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+1 on COLObrewer's advice. A couple of questions: Did you make a starter? What was your OG? If you made a starter you should definitely have some activity by now, but if not, the lag is understandable. Without a starter I would wait a few more days.

Two things come to mind: 1. your extract may not be very good. Always choose the lightest possible extracts and get all your color and grain flavor from specialty grains. I am a big fan of Breiss extra light/Pilsen light DME. If you can't get a highly fermentable extract, replace a pound of...

Not to hijack the thread, but if you rack onto fruit in a secondary will you have enough CO2 in the headspace to prevent significant oxidation?

+1 on always making a starter. Mr Malty is your friend. If you are not going to make a starter, you need to repitch from a low gravity batch. A mild or Scottish 60 get by w/o the starter and can give you enough growth to brew a big beer.

Yes, you will be good far a few weeks if you wash/rinse your yeast. Follow this procedure and you will be good: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

+4 on 90 minutes and chill as quickly as possible. DMS will continue to form above 140 F in the wort, but won't come out of solution if it is not boiling.

It is very early, but upon bottling I wished I had used more than 1/2 oz of Citra (maybe 1 to 1 1/2 oz). The aroma was nice,but a bit deeper in the background than I would have preferred. This particular wit is overall very light so once carbonation sets in it may be perfect. Also, 5 Days was...

I'm going to bottle tomorrow and report back. The aroma is nice right now so I am optimistic.

My wit was down to 1.007 today so I threw in 1/2 oz of citra. I only want to add a subtle note from the hops so I plan on bottling wednesday, thurdsay or friday. That should be short enough to draw out the aroma w/o getting a grassy flavor. I'll report on flavor when I bottle. Right now the...

You will be fine without filtering, but use it if it makes you feel better. My first few beers I used a hop bag. Then I switched to use a funnel with a strainer to separate the hops. After a few beers I have not bothered with either. Even if it gets into the fermentor, it will be covered by...

+1 on no secondary. After 3 weeks in the primary, you should have little issue racking to a bottling bucket (or keg) and leaving the trub behind.

My first Irish Red attempt looked like a porter. I was annoyed until I tasted it and found it to be the best beer I had brewed to date. After a couple of bottles, I stopped calling it a red and the problem was solves!:mug: When all else fails, rename your brew!

I used wlp400. I just brewed at the end of last week so I am least another week from dry hopping. Today I sampled and it had already dropped from 1.046 down to 1.012. My tasting impression of the sample was that it was very Hoegaarden like, even without any added fruit or spice. I will...

The title of this thread freaked me out a little, but the story makes it sound like the brewery shouldn't be changing dramatically under new owners. It may be a boon to the craft spirits movement.

I have a 1/2 oz of Citra or a 1/2 oz of Cascade on hand that both seem appropriate for the overall taste of the beer (light citrus which will not overwhelm). Any advice from the peanut gallery on what you would choose for a Belgian Wit? Does a week seem like a reasonable amount of time?

+1 on the sanitized tin foil. Keep in mind that the John Palmer book online is the first edition of his book and some of his advice has changed over the years. I know that from his Brew Strong show he has mentioned a few things that are in his book that he doesn't do/recommend anymore...

It is how a comparison of how much sugar you have extracted from your grains compared to the maximum possible extraction. As an extract brewer, this is not too important, just go with 70% to get a ballpark. I strongly recommend reading as much of John Palmer's book as you can. This section...

I want to revive this question. I did not add orange or coriander and was considering racking onto fruit or dry hopping in a secondary. Would dry hopping a Belgian Wit with cascade or centennial be crazy?

+1 on too much water. I think my partial-mash was too thin and that is what lead to my low efficiency. For my next attempt I am going to pick up a package of pH paper from my LHBS to make sure I am mashing in the 5s. Too much water could cause the pH to drift up over 6 reducing enzyme...

The Irish Red I made 4 Months ago had the opposite issue with color. I too thought the flavor was good, but I was too dark. I used 5 oz roasted barley so I would suggest 3 oz to start. Are you using an software to help with your recipe formulation?