Witbier Suggestions

[jdgapc]

Below is a recipe i worked out and wanting to try, any suggestion or adjustments/recomendations:
3 lbs Pilsen DME
3 lbs Wheat DME
1 oz Hallertau 60 minutes
1 oz Saaz 2 minutes
.75 oz Sweet Orange Peel 5 minutes
.75 oz Coriander 5 minutes
1 Vial WLP 400

qty of orange peel and coriander are left overs from a prev. batch

 

[BigB]

The only things I would change would be to use 100% Wheat DME as its already roughtly 60-40 Wheat to Barley. Oh, maybe throw in a pound or so of flaked wheat for the starches and body you won't get from the DME. Unless you don't want to steep anything, then I would still go 100% wheat DME.

 

[jdgapc]

ok i was on the fence about using the pilsner extract. hows the hop schedule looking, i think th esaaz would be a nice touch at the end but i don twant too much bittness

 

[BigB]

Your hops are fine... another thing you could consider would be Styrian Goldings for bitterness or aroma but the way you have it is fine. The Saaz will give it a hint of spice in the aroma. Any bitterness at that late of an addition would be negligible, so don't fret about increasing bitterness. Even at 15 minutes you might only get a couple IBUs - which would still likely not even be perceptible.

 

[jdgapc]

Styrian Goldings sounds good, i only had the Hallertau in there becuase its a standard hop that i use often, i'm all for trying new ingriedents

 

[BeerLogic]

+1 on Styrians. I even use them in my ESBs sometimes when I want a nice floral aroma instead of the earthy funk of EKGs.

 

[tagz]

Looks pretty good as is. There are a few changes I would make but you could brew the above and have a decent beer.

Personally, I would remove the late addition hops, and decrease the amount of spices. My personal taste, and it seems to be backed up by info I'm reading in Brewing with Wheat, is that spices should just be at the taste threshold. Hieronymous/Strong recommend 1/6 of an ounce per five gallon batch. I'm currently doing .25 oz of corriander, and I've dropped the bitter orange (overwhelms the profile imo). I've also experimented with Grains of Paradise and ginger with good results. On the whole though, you want to let the yeast do the talking. Make sure to get 400 going up into the low 70s. I get much better flavor when I ramp from 68-74 than when I've fermented 64-66. Remember it should be a pretty delicate beer that is light, dry, and refreshing; not an over-spiced, sweet beer. Pitch a healthy size starter to make sure it finishes low. Oh, and since you are using extract you can add a touch of flour if you want to increase the protein haze. Good luck and have fun with it.

 

[jdgapc]

thanks for the tips, i'll definitly be considering all of your advice