hoegaarden tips?

[slim34]

I'm expecting my ingredients through the door any minute now. I expect there are numerous opportunities for slip up. So I'm wondering if those more experienced than me (probably almost everyone) had any tips regarding this recipe, or doing a wit in general. Anything i need to take into consideration etc.

here's the recipe i'm thinking of following, thanks to graham wheeler.

I am planning to use belgian wit ale yeast - WLP400 [ White Labs Yeast ]
I think it's a liquid type?


OG 1048
Batch Size 23L

Malt

Pale Malt 2,570g
Unmalted Wheat 2,320g
Flaked Oats 255g

Hops

Start of Boil (90 Minute Boil)
Golding Hops @ 5.3%AA 24g
Saaz Hops @ 5.5%AA 15g

Last 15 Minutes
Saaz Hops @ 5.5%AA 15g
Curacao Peel 3g
Ground Coriander 3g

Brewing Method
Single Infusion Mash - Top fermenting Yeast

Mash Schedule 68C 90 Minutes
Racking Gravity 1011
Alcohol Content 5.0%
Bitterness 18 IBU
Colour 8 EBC

Ferment at 20C

[Frothy]

This would be from the CAMRA Euro beers book. I'm critical of this recipe although I've not brewed it yet, you may save yourself some slip-ups by starting with one of the other wheat beer recipes that uses wheat malt but more to the point you'l need significantly more than 3g of orange peel and coriander. On advice from Oblivious I used 23g of crushed coriander seeds in my first Weisse and it was pretty sensational. If you haven't forked out on the expensive yeast yet Fermentis do a Safbrew T-58 wheat beer yeast in a pink sachet that was pretty tasty and only costs ~ £1.50

Frothy

[awalker]

I like Frothy am unsure of this recipe, I have brewed it with the WL yeast and it does not taste that great. Still have a load of it bottles.

It was however a brew I did last year before my technique got up to speed.

I have recently brewed the Schneider Weisse from that book and it came out great. So it could have been my lack of abilities.

Might be worth a listen to this http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archiv ... -13-06.mp3
before you brew.

[slim34]

thanks

i'm no expert but i did think the coriander and peel amounts did seem a bit low. And as it's partly these added flavours in the beer that I like so much I think I'll definitely up the quantities.

I have to confess I don't have the CAMRA Euro beers book, I tried to get it from amazon recently ( to add to my other wheeler book 'brew your own british real ale'). so i resorted to scouring the newt for the recipe. As a result i don't have the Schneider Weisse to compare or consider. can't see it here anywhere either.

[slim34]

strike my last sentence because i just found the Schneider Weisse recipe.

Had I not already ordered the hoegaarden ingredients, i'd probably do the Schneider Weisse instead. I'll consider the hoegaarden a practice and then try the Schneider Weisse as suggested.

thanks guys

[awalker]

Let us know how it goes and I might be tempt it again

[AngloScot]

I recently brewed a Wit. Rather than using huge amounts of unmalted wheat the recipe I used had ~equal amounts of pale malt and wheat malt and about 250g of wheat flour which was sifted over the top of the mash. The final product hasn't finished maturing but certainly looks and tastes like a genuine Wit.

I used Wyeast Belgian Wit yeast and Saaz, crushed corinader seeds and ground ginger (rather than orange peel) for flavourings.

[Frothy]

AngloScot - is the wheat flour for extra haze? a 50:50 pale malt:wheat malt seems pretty typical. For this style too slim you get the best results from how you treat the beer after it's made. Maintain nice and warm in the primary for as long as necessary for it to ferment out i.e. 10days then straight into the corny/ barrel/ bottles. A high degree of carbonation (up to 30vol/ vol CO2) and it's good to drink right away whilst it's still cloudy.

Frothy

[Vossy1]

Watching this one with interest as I have 25 kg of wheat malt asking to be used

[bconnery]

The purpose of unmalted wheat is to help give that characteristic bite that hoegaarden has, which you won't get with malted wheat.
T58 works ok as a yeast but the best choice is definitely one of the liquids.
raw wheat and wheat flour both aid in getting the cloudiness.
I did some research on this a while back and an article suggested the following in terms of coriander/orange peel content...
"a rate of 1gram or more of coriander per litre of finished beer, and between 0.5 - 1gm of bitter orange peel per litre."

[slim34]

thanks for all the advice!

todays my brew day so I'm taking it all on board and did add significantly more coriander and orange than the menu suggested. If you do any cooking on a regualr basis, when you actually see 3 g of coriander you soon realise that it can't possibly be enough.

[mysterio]

I find unmalted wheat actually doesn't give as much haze as malted wheat. Unmalted wheat is definately more difficult to handle, it really needs to be cooked beforehand to get a decent extraction. However flaked wheat can just be put straight into the mash.

If you're using raw unmaled wheat and oats, you must use oat husks or something similar to keep your mash unstuck.

I use about an ounce of coriander in my Wits. I put curucao orange peel in too but I can barely taste it.

[prodigal2]

Hey slim34, hows the brew going? Any chance of some pics to see your setup?

Hope your having a good one

[steve_flack]

Unmalted wheat is definately more difficult to handle,

...and is like crushing bullets.

[slim34]

i finished the brew at about 8pm last night dropping in my liquid yeast.

Everything went swimmingly, it mashed nicely and looked the biz after boiling. but this morning there's still no sign of any fermenting activity?

i wish I'd started the yeast now but didn't because the yeast said that it could just be dropped in (unless it's past it's use by date).

After 15 hours there must be something wrong or am i being to hasty?

I've shaken the bin up a bit and did aerate the wort well before adding the yeast at about 24c

I do have another yeast. Can that be added if nothing happens or would that ruin it?