Extreme Newbie Making Belgian White beer

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Wendol

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I've been passive about the forums up until now and finally sought out a membership so that I put forth my own questions!

I've been looking up tons of information about the type of beer im about to brew but still cant find some small things and its probably because im so green that im just skimming over it or that it should be so common that i dont see it.

I want to brew a blue moon style beer and yes ive actually read a lot of the forums on here about the blue moon clone! That being said i dont have the exact ingredients and i kind of want to diverge for the exactness that is Blue Moon.

I want a lighter style Blue moon so that maybe my girlfriend can enjoy it as much as i will.

Goal: Lighter Blue Moon With Blueberry flavoring

I went to my local brew store and they hooked me up with everything i needed to make a Belgian White.

-Wheat malt extract
-Flaked Wheat
-Vienna Malt
-Perle Hops
-Styrian Golding Hops
-Dried orange peel
-coriander seed
- Yeast=Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit

Questions i have are:

-Is this Wheat malt 50/50 Barley wheat? At first glance i thought it was all wheat but now because it says malt im assuming it has barley. I know for the beer i want it should be about 50/50.
-To lighten it up could i use the rice syrup solids i have? Or is this going to give it some type of weird taste?
-Should i skip the orange peel? How is the blueberry flavor going to affect the citrus flavor?(im using a blueberry syrup i got from local brew store.
-The yeast im using is Belgian Wit because thats what they told me to get but after rereading the blue moon clone post it says to use an ale yeast.
So what kind of affect does the Belgian wit yeast have on the beer? Ive never really messed around with yeasts -_-

Other info

-Im making a 2 gallon batch to see how it tastes before amping it up to 5 gallons
-Overall goal is for a really good blue moon/wit style beer thats slightly lighter with a taste of blueberries. I also plan on tossing some blueberries when serving for some extra wow factor.
 
1 I don't know the answer to this. My guess is that extract should be fine
2 I would not use the rice solids
3. If it were me I would use the orange peel but hold off on the blueberry flavoring. If you do use the blueberry syrup remember a little goes a long way
4. The Belgian wit yeast you have should, imho, be fine

This is just my opinion. I hope this helped
 
The reference recipe i have is this.

50% 2 row pale malt. (The first couple of batches were made with Great Western)
40% white wheat malt
10% flaked oats.

So errr i have some Light DME(1 pound) is that basically pale malt? I also have a left over Mr. Beer LME(1.86 pounds) that is basically pure barley from my guess- Its American beer classic. So im guessing its basically pure barley with some light hops.

Ill stick with the yeast like you suggested. I'll also leave out the rice solids.
 
Sounds good, I like blue moon , Leinenkugel and even shock top .But I'm sure a home brew version would be a bit tastier once you got it down. I'm interested to see how it turns out.. keep us posted
 
Wheat malt extract is probably 35% barley, 65% wheat. Making extract with just malted wheat is quite difficult so barley is added to make the process go easier.
I've used white rice in an all grain beer and didn't notice any flavor from the rice. I think your rice syrup solids will be fine.
I'd skip the orange peel if I wanted blueberry flavor. Blueberry is usually quite subtle and I think the orange peel would overpower it. Skip the corriander too, that's where a lot of the orange flavor come from, not the orange peel.
Belgian Wit yeast is an ale yeast. Which one of the Belgian Wit yeasts did you get?
You mentioned blueberry syrup. Does it have sugar in it so it needs to be in the fermenter? My experience with that is that I could barely tell there was blueberry in it. You might want to taste if before you bottle and if there isn't enough blueberry, use blueberry extract. Try a little first, you can add more if you need to but it's hard to take it out if you got too much in.

The Belgian Wit yeast I used was a Wyeast 3944. It didn't want to quit fermenting. I started it at 62, gave it a week, ramped it to 72 for another 2 weeks and it was still going. After some research, I brought it to 83 and it finished in 3 more days. Use your hydrometer to be sure yours is finished before you bottle it. Bottle bombs make such a mess....
 
Im using the exact same yeast as you are.

Ive never really used a hydrometer to figure out when it was done fermenting. Ive always fermented for 2-2 and a half weeks after i noticed it has considerably slowed down.

How would i figure out it was done using a hydrometer?

its blueberry flavoring and it does have high fructose corn syrup so it must ferment. I forgot to ask if i should add the flavor at the end or at the start =\.

Im taking out the oatmeal and adding corn starch.
 
Are you using a recipe? Corn starch??


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Im using the exact same yeast as you are.

Ive never really used a hydrometer to figure out when it was done fermenting. Ive always fermented for 2-2 and a half weeks after i noticed it has considerably slowed down.

How would i figure out it was done using a hydrometer?


its blueberry flavoring and it does have high fructose corn syrup so it must ferment. I forgot to ask if i should add the flavor at the end or at the start =\.

Im taking out the oatmeal and adding corn starch.

If you keep brewing with your method, sooner or later you will have a stuck ferment or a ferment that wants to keep on going. BTDT. You end up with bottle bombs. Take a sample with your hydrometer after your beer has been fermenting for 2 or 2 1/2 weeks. Record what the reading was. Take another sample 3 or 4 days later. If the readings match, your beer is done and you can bottle, otherwise you wait.

Oatmeal out, corn starch in????? Why?

Blueberry flavoring, natural or artificial? For sure it has to ferment but the question is whether it will taste like blueberries when its done.
 
If you keep brewing with your method, sooner or later you will have a stuck ferment or a ferment that wants to keep on going. BTDT. You end up with bottle bombs. Take a sample with your hydrometer after your beer has been fermenting for 2 or 2 1/2 weeks. Record what the reading was. Take another sample 3 or 4 days later. If the readings match, your beer is done and you can bottle, otherwise you wait.

Oatmeal out, corn starch in????? Why?

Blueberry flavoring, natural or artificial? For sure it has to ferment but the question is whether it will taste like blueberries when its done.

I think it should be oatmeal in, for sure. Some people do add wheat flour to wits to make them extra cloudy.

I used blueberry flavor in an American wheat last year, and people liked it. I thought it was a little artificial tasting, and maybe a little strong tasting.
 
As far as what im doing for a recipie im kinda mixing it off a bit of the sheet the local home brew store gave me and the Blue Moon clone Nilo made that i linked

-----2 Gallon Batch Using extracts not whole grains
-1.5 Pounds of Wheat Malt Extract
-1.5 Pounds of Light DME (Only have 1 pound on hand so might use Old Mr.beer lme of American Classic light(assumed to be just light LME)
-.5-1oz Perle Hops (Might leave this out and just use 1 oz of the Styrian Golding)
-.5-1oz Styrian Golding Hops
-1 oz Dried orange peel
-.3-.5 oz Corriander
--Yeast=Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit

-Blueberry flavoring (Still debating this and how much ill end up using. http://bsghandcraft.com/index.php/miscellaneous/fruit-flavorings/blueberry-4oz.html
 
Are you sure the flavoring has corn syrup? The description says adds no sweetness. If it's only a 4 oz bottle then I suspect it is flavor, not syrup. Don't know for sure though.


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