Witbier What the WIT - White IPA

[CraigKing]

Awesome! Thanks for the recipe conversion! I'm looking forward to brewing this White IPA.

 

[CraigKing]

I re-wrote this recipe to make it a mini-mash/extract recipe so it was complete and all in one post:

5 lbs Wheat DME
or
6 lbs Wheat LME
1.5 lbs Pilsner Malt
1.5 lbs Flaked Wheat

1.25oz Centennial 60min
1oz Amarillo 30min
.75oz Centennial 10min
.5 Amarillo 10min

1oz Coriander 5min
2 Whole Orange peels

2oz Amarillo Dry Hop 14days

Yeast: 1056

I'm hoping to pick up the ingredients needed this week and brew this next weekend! Just in time for late spring/early summer!

 

[gbx]

Add 6oz of midnight wheat of carafa special and make it a Black White IPA (aka a Cascadian Dunkel Weizen if you live on the west coast)

 

[CraigKing]

I bought all of my ingredients this week to brew this White IPA! I had to change a couple things based on availability and packaged amounts.

1. For the 5 lbs of DME, I had to go with 6 lbs of Bavarian Wheat. Should I try to still only use 5lbs, or can I use all 6lbs?

2. For the 1.5 lbs of flaked wheat, I had to get 2lbs. Can I used 2lbs, or should I try to cut it back to 1.5lbs?

3. For the yeast, my local shop did not have the Wyeast1056. They recommended Safale US-05. Would that still work?

Thanks!

 

[gestalt162]

I bought all of my ingredients this week to brew this White IPA! I had to change a couple things based on availability and packaged amounts.

1. For the 5 lbs of DME, I had to go with 6 lbs of Bavarian Wheat. Should I try to still only use 5lbs, or can I use all 6lbs?

2. For the 1.5 lbs of flaked wheat, I had to get 2lbs. Can I used 2lbs, or should I try to cut it back to 1.5lbs?

3. For the yeast, my local shop did not have the Wyeast1056. They recommended Safale US-05. Would that still work?

Thanks!

1. You can go 2 ways with this. Option A is to use only 5 lbs of DME, and save the rest for another beer or for yeast starters. Option B is to use all 6 lbs, which will make the beer a bit bigger. If you go with option B, you'll have to up your hopping rates a little bit to account for the higher gravity. Personally, I would go with option A, as it's truer to the original recipe.

2. You can use 2 lbs of flaked wheat, but the beer will be a little higher gravity, and you'll need to add an extra 1/2 lb of pilsner malt to convert the extra wheat. You could also go with the original recipe and save the 1/2 lb of flaked wheat for another recipe.

3. US-05 is, for all practical purposes, identical to 1056. It will work well.

 

[CraigKing]

Gestalt, thanks for the quick feedback.

Today was the brew day!!

I opted to go with the 5lbs of DME and 1.5lbs of flaked wheat to keep the recipe original. Everything went to plan. I added in the coriander and 2 orange peels during the final 10 minutes of the boil. The only troubling issue with this brew was that my OG was 1.030. I guess ultimately I'm not as worried about the alcohol content as much as whether or not the beer tastes good.

Do I have any options to increase the OG? Do I need to increase the OG???

The only thing I can think is maybe when I was guesstimating the 5lbs of DME out of a 6lb bag, and the 1.5lbs out of 2lbs of flaked wheat, I under-estimated.

The only other thing I can think of is, I somehow read the OG wrong?????

 

[gestalt162]

Gestalt, thanks for the quick feedback.

Today was the brew day!!

I opted to go with the 5lbs of DME and 1.5lbs of flaked wheat to keep the recipe original. Everything went to plan. I added in the coriander and 2 orange peels during the final 10 minutes of the boil. The only troubling issue with this brew was that my OG was 1.030. I guess ultimately I'm not as worried about the alcohol content as much as whether or not the beer tastes good.

Do I have any options to increase the OG? Do I need to increase the OG???

The only thing I can think is maybe when I was guesstimating the 5lbs of DME out of a 6lb bag, and the 1.5lbs out of 2lbs of flaked wheat, I under-estimated.

The only other thing I can think of is, I somehow read the OG wrong?????

5 lbs of DME in 5 gallons will give you an OG of 1.045, and that's aside from the minimash. So either your volume is much greater than 5 gallons, you didn't use 5 lbs of DME, or you didn't read the hydrometer correctly. 4 lbs of DME in 6 gallons will give you an OG of 1.030.

If your volume is close to 5 gallons, and you think you used roughly enough DME , then you're probably fine. If your OG is really 1.030, your beer will not turn out well, but I don't think that's the case here.

I would recommend getting a kitchen scale to weigh out extract, grain, and hops. It can double as a scale for kitchen use.

 

[CraigKing]

I suppose its possible I didn't guesstimate the 5lbs well enough, and it was only 4.5lbs or so. But I also added the better part of 3lbs of flaked wheat and pilsner malt. Would those have increased the OG as well?

For the overall volume of water, I can't be certain either this time. Normally I use one of my Ale Pales, but mine are already in use. I used a 5gal Culligan water jug which does NOT have volume levels marked. Looking back at it, I should've measured my OG WHILE I was adding water, not just when I 'thought' I was at 5gals. Rookie mistake perhaps.

Gestalt, I hope you're right and I just read my hydrometer wrong. If it means anything, it's been about 28 hours since I pitched the yeast and my airlock is going crazy. There is a CO2 bubble popping out every 5-8 seconds, so there definitely is fermentation taking place. The sample I tested with my hydrometer was super cloudy - I think I mixed up the trub too much when siphoning. Would excessive trub in the sample cause false gravity readings?

 

[gestalt162]

I suppose its possible I didn't guesstimate the 5lbs well enough, and it was only 4.5lbs or so. But I also added the better part of 3lbs of flaked wheat and pilsner malt. Would those have increased the OG as well?

For the overall volume of water, I can't be certain either this time. Normally I use one of my Ale Pales, but mine are already in use. I used a 5gal Culligan water jug which does NOT have volume levels marked. Looking back at it, I should've measured my OG WHILE I was adding water, not just when I 'thought' I was at 5gals. Rookie mistake perhaps.

Gestalt, I hope you're right and I just read my hydrometer wrong. If it means anything, it's been about 28 hours since I pitched the yeast and my airlock is going crazy. There is a CO2 bubble popping out every 5-8 seconds, so there definitely is fermentation taking place. The sample I tested with my hydrometer was super cloudy - I think I mixed up the trub too much when siphoning. Would excessive trub in the sample cause false gravity readings?

Any fermentables you add will increase the OG. So, yes.

Usually trub does not have an impact on hydrometer readings, although you should strive for a clear sample, at least so you can see the hydrometer.

At any rate, looks like you've got fermentation going, so you're on the right path. Cheers!

 

[CraigKing]

48 hours after pitching the yeast and my airlock is still going crazy! Beautiful scent of hops and orange coming from the vent in the airlock! I cannot wait for this White IPA to be done!!

 

[CraigKing]

Planning to transfer my White IPA to secondary today with the addition of more orange peel and 1oz of Zeus whole hops! 2 more weeks to go!

 

[CraigKing]

Update: Bottled this beer a little over 2 weeks ago and have drank a couple bottles since. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I'm planning to do another batch of it later this summer.

+1 for this beer!

 

[CraigKing]

Quick update a month later - I've almost drank my last few bottles from this batch. It was a very good beer. I'm planning to brew it again this weekend.

 

[CraigKing]

I brewed v2.0 of this White IPA last week. My OG turned out MUCH better this time around. I was within .002 of the recipe. I've got a few days left, then transferring to secondary. Looking forward to having this as a late-summer beer.

 

[sunshine22]

I've been wanting to make a White IPA for a while now, something similar to CT's Two Roads Brewing Honeyspot Road White IPA and this seems like it would hit it. I have a some of the ground dried Valencia orange peel from McCormick's that I used for my last blue moon clone. Does anyone have any idea on using this instead of zesting two whole oranges?

Thanks

 

[CraigKing]

I used 3 actual fresh, store bought oranges. On my brew day, I peeled 2 of the oranges and put the orange peels right into the boil. During the secondary, I added a 3rd orange peel. No zesting - just the actual peel. Turned out great.

 

[Shenanigans]

Subscribed

 

[Jack_Dog]

Love the beer/recipe may have to be my next brew. Thoughts on using Citra and Cascade instead? I also love dry hopped IPAs like Cigar City's Jai Alai, any recommendations for adding some more to the dry hop without overpowering the nose?

 

[CraigKing]

Both times I brewed this IPA I used Cascade and was happy with it. Obviously there will be some citrus flavor from the orange peels, so I could understand the Citra substitution. However, one of the things I like about this White IPA is the citrus flavor from the orange is a different citrus flavor than you get from Citra hops. The Cascade and orange peel seem to compliment each other well.

Some of my less-hoppy IPA drinking friends prefer this beer more since it's not overwhelming in the hop flavor. The orange citrus flavor seems to balance the hop flavor as well. If I combined orange peel and Citra hops, it might be too much.


So what I'm saying is, I will continue to stick to the recipe. You are more than welcome to try it with Citra and see how it turns out. I'm sure it will be a good beer.

 

[Shenanigans]

I have a pile of columbus so will sub the centennial with a 50/50 mix of that and cascade. Will split the batch, use a wit yeast and dryhop with a mix of columbus, cascade and citra. Probably in May or June.

 

[CraigKing]

I brewed this recipe again for the 3rd time over the weekend. I made a couple changes this time from the first two times:

1. Brewed this all-grain
2. Used 3oz of Centennial in addition to the 2oz of Amarillo.
3. Used 3 fresh oil peels throughout the boil
4. Used 6gallons of reverse-osmosis drinking water for the mash and sparge

I hit my OG spot on at 1.054, but only collected 4.5gals into my fermenter.


Everything went pretty well except for when I checked on my brew bucket 24hrs later to see if the airlock was bubbling, I found that the whole lid of the bucket wasn't seated anymore on the bucket. I don't know if I forgot to snap it down, or if the pressure popped the lid off over night.

 

[jplowe]

I want to try this recipe with Mandarin Bavarina hops or Huell Melon. Will the alpha acids make this too hopy? What should i sub it out for?

 

[John53189]

Subscribed...very interested to brew this next week

 

[Mturner770]

Without the Wit yeast,its more IPA than White IPA.IMO the yeast adds a critical component,especially for competitions.