Help with a Witbier Recipe

[tabni]

Hey guys!

Trying to formulate a recipe for a Witbier for the summer specially since Florida is too damn hot. Anyways, I'm planning on doing half a batch with Mango and the other half with Coconut. Any idea on how much of each fruit to add? Also does this recipe looks ok? I'm using Castle Belgian Pilsner Malt as a Base Malt since I just purchased a 55lb sack Also all of the ingredients are left overs malts/hops/yeast from different beers that I have made before.

This is the recipe
malt & fermentables
% LB OZ Malt or Fermentable ppg °L
89% 10 0 Castle Belgian Pilsner Malt 34 2 ~
4% 0 8 Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L 33 120 ~
4% 0 8 Flaked Oats 33 2 ~
2% 0 4 Wheat, Torrified 36 1 ~
11 4
Batch size: 5.0 gallons

hops
use time oz variety form aa
boil 60 mins 1.0 Styrian Goldings pellet 5.4

yeast
Wyeast Belgian Abby Ale (1214)

 

[ArcaneXor]

I don't think that recipe will make something resembling a witbier, but it should make a nice Belgian Blonde or something along those lines. It'll be very refreshing, especially if you dry it out!
As far as the fruit goes, hopefully someone else will be able to give you feedback on that. Personally, I'd just add some of the juice to the glass when you serve the beer instead of fermenting the fruit, but it can be fun to experiment with adding a couple of pounds to the fermentor and see what comes out.

 

[cyclonite]

Yep, definitely need more wheat if you want a witbier.

Here is my recipe (5 gallon) - just tried a bottle and it is amazing!

5 lbs Belgian wheat malt
4 lbs 2-row (pretty much any variety)
1 lb flaked oats

1 oz. Hallertauer Mittlefruh @ 60 min (~ 20 IBU total)

1 oz Coriander seed (crushed) @ 10 min
0.5 oz Bitter orange peel @ 10 min
Peel of a whole fresh navel orange, zested @ 10 min

WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale

In regards to the fruit, I am actually doing a Mango Hefeweizen next week. After reading, the suggestions I found were 4-8 whole mangoes, deseeded and crushed, in the fermenter for 4-10 days. Apparently mango imparts a very mild flavor, even if you use a lot of fruit. I decided to use 6 mangoes, but unfortunately I haven't brewed it yet so I can't give you first hand experience. You can also get frozen mangoes and use that.

Coconut also imparts a mild flavor. A friend did a coconut porter and used 2 lbs (!) of coconut, and you could taste it, but it wasn't overpowering. You will get more flavor if you toast it, but I'm not sure I would use toasted in a wit (would be great in a porter).

 

[tabni]

Belgian Blonde it is then! I'm probably going to use around 5 Mangos for my 3 gallon batch and about 1 lb of Coconut for my 2 remaining gallons. After alot of research this is what I'm doing with the fruit:

* Mango is going to be boiled in a separate pot while constantly stirring the fruit with a spoon. Once the fruit mixture reaches 170 degrees, cook it for 5 to 10 minutes while continuing to stir. Do not boil the fruit. Let it cool. Add to secondary.
* Coconut is going to be toasted in the oven. Probably adding Red Mill unscented coconut flakes or perhaps about 1 coconut.