Black Wit...Anyone ever make one?

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CPORT546

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I had this idea to make one of these and searched and didn't really find a ton of stuff about it. I'm looking to make something that looks dark and heavy but when you drink it, it is light and refreshing with that nice wit spice. I was thinking of taking a pretty standard wit recipe and adding in 3/4-1 pound of Midnight Wheat to it to darken it up. From the descriptions of the Midnight Wheat it seems to be the best option to add color withough adding much of the flavor associated with dark malts. I had also tossed around the idea of adding the Midnight Wheat later in the mash reduce the flavor and get just the color.


Thanks for any suggestions/help
 
This recipe is in the Briess insert in the latest BYO mag...

'Midnight Wit'

3.3lb Pilsner LME
2lb Red Wheat malt
1.5lb Red Flaked Wheat
.5lb Midnight Wheat malt

.5 oz Sterling 60 min
.5 oz Sterling 10 min

5g Bitter orange peel 10 min
2g ground coriander 1 min

Looks like a 60 min mini-mash at 150-158F and then a 60 min boil

Can't say as I've made it, but it sounds interesting.
 
You could do a cold steep of some Carafa III Special to get a lot of dark color without much roasty bitter harshness at all.
 
Here's what I'm thinking:

4.5 pounds flaked wheat
4.5 pounds 2-row
.75 pounds roasted/midnight wheat
Mash 152 for 60 minutes

.75 oz Hallertauer (60 min)
.5 oz Hallertauer (10 min)
1.0 oz Crushed Corriander (5 min)
.5 oz Orange Peel (5 min)

O.G. 1.051
F.G. 1.012
IBUs 16
SRM 32
 
Im thinking about doing a black wit this weekend as well, havent crunched the numbers but im thinking something along the lines of 60% 2-Row, 30% White Wheat, and 10% Rolled Oats, throw in some Carafa II during Mashout. Hop accordingly with Halertau or Styrian Goldings and use the Wyeast Flanders Golden Ale Yeast Slurry I have. Spice with corriander and orange bitter.
 
I did make this, it was however only my second all grain batch which did a few things that didn't go the way I would want to. I have actually had a few people tell me they really liked it but it wasn't exactly what I was looking to make. I plan on making another one in the spring and here is what aside from the "newbie all grain mistakes" I made I would look to improve on mine.


First of all, what I was looking to make was a wit beer that was black in color with the least possible amount of "roasted" malt flavor possible, and I got more roastiness than I wanted. I added 3/4 pound of midnight wheat for the entire mash, and while it gave me the deep black color I was looking for it imparted to much roasty flavor. So I would look into cold steeping techniques or throw in the midnight wheat at the mash out as suggested by others on this thread.

Secondly, because of the roastiness it overpowered the coriander and orange peel I put in. I on black wit v2.0 I would probably leave these be and hope that the change in the midnight wheat addition will adress this. I used the following:

1 oz coriander
.5 oz bitter orange peel

That is pretty much what I would like to improve next time I make one.
 
How about some simple sugar dye? If at first you are going to compromise something for esthetics anyway, why not just compromise the authenticity of the color in stead of the taste? Cheating with dye while retaining taste is better than a "real" black color but which sacrifices taste, in my opinion.
 
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