Brew Day - 09/04/06

[deadlydes]

Ingredients for 30L

3416g Optic pale malt
3097g Malted Wheat
338g Flaked Oats

90min boil
30g Goldings
21g Saaz
from start

18g Saaz
3g Freshly ground corriander
22g fresh orange zest
6g Irish Moss
15mins from end

Yeast: Youngs dried lager yeast (didnt have time to start a decent yeast as the brew was unplanned)

Mash at 68oC for 90mins with 16l of water

sparge with 20l at 80oC

collected 6.5gals ish.

final volume 28L at 1.050 (target was 1.048 but decided not to dilute to 30L and have a slightly stronger beer).

run off took ages. may be because i used the last of a sack of wheat malt. :S

Smells great. in the last 15 you could really smell corriander and orange.
Hopefully will be good :beer

going to bottle this one so i can fridge it and serve cold.

any thoughts?

[deadlydes]

No problem DAAB.

if you are ever in south wales be sure to call in for a pint!

i may clear it a bit before i bottle. i will see how i feel when it comes round to it

the smell that is coming from my brewing cuboard is delightfull this morning. cant wait to try this already

[tribs]

This brew should not need clearing. Its meant to be cloudy. Check Hoegaarden bottles. They have instructions for stirring up the sediment .

I've read that wheat beers are best fresh. I don't think they are usually put in a secondary vessel either.

Sounds a good recipe. Might have to give it a try.

[tribs]

QUOTE QUOTE (tribs @ Apr 11 2006, 10:00 AM)
This brew should not need clearing. Its meant to be cloudy. Check Hoegaarden bottles. They have instructions for stirring up the sediment  .



It may be appropriate to stir up a bottle containing genuine Hoegarden yeast, its not going to be quite the same with 'Youngs dried Lager Yeast'  I think that's probably best left behind in the FV.

Ooh yes . I hadn't spotted that :rolleyes: . I think if I brew this I might try culturing from a bottle of the original or use an appropriate WhiteLabs or Wyeast.

Des, how many oranges did you need to zest?

[noby]

That might be your best option, tribs. I've heard the same thing about drinking wheat beers young, although I've not brewed any. Plus, the yeast is a major part of the taste of a wheat beer, so probably best to try and get it right.

[deadlydes]

when i was thinking about this brew i thought about yeast culturing.

went to tes*o and looked at the hoegarden bottles. none of them are bottle condictioned. perhaps indicating that little if any yeast is in the bottle. the cloudyness in the beer may not be yeast cloudyness (perhaps )

but next to it was a bottle of Hoegarden Grande Cru. a more expensive bottle condictioned version. it says on the bottle something like a bottom fermenting yeast is added at the bottling stage etc. suggests a different yeast it used in the bottle perhaps?

i bought a bottle to have a go anyway but havent got round to seeing if i can get it fermenting yet. will let you know

[deadlydes]

Tribs:
22g of zest was the zest of 1 orange.

the recipe calls for 3g of dried curacao orange zest which i didnt have so i just made it up

[tribs]

QUOTE I hope I havent given the impression I think there is anything wrong with the yeast itself, i'm sure does a great job, its just some yeasts is better left in the FV.


Not at all. Having accidentally kicked up the sediment from a few bottles in the past , you only want to have yeast in suspension that is appropriate for cloudy beers.

Des, the Grand Cru is very good, but it is a different style. You don't want to be kicking up that sediment either. Interesting about Hoegaarden not being bottle conditioned. I wonder what is in the bottom of the bottles.

[tribs]

I wonder if it is still unfiltered, but pasteurised to kill the yeast .

If thats the case then its a shame. Blooming Interbrew

[noby]

Des,

The bottle may not state that it's 'bottle conditioned', but that's not to say there's no yeast. A lot of wit/weiss beers do not have BC on the label.
Check if there's sediment in the bottom of the bottle (you may have to drink it first!)

[Andy]

Checked out a bottle in Asdas just now, there is definitely sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

[deadlydes]

Well an update:
the beer was bottled on the 18/04/06 primed with 1tsp of white sugar per pint.
kept at fermentation temp for 3days.
i have been reading and told that wheat beers are best young so when i was putting the bottles outside (to cool) i thought i would chill a bottle in the frezzer and try it.
Results = GREAT!
managed to resist drinking more until last night when i had a 2pint bottle and it was still GREAT.
so another succes from Des's Brewery.
(cant see this lasting long as the lager style beers are going down well at the moment, a good change from ale)

[deadlydes]

yeah the orange was a success. the citrus comes through quite well but not overpowering.
and yes its ground corriander seed.

[mysterio]

Hoegaarden is filtered and bottled with a lager yeast, which is not the yeast used for the main fermentation. You may get closer results with a Belgian Wit yeast from white labs or wyeast.