as a matter of fact, and I looked at a bottle today and it seems oddly clear...I did throw some Irish moss in the brew kettle with 15 minutes left. Is that a "no-no" for a Wit?...just curious if anyone else does that. BTW, how'd you brew yours?

I used the following:

Rahr White Wheat
Rahr Two-Row
Flaked Wheat
Flaked Oats
Briess Bavarian Wheat DME
Czech Saaz 1 oz
1/4 tsp coriander
1/2 oz of bitter orange peel
Wyeast 3944

 

[onipar]

This was my first brew, so we are still working with extracts. In fact, everything we used to make this was basically handed to us by our LHBS guy after we said we wanted to make something like Blue Moon.

We used a Coopers 3.75 lb can of Wheat LME
1.5 lbs wheat DME
.5 oz coriander seed
.5 oz bitter orange peel
Dry yeast that came under the can's lid. Not sure what it was...

Pretty simple for our first go around. Tomorrow we're doing our second batch, this time with specialty grains and hops. Moving ahead slowly but surely. :rockin:

The Irish Moss is used for clarity, so yeah, probably not needed in a beer that's supposed to be cloudy. *shrug*, no biggie though. I bet it still tastes amazing.

 

[kanddr]

Did this one taste any different from the first bottle? You could always make it cloudy again by swirling a bit left in the bottle before pouring the rest

 

[onipar]

Did this one taste any different from the first bottle? You could always make it cloudy again by swirling a bit left in the bottle before pouring the rest

It pretty much tasted the same. I'm expecting the next batch I just put in the fridge to taste better though (they had more aging time, 3 weeks). Haha, yeah, I'm not too worried about getting a cloudy appearance. Just thought it was interesting that it cleared so much.

 

[Brew_4iT]

I have a hoegaarden white ale clone going right now I can't wait till it's done

Still have some other beers left in the mini kegs I'm using as well to keg this so it's been in the primary for 20 days now, I hear it should only get better so I'm in no hurry.

This was from Austin home brew so it should be good, my second brew.