Questions about upcoming brew for a Belgian Wit

[uglytunasaloona]

I am planning on brewing a Belgian Wit this coming weekend. The recipe that I have does not call for both primary and secondary fermentation. It only calls for transferring the cooled wort into a fermentation vessel and pitching the yeast then waiting for fermentation to complete. I have a number of questions:

Should a Wit call for both primary and secondary fermentation?

If I follow the recipe and only use a single fermentation vessel should I use my plastic buck or glass carboy?

How long before fermentation is complete? I plan measuring the SG at initial fermentation but would like to know when to start taking the second reading to determine if I’ve reached a final SG prior to bottling.

Thanks in Advance for any info.

 

[TheH2]

Welcome to HBT.

In terms of your beer, no a secondary will not be necessary and would likely result in a beer that is less to style. You want a wit to be cloudy. The last wit I did I kept it in primary for 2 weeks and then bottled. If you want to know exactly when it is ready you can start taking gravity readings at about day 4 or 5 and you can bottle when you have the same gravity reading for two straight days.

In terms of secondary in general, you will find that a lot of people on the forum don't use them unless their beer is high abv. I guess it is a matter of personal opinion but it is certainly nice to know that not all beers need secondary and that nothing bad will happen to your beer if you leave it in primary for a month. Do a search for no secondary and you will find some good information on the pro's and con's of using/not using secondary. It is a lot easier to let beer sit in primary for a month and then just bottle or keg and some even claim it results in better beer, but I do it because I'm lazy.

 

[Thumper]

If I follow the recipe and only use a single fermentation vessel should I use my plastic buck or glass carboy?



Thanks in Advance for any info.[/QUOTE]


How big is your carboy. The only reason I ask is because if it is on a 5 gallon, you run the risk of running out of head space. Other than that it is a personel choice of which one to use. Some like to watch the fermentation in the carboy, and others like to use the bucket and forget about for a while.

 

[LIVETOBREW]

Ive made Belgian Wit a few different ways to try new things with it, I never use a secondary with any wheat style beer since you want the cloudiness, go about 2 weeks on it in the primary and check your gravity, its going to be hard to clean a glass carboy after a wheat beer so i would use the plastic bucket, also some wheat yeasts can ferement prety crazy so you may need a blow-off tube, I like the plastic bucket for a wheat since a bit of the co2 leaks out around the lid, and eliminates the need for a blow off (just my opinion) I usually go 18 days in the primary wait till the gravity bottoms out for about 3 days and then bottle it, wait a week then crack one and see what it tastes like, it WILL get better with conditioning.... but again this is the way i do it, im sure there are better ways from the more experienced guys/girls on here...

beer is ready to drink when YOU like the taste, NOT when the recipe says...... its just a guidline.....

 

[mr_clean]

I used a secondary on my whitbier,still cloudy.Youll be ok

 

[Pappers_]

For what its worth, the Witbier I brewed last November turned out pretty tasty and I put it into secondary for about a week.

Jim

 

[jldc]

I'm no expert, but I think the answer to both questions is that it doesn't matter.

Secondary or no secondary: no difference, especially for a wit.

Bucket or carboy: If the carboy is big enough (IMO 6 gallons for a 5 gallon batch), no difference.

So, I would use the bucket and no primary.

 

[dogbar]

...its going to be hard to clean a glass carboy after a wheat beer so i would use the plastic bucket...

Scoop of oxy-clean, five gallons of water, soak overnight.

Works like magic, I swear.

 

[Limited Visibility]

It really does not matter which you use, your glass or plastic.

And I would wait at least 2 weeks before I would check the gravity again

 

[uglytunasaloona]

WOW! You guys are great! I can't believe how much info is available here. I started with the Papazian book but there is just a tremendous amount of knowledge here and I've greatly expanedd my knowledge by just skimming the forums.

FWIW, I'm brewing a Belgian Wit recipe from Sam Calgione's boot Extreme Brewing and looking forward to this one.

As for one of the comments on the blow-off tube. I was warned by the owner of the brew shop where I bought my supplies to use one. My wife would kill me if a made a mess. I am familiar with the power of yeast. I'm just getting back into brewing after a long hiatus. Back in the 80s I brewed a couple of batches and carbonated by adding small amounts of sugar to the bottles as opposed to adding sugar solution to the entire batch and I did have a couple bottles explode on me.

Happy Brewing!

 

[TheH2]

You can also put the anti foam drops to prevent exploding primaries. Had 2 explode so I now use the drops, never had a problem since.

 

[ArcaneXor]

You can also put the anti foam drops to prevent exploding primaries. Had 2 explode so I now use the drops, never had a problem since.

+1. Foam control drops are cheap and do a very good job minimizing kraeusen buildup. If you put a 5-gallon batch into a 5-gallon carboy, you might still get some blowoff, but I've never had a 5-gallon batch get even close to the top of my 6-gallon Better Bottle after using the drops.