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

[strideredc]

my one is finished now and it was good, i only had one orange not two and it defiantly needed two or more? i would also up the coriander by 50% (these are all IMHO) i also did a two hour mash and stirred its a few times, also boiled 3l of mash to get it back to temp. i dont know if this made any different but my % are normally not that good as i dont sparge as such but dump the nylon bag i use with the mash in over to the boiler (72-75deg) with the rest of the water and stir to get the remaining sugars out. i got around 75%

i think it would be better without my hard water and i might go with the tesco basic water for the next one, it used to be £0.18p but it probably now a fiver a bottle!

thanks dave o for this recipe/info and pics

[dave-o]

i only had one orange not two and it defiantly needed two or more?

Did you also put the orange in the fermenter?

[sladeywadey]

how long do you guys leave this to ferment? mine was brewed last sat and it is down to 1010 already. Also how much priming for wit?

[dave-o]

how long do you guys leave this to ferment? mine was brewed last sat and it is down to 1010 already. Also how much priming for wit?

A week is probably enough actually, as long as the gravity is stable.

I think it's worth over-priming a Wit, as you want that frothyness, and a glass half-full of head!

I use about 130g of dex for a 23l batch.

[Redimpz]

Back onto the subject of wheat flakes (or flaked wheat). Does this stuff look at all like the breakfast cereal? you know, like cornflakes, but wheat?
Uuumm, cornflakes, a thought for another day perhaps.

[Razzerman]

Hello fellow brewers,

I've been looking at your recipe for a while, dave-o - I must admit it's me and not the wife who likes Hoegaarden though. She's just trying to cut beer costs (she has Yorkshire blood in her) and thought homebrewing would do me good.

Anyhow, tried your recipe last week - unmitigated disaster, but I learnt a lot from the doing rather than the theory (bearing in mind it was my first AG attempt).

Just tried second attempt tonight - improvements all round, just got a bit complacent with volumes, so I've ended up with 28l rather than 23l - weaker than expected, but I'm not too fussed about that - I'd rather try and get it tasting okay first.

Had to improvise a lot - chose 50g of dried orange and lemon fruit rather than the oranges. Also added 150g of honey at flameout just to boost the SG a bit.

The wife actually came up with a really good suggestion for cooling the wort quickly. She said to divide it into separate pots, so I did. I had two 5l pots in the wheelbarrow which was filled with water, and two 10l fermentation barrels in ice baths - and fair play to her; it reached 20°c within 45 minutes. Cool night outside too - plus full moon - felt like a proper moonshiner

Anyway, I've gone with the Safbrew T-58 yeast and hopwise I've gone for Hallertaur (bittering) and Bobek (finishing). Used 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander.

In fermenter - will post results.

Cheers,

Ray

[greenxpaddy]

Hi All

I am just uploading the last two videos of my Friday night experience. http://www.youtube.com/allgrainrookie

I wonder if any of you could comment on anything I am clearly doing wrong.

A couple of things I think I have established since doing the videos.

- Don't add the very last bit of wort that has started to run too weak at the end of sparging.
- I obviously used too much water in this recipe for the amount of grain
- I couldn't get Belgian 2 row pilsener malt and substituted Bohmeian Pilsener malt but that looks too dark now for wit bier
- I didnt weight down the connector hose filter at the bottom of the cooler so it maybe didnt capture all the sugars from the lower mash
- Maybe could have stirred the mash more in the first half hour

Roll on brew 2!

I have finally added 800g of extra light DME into fermenter to see if we can up the OG. Bit lumpy initially hopefully will dissolve over the ferment time 3-4 weeks.

Happy brewing all

Paddy

[Timo]

The total spend is about £7.50, or 18p a pint.

OMG this kind of post is going to make me go all grain soon

[staplefordbill]

OMG this kind of post is going to make me go all grain soon

Do it. The cost is but a small part of the picture. The taste is amazing and there's an endless variety of beer styles to try. I went AG last summer and won't brew a kit ever again.

[dave-o]

Back onto the subject of wheat flakes (or flaked wheat)..

It looks very much like porridge oats, but harder and thicker. That's the best way i can describe it.

[dave-o]

I wonder if any of you could comment on anything I am clearly doing wrong.

One thing stands out right away. You are adding the water to the grain, rather than vice versa. You need to add the water to the empty (except for filter) mash tun and then sprinkle on your grain gradually, stirring as you go. The way you are doing it is asking for doughballs and stuck mashes, which with lots of flaked wheat already has an increased likelihood.

What kind of grain filter are you using?

With wheat beers i think it's worth having some "insurance" in the form or a length of voile sheet (you can get a metre of this on ebay for about £2 delivered). You can line the mash tun with this and it will give you a way of lifting the grain off the filter if you do get a stuck mash.

I'm at work so can't really watch all of those videos, but what was the actual disaster? A stuck mash? Or just the extra wort? You could probably have evaporated 5l off in an hour or so if you wanted to do it that way.

[greenxpaddy]

Hi dave-o

The problem was i used too much water all in all. the mash seemed to produce good sugar level and the oat hulls meant no mash problems.

The filter is an innovative one they use in North America I found on youtube. You cut a plumbing braided hose tap connector and fish out the plastic tube leaving the braid as a filter. Cable tie one end closed and cable tie the other end onto the tube which is watertight throught the cooler drain. It is really neat and worked a treat. i will bear in mind that you can line the cooler in future in case you get stuck mash but like you appear to say if you need to get the mash going you can use more water then boil it off first.

Q - if you see its low gravity wort if you boil much longer (say an hour and a half) before your first hop addition and start the 60 mins timing from there is there a dramatic difference in the chemical balance of the wort affecting the final taste?

[dave-o]

Q - if you see its low gravity wort if you boil much longer (say an hour and a half) before your first hop addition and start the 60 mins timing from there is there a dramatic difference in the chemical balance of the wort affecting the final taste?

No, it should be fine.



What was the "unmitigated distaster" then?

[greenxpaddy]

It felt like one. With all the preparation to try and make the first brew a success still couldn't get it right! Still, who knows may still taste fantastic.

Still not been advised on hops in muslin bags - to squeeze or not to squeeze after a chill?

Seem to have a million questions currently.

[dave-o]

You can squeeze them if you like, it's not going to do any harm.

Best to just let the hops swim freely though.