Cheap'n'Easy Light Wit (Hoegaarden-ish)

[greenxpaddy]

You need a lot of fruit to have any effect, perhaps 4kg of raspberries in a 5 gallon brew.

I'd add them after the initial fermentation has died down, and of course pasteurise them first. You might want to add pectic enzyme too or it will be cloudy, but not in a "good" way.

Hi Dave-o

Think I may add pectolase to this if the cloudiness is likely to be 'globby'

Q. What is the dose per 1lb of raspberry fruit.

Q2. Can I add it during fermentation without affecting yeast metabolism. If so will the products of the broken down pectin (a polysaccharide) be fermentable sugars?

Q3. Will it catalyse the breakdown of pectin at fermentation temperatures 20 degrees C?

Q4. Will an overdose of pectolase give off flavour or other problems?

Cheers

[Andy Dean]

Hi all,

I've dabbled a few time over the years with making a Hoegaarden style witbier with varing degrees of success, and I'm going to try a slightly modified version of this recipe tomorrow substituting the oranges with 35g of curacao peel (mainly cos i've got it lying around)

A couple of questions before i dive in though!

Can someone clarify whether it's yeast in suspension that makes a wit cloudy or if it's protein haze as a result of using unmalted wheat? I was under the impression for years that it was the latter, but reading through this thread has placed doubts in my mind. There seems to be a general consensus not to use protofloc which would mean protein haze but some say they clear after few months which would mean it's yeasties. And... If i omit the protofloc, is it still worth using a wort chiller to get the cold break without the protofloc/whirlfoc?

...Also i've got WB-06 and T-58 here and can't make my mind which to use lol, T-58 seems to have abit more spice from what i've been reading? Who' tried both of these yeasts with this style?

Cheers

[greenxpaddy]

Both the wheat proteins and the yeast contribute to the cloudiness

I've just tasted my raspy wit and checked FG at 1.010. It's 5.1% abv. Very sharp at the mo. Hoping the priming with raspberries will bring some aroma. Not very raspberry at the mo.

For 17L I am priming with equiv 135g sugar approx 3.0 vols CO2. Hopefully that will give the drink a lift. Bit like it does for dry champagne.

Still looking rather cloudy even though I added about 7g pectolase.

[Andy Dean]

Ah, a bit of both then, makes sense!

I brewed it on wednesday in the end, i didn't use a protofloc tablet but i did chill it with an immersion chiller, but the cold break material was very fine. It came out of the boiler really murky , much more murkier than the finished product im aiming for even after filtering over the hop bed.

On the plus side i pitched WB-06 and it's smelling just like the minikeg of Lidl wheat beer i had last night so we'll see how it turns out!

[Cazamodo]

gonne brew my second bath of this tomorrow. The first lasted just over 3 weeks. My keg kicked, and I even opened up my keggorator as I thought there was a problem, since no-way had I finished a keg that quick. But no, it was empty!

Anyway only problem I have is, I forgot I don't have the yeast, My LHBS only stocks Danstar Munich, but i'm hoping as this isnt a completely yeast dependant beer that I can use that with no problems?

[andyCo]

Cazzmodo, I brewed this up with Danster Munich and got good results, I've also used wb-06 and harvested yeast from a hoegaarden bottle.
The harvested yeast I would say was very neutral and didn't add much flavour imo.


Andy

[greenxpaddy]

I'm getting ready for my fourth witbier brew tomorrow.

I've just peeled 32 oranges , zest only, and popped in the freezer. This is to hopefully break down some of the cell structure to release more oils without the need to chop really fine. I might still run it through the food mixer to chop up to little pieces yet.

The rest of the oranges I've pulped up in the mixer. Intending to make some marmalade with that lot. Anyone got a good recipe for marmalade?

I'm splitting the brews between two FV's. One I'll add some lemon peel (zest only) and some ginger as well. See which is best.

[greenxpaddy]

That was a rather wet day yesterday. So an apt name would be Monsoon Wit.

I achieved over 75% efficiency which was very good. I put that down to the 4 and a half hour mash, maintained at 68 degrees C.

I reused the raspberry wheat yeast cake. Think there might be a little raspberry carryover....

[GARYSMIFF]

Drinking this at the mo, and need to do more bottle storage for my wheat brews.

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=51278

[greenxpaddy]

That's very clear Gary. Did you use Irish Moss or has it just dropped over time

[legion]

Anyway only problem I have is, I forgot I don't have the yeast, My LHBS only stocks Danstar Munich, but i'm hoping as this isnt a completely yeast dependant beer that I can use that with no problems?

I have brewed this with Danstar Munich and it had a horrible aroma and taste and have thrown a lot of that brew away I wont use that yeast again.

Have yet to try this brew with wb-06

[Cazamodo]

Anyway only problem I have is, I forgot I don't have the yeast, My LHBS only stocks Danstar Munich, but i'm hoping as this isnt a completely yeast dependant beer that I can use that with no problems?

I have brewed this with Danstar Munich and it had a horrible aroma and taste and have thrown a lot of that brew away I wont use that yeast again.

Have yet to try this brew with wb-06

Oh dear! This should be ready to keg this weekend, and will steal a taste and see how it compared to the last batch before it hit the keg. I have a couple changes in this batch (1 grapefruit 1 orange rather than 3 oranges, and crushed coriander seeds rather than ground coriander) as well as the different yeast, so will see how it turns out.

[Cazamodo]

Just kegged this today at 1.010. didnt have the same taste and aroma as the last one with wb-06, so will have to see how it tuns out Hope I like it!

[andyCo]

Just kegged this today at 1.010. didnt have the same taste and aroma as the last one with wb-06, so will have to see how it tuns out Hope I like it!

My last batch was a split batch half danster and half harvested hoe yeast, I bottled the hoe yeast one and kegged the danster.
Tho my recipe was slightly different (torrie and and no grapefruit ) the danster yeast came out really nice, I would say for me better than the 2 previous wb-06, buts thats my taste buds
I didn't get the bottled hoegaarden yeast batch to prime properly about 8l , must of miss measured on my priming sugar but it was ok, if anything the yeast didn't give off any flavour tbh only a very slight sulphur smell on opening.

Andy

[Cazamodo]

Just kegged this today at 1.010. didnt have the same taste and aroma as the last one with wb-06, so will have to see how it tuns out Hope I like it!

My last batch was a split batch half danster and half harvested hoe yeast, I bottled the hoe yeast one and kegged the danster.
Tho my recipe was slightly different (torrie and and no grapefruit ) the danster yeast came out really nice, I would say for me better than the 2 previous wb-06, buts thats my taste buds
I didn't get the bottled hoegaarden yeast batch to prime properly about 8l , must of miss measured on my priming sugar but it was ok, if anything the yeast didn't give off any flavour tbh only a very slight sulphur smell on opening.

Andy

Forgot to mention, I used torri rather than flaked as its what I had to hand. Im hoping I like it since I hate to waste beer! Im sure my taste buds can be trained haha.