Where to use spices in a belgian wit?

[EBloom97]

It seems pretty standard to throw the corriander and orange peel additions in towards the end of the boil.

Is there any reason you can't add them during secondary fermentation? Would it be the same flavor, better, or worse?

 

[Oldsock]

I find that adding spices to the fermenter gives a cleaner/clearer spice character. I like this in beers where I really want to taste the individual spices (pumpkin beers for example) but for Belgians I like to add late in the boil to let the spices mute/mingle more with the rest of the aromatics. A bit of chamomile is very nice as well.

 

[lostboysbrew]

+1 to Oldsock........late in the boil is ideal. 10 min left and less. Added corriander and cinnamon stick @ 5 min last month, didn't use enough cinnamon but worked great......

 

[EBloom97]

I find that adding spices to the fermenter gives a cleaner/clearer spice character. I like this in beers where I really want to taste the individual spices (pumpkin beers for example) but for Belgians I like to add late in the boil to let the spices mute/mingle more with the rest of the aromatics. A bit of chamomile is very nice as well.

This is interesting. The more pronounced spice character is kind of what I'm after, but I don't want it to overpower the other elements. Maybe I'll use 1.5 times as much in the boil.

 

[unionrdr]

My wife put her zest/spices in at 15 minutes left in the boil. It was the BB summer ale kit. I think the dried spice/zest bag should be re-hydrated first before adding to the boil near the end. It needed to be stronger. It was a bit light 1 week in the bottle after 3 weeks+ in primary.

 

[cyclonite]

5-10 minutes at the end of the boil seems to be optimal, and make sure you crush the coriander for the most flavor. I've tried it in secondary as well, but didn't get much out of it. BTW - zesting a whole sweet orange in addition to bitter orange peel works wonderfully in a Belgian Wit - did this on my last one and it turned out unbelievably good (and I'm not even a big wheat fan).

 

[Randar]

I like to bloom my wit additions in a couple cups of wort that I pull aside at around 15 min and then add very near to flame out. And yes, coarsely crush/grind coriander and grains of paradise. Just the way I try to extract the most. Adding to the secondary might change the balance of the flavor/aroma vs the same quantities in the boil. But trial and error would fix that for you in the long run. I am guessing the orange will be more obvious in secondary and the GOP/coriander would be more obvious as a late boil addition.