Wit spices recommendation

[alemonkey]

I'm going to brew my first ever Wit tomorrow - I'm looking for some guidelines on the amount of spices to use.

Right now, I have on hand coriander, grains of paradise, sweet and bitter orange. In the past I've had Wits that IMO had way too much coriander. A lot of recipes seem to call for around .75 oz, so I was thinking of adding around .25 oz. Does this sound reasonable, or will this small of an amount be too little to notice? I want some coriander flavor, but I don't want it overpowering.

The OG will be around 1.050, btw.

 

[sonvolt]

I brewed a Wit recently, and it is really great. I used the whole .75 oz. that the recipe called for. When I dumped it into the boil, I got a little worried because it looked like too much. Then, I tasted the beer as I racked it - still tasted too much like coriander.

Finally, after cracking the first bottle, the coriander had mellowed out some - but I vowed to cut the amount in half next time. However. . .

This beer has been in the bottle for about 8-10 weeks and it keeps getting better. I don't know if the coriander has mellowed or if the flavors have married in such a way that the coriander is no longer overpowering. I think that I will stick with the .75 oz next time, too.

Just my .02

I didn't use grains of paradise . . .

 

[Jester]

I dont care for coriander all that much.. so when I was brewing my Wit recipe, I just barely cracked the coriander before adding to the boil... I heard this will make the spice taste less strong... It still in the primary as of now, so I can't comment on taste yet... and this brew has been steadily fermenting for over a week now... hopefully it will stop soon... I need my primary... heheheee

Jester

 

[david_42]

I think you are on the right track starting with 1/3 of the coriander. I have a real problem with Wits that taste like berry soda, herbal teas, etc. As Mark (GVB) puts it: "If you know what the brewer put in the Wit, he used too much."

 

[jldesign]

EBH WITBIER
6 lbs ultra-light malt extract (1/2 at 60 and 1/2 at 15minutes)
1 Lbs 2-row
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 16.2 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.8 %
1.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80% (60 min) Hops 18.1 IBU
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.0 IBU

1.00 oz Coriander Seed Crushed(1/2 @ 10min, 1/2 @ flame out)

1.00 oz (1/2oz Orange Peel Bitter and 1/2oz Orange Peel Sweet)
(1/2 each @ 10min, 1/2 each @ flame out)

Safbrew T-58 dry yeast

on tap now after a few weeks of cold conditioning in the keg it is awesome with a slice of orange. will make again this summer as it is almost gone and the wife even loves it!

 

[drengel]

i used a 1/2 oz. of coriander in mine, with an oz. of curacao orange peel, and its perfect. 2 weeks in the bottle and the spices have mellowed and are nicely balanced.

 

[Cheesefood]

See the "Hoegaarden Clone" link in my thread. It's not Hoegaarden, but it's a very nice Wit. You'll be able to drink it in the summer, but it's a lot better after 6 months. I'll probably brew my summer Wit's in November from now on so that they taste more like beer and less like coriander and orange.

 

[mbreen01]

I took jldesign's Witbier recipe and made a few changes to get a little darker beer with a little more wheat character. And in the process I inadvertently doubled the amount of orange peel (I used 1 oz each). It actually turned out with a lot more muted orange flavor/aroma than I had imagined. It was stronger at first, but has mellowed with time; now it's almost like a small wedge of orange had already been squeezed in the glass.

Nit Wit-Wheat Bier

1 lb 2-row
1 lb flaked wheat
1 lb flaked oats
3.3 lb M&F extra light extract
3.3 lb M&F wheat extract

1 oz Hallertauer (3.5%aa) @ 60 min
1 oz Hallertauer @ 15 min
1 oz Saaz @ 5 min

1/2 oz coriander seeds (crushed) @ 10 min
1/2 oz orange peel, bitter @ 10 min
1/2 oz orange peel, sweet @ 10 min
1/2 oz coriander seeds (crushed) @ flameout
1/2 oz orange peel, bitter @ flameout
1/2 oz orange peel, sweet @ flameout

1 tsp Irish moss

Wyeast 1010 American Wheat Yeast

bottle with 3/4 cp corn sugar
OG around 1.060
FG around 1.020

 

[cweston]

See the "Hoegaarden Clone" link in my thread. It's not Hoegaarden, but it's a very nice Wit. You'll be able to drink it in the summer, but it's a lot better after 6 months. I'll probably brew my summer Wit's in November from now on so that they taste more like beer and less like coriander and orange.

You know, it's funny.

I recently brewed a wit very similar to the Hoegaargen clone in Beer Captured. I was a little daunted by your comments about your experience with that recipe.


I tasted one after only 11 days in the bottle, and was *very* pleasantly surprised. Not only did the spices not seem overpowering, I'm already thinking I may use more coriander next time. (I don't remember exactly what amounts I used, but I think they were the amounts in that Beer Captured recipe.)

Mileage varies, I guess.

 

[jldesign]

mbreen01 - I can't drink mine anymore my wife will beat me silly she is milking the last of the keg. It is a rather great recipe for being so simple. the orange mellows quick I agree I thought it would have been much stronger but after 1+ months in keg it is still awesome but cleared to almost lager clarity "wit" the yeast I used.

next batch everyhting the same but more wheat as mbreen01 suggested.

cool a good recipe moves on! :rockin: