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

[Swiller]

It will be worth the wait dunks.

J.

[candygold1]

just made a small batch and the smell in the fv is lovely, the spice and citrus coming out it does seem a little darker but im not bothered as long as it tastes good.
no a lager drinker myself but the old man is so thought they would be nice for him to sup at xmas

[dunks]

Just taken another sample, hitting 1.010 on the nose! It tastes much better already, and the mouthfeel is slightly less thin.

Tempted to bottle it tomorrow morning (if it's stable at 1.010) before I leave for London for two weeks or leave it for when I come back!

[dunks]

Hey guys, after leaving it for another two weeks after the intial one week ferment, this is how it looks!



Certainly a lot more clear than when I left it after one week (fermentation had stopped too). I was a bit worried as from looking at it inside the FV it looks a lot darker, with some yeast (trub?) floating on the surface, however when I syphoned some out with a racking cane, it came out looking above.

[deanrpwaacs]

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/104367792/20121209_224039.jpg

Look what i found in the shed.Must be a year old now and still tastes great.
Regards Dean.

[greenxpaddy]

Its been a while since I visited this thread. Its the thread that got me brewing pretty much. I haven't made a wit bier for a long time and I'm not sure I even had a ph meter at the last go so today has been *enlightening*

I'm doing a 80% wheat (of the wheat 60% malted) witbier to get as close as possible to that very pale Hooegarden look. God knows how they get it so pale. Every time I make a wit it is definitely yellow not white. Anyhow, this batch I'm doing today has EBC of just 3. I was in two minds whether to go soft on the water treatment like a lager. I thought that would be better for style. Anyhow that was a bad idea I was at ph 5.75 at the start of the mash. I upped the water additions to nearer a UK style profile. Mainly CaCl because I don't think you want too many sulphates in this style from memory but this didn't do a fat lot. Still ph 5.6. Panic. Temp dropping with all this faffing and need to sort it ASAP so I reached for the phosphoric acid. In the end I got to ph 5.35. which though not ideal is nearer the mark. I didn't want to go overkill with phosphoric as I've not tried it before for this purpose. This may fall further up to end of mash time I'll tell you later. But got me thinking is this an acceptable way to brew a wit bier? Witbier isnt governed by the Rheinheitsgebot! I've heard people using acid malt and a ferulic rest to get the ph down in lagers but TBH using phosphoric acid seems the most convenient and reliable way to do it. Has anyone experienced off flavours from the phosphorous?

[jmc]

Its been a while since I visited this thread. Its the thread that got me brewing pretty much. I haven't made a wit bier for a long time and I'm not sure I even had a ph meter at the last go so today has been *enlightening*

I'm doing a 80% wheat (of the wheat 60% malted) witbier to get as close as possible to that very pale Hooegarden look. God knows how they get it so pale. Every time I make a wit it is definitely yellow not white. Anyhow, this batch I'm doing today has EBC of just 3. I was in two minds whether to go soft on the water treatment like a lager. I thought that would be better for style. Anyhow that was a bad idea I was at ph 5.75 at the start of the mash. I upped the water additions to nearer a UK style profile. Mainly CaCl because I don't think you want too many sulphates in this style from memory but this didn't do a fat lot. Still ph 5.6. Panic. Temp dropping with all this faffing and need to sort it ASAP so I reached for the phosphoric acid. In the end I got to ph 5.35. which though not ideal is nearer the mark. I didn't want to go overkill with phosphoric as I've not tried it before for this purpose. This may fall further up to end of mash time I'll tell you later. But got me thinking is this an acceptable way to brew a wit bier? Witbier isnt governed by the Rheinheitsgebot! I've heard people using acid malt and a ferulic rest to get the ph down in lagers but TBH using phosphoric acid seems the most convenient and reliable way to do it. Has anyone experienced off flavours from the phosphorous?

Be interested in how you get on with your witbeer. When using high % of flaked wheat I normally do a stepped mash to reduce glucans.
Maybe with high % malted wheat ( to flaked) you will be OK with lautering.

I've not used phosphoric yet. I've heard really going overboard with it can give a coke-like taste, but I don't know what addition % causes this.
I've also read that phosphoric can reduce Calcium as Calcium Phosphate is relatively insoluble, but your CaCl addition that hopefully will balance out.

[greenxpaddy]

Be interested in how you get on with your witbeer. When using high % of flaked wheat I normally do a stepped mash to reduce glucans.
Maybe with high % malted wheat ( to flaked) you will be OK with lautering.

I've not used phosphoric yet. I've heard really going overboard with it can give a coke-like taste, but I don't know what addition % causes this.
I've also read that phosphoric can reduce Calcium as Calcium Phosphate is relatively insoluble, but your CaCl addition that hopefully will balance out.

I have done stepped mashes in the past and they have produced better results. Will do that in the future. The mouthfeel is rather heavy and gluey if you know what I mean - I'm rather critical of all my beers maybe overly so. No coke like feel.

[Kohoutec]

I did a 15 litre version of this a couple of months ago, and I'm amazed at how well it came out...Will definitely be doing another before summer is in full swing!

[Jambo]

Made this last night and cocked it right up! OG of about 1.028!! My 5th OG brew I think and by a long way the worst efficiency I have had. I think the oats soaked up all the water in the mash, and somehow I lost a lot of temperature too, was down at 62 deg after 90 mins. In my panic last night I lobbed in the half kilo or so of spray malt that I keep for making up starters, and a bag of sugar. Not great but fingers crossed it ends up near a drinkable state!

[jmc]

Made this last night and cocked it right up! OG of about 1.028!! My 5th OG brew I think and by a long way the worst efficiency I have had. I think the oats soaked up all the water in the mash, and somehow I lost a lot of temperature too, was down at 62 deg after 90 mins. In my panic last night I lobbed in the half kilo or so of spray malt that I keep for making up starters, and a bag of sugar. Not great but fingers crossed it ends up near a drinkable state!

I think if you have a lot of (non-malted) adjuncts like flaked wheat, a longer mash of 120 mins at 63-68C range helps efficiency as it gives time for the relatively smaller amounts of enzyme (from malted grains) to convert the starches in the adjuncts to sugars.

I'd sure your brew will be good. Its a great recipe.

[Jambo]

Thanks for the encouragement JMC, it is certainly fermenting OK, albeit with yeast that I reclaimed from a raspberry wit that seemed to have some other stuff growing in it, so I have given this every chance to go wrong!!

It was my first time using any non-malted ingredients, do you know if that is a contributor to the larger than normal temperature drop too i.e. does the starch to sugar conversion 'consume' heat? I will try your suggestion of a longer mash time also. I also did not have the grains well wetted and I should have checked the mash part way through to check temperature and whether there was enough water!

[Jambo]

Well I just kegged and bottled it and it tastes excellent despite my major cockup! Enjoyed a full glass out of the FV which I never do normally. Lovely thick mouth feel, and very Hoegaarden-ish, can't imagine how good it would be if I hadn't screwed it up!