Blanches de St. Oswald Belgian Wit 25-01-12 (+ pics)

[jmc]

This brew is on my 'to do' list. I'll get the camomile in then.

I'm planning a Tripel first if I can brave my freezing garage this weekend.

[kck74]

Get us a job Neil!!!!!!!

All I seem to do is work......... All you seem to do is brew


Lucky bugger!

[leedsbrew]

Lol! if only it was always like this! Turns out I had an extra week of anual leave I didn't know I had so took it and another week I was saving incase I needed to take time off with pregnant Mrs LB. Holiday year ends in March and work won't let you carry any over so had to take it whenever there was a gap in the rota so managed two weeks off in the last month!

I've made the most of it like your right. so far in 2011 I've managed

Titan RIS
Little Titan 'small beer'
Blanches de St. Oswald II Wit
ESB
English IPA
Hefe

all 20-24L batches. Not a bad month really!

Oh and I managed a gallon of TC as well!

It'll all stop when little LB arrives in March!

[leedsbrew]

Got this bottled up last night! Finished at 1.008 so a little dryer than I wanted. I think the stepped mash produced more fermentable sugars than I was expecting, I'll either simplify the nah schedule or adjust he last step to 68! Not sure which would be best!

Anyway it's not too thin and still within the guideline FG!

Managed to get 46 x 500ml bottles so very happy! Looking forward to tasting this properly carbonated (primed 23L with 230g sucrose so hopefully 3.8 vols co2 )

[WishboneBrewery]

Loads of sugar!!! wow!!! Boooom!!

[leedsbrew]

Fingers crossed not boom! Lol I like a nice effervescent wit so should come out nice! Will need a but of chilling though to stop it exploding out of the neck!

[WishboneBrewery]

Best served chilled anyway

[daz c]

Thats a a lot of brewing so far this year! I need to get stuck in as we've got a little un due in may, but work and part finished diy jobs around the house are getting in the way. Looks a nice brew though need to brew a wit for those balmy summer evenings that we get over this side of the pennines

[jmc]

Planning a version of this this weekend. Have you had a taster yet?

[leedsbrew]

Daz, sorry mate didnt see that post! Yeah been pro active in getting stocks built up before the arrival! Only a fort oft left for us now! Hope yours is coming along nicely!
L
JMC, I have mate, it is really nice! Mine went to 1.008 . I'll be using a higher sac rest for a less fermentable wort next time. Other than that I won't be changing a thing! Really happy with this one! I like the camomile additional it lends a nice herbal note that isn't overpowering! There is plenty of mouthfeel even with such a low FG. The balance of yeast, hops and spice flavours are well balanced. Hope your version goes well! Will you be posting a brewday thread?

[jmc]

...JMC, I have mate, it is really nice! Mine went to 1.008 . I'll be using a higher sac rest for a less fermentable wort next time. Other than that I won't be changing a thing! Really happy with this one! I like the camomile additional it lends a nice herbal note that isn't overpowering! There is plenty of mouthfeel even with such a low FG. The balance of yeast, hops and spice flavours are well balanced. Hope your version goes well! Will you be posting a brewday thread?

Sound lovely. Thanks for advice over sac rest. Would you recommend somewhere about 68-69C?

I've got a starter using recovered Floris Wit Blanche


Its from Brouwerij Huyghe home of Delirium Tremens

I'll try and take some pics as I go along, but as it will be my first cereal mash it could all go Pete Tong.

I've been trying to read up on cereal mashing but advice I've found is all over the place.
For cereal mash I was thinking of heating up all unmalted grains up to 65C first with 'some'(300g?) malt for about 20 mins then raise to boil for 30mins or so? I've heard a part conversion of any accessible starch will help efficiency and reduce amount that's going to gelatinize and therefore ease run-off.

What ratio water:grain did you use for cereal mash?

I have to do everything in my garage so I'll probably have to do cereal mash in boiler, add it to malted grain in mash tun, then clean boiler and use for boiling wort.
It could be a long day...

[leedsbrew]

for my cerial mash (or rather both of them as I had to do 2 x 1kg CM's as my pan wasn't big enough) i added 200g pilsner malt to 1kg of unmalted wheat. doughed in at 50oC for 15 mins, raised to 65 and rest for 15 then boil for 15 mins.

1 used a ratio of 3:1 as that's as much as I could get away with.

cheers

LB

[jmc]

I've had a bottle of LB's Blanches de St. Oswald II as part of a bottle swap for a few weeks now.
I thought I'd let it settle a bit after Royal Mail played with it so it’s been resting in my yeast fridge .
I finally got around to having a tasting last Friday, but misplaced my notes until today

Friday was hot and LB’s brew seemed to call me from the fridge so I couldn't wait any longer.

LB had mentioned that he liked it lively so I took precaution of getting a couple of glasses ready, but in the end I needed 3! I should probably have wetted the glasses first.

Fine choice of bottle for this brew

This had an unforeseen advantage that each 1/3 was more yeast so I could see what contribution the wlp410 yeast added to the flavour.


I started with the clear sample. It had a lovely white head. It didn't taste gassy. Most prominent was the smooth taste, a hint of caramel sweetness and a warming alcohol taste. A nice balanced mildly spicy hop after taste too. It left you wanting more.


The other 2 glasses went down quickly. The yeast added a fuller mouth-feel plus more complex flavour. I preferred the last 1/3 with the most yeast in it. This had more of the subtle banana flavour in it.

It all went down too quickly. Congratulations LB