Hoegaarden clone - kit based

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Hi Guys,

I've been wanting to do a kit based, Hoegaarden clone for a while, finally have a chance to this weekend, I'd really appreciate any pointers/adjustments to the following...

Black Rock New Whispering Wheat kit
1kg Wheat Spraymalt
500g of brewing sugar
Safbrew WB-06 Yeast

40g of fresh orange zest.
10g Coriander seeds, crushed in pestle and mortar
15g - East Kent Goldings (UK) Alpha 7.05% % - 2009 Crop, boiled for 15 mins
15g - Saaz (Czech) Alpha 3.5% - 2009 Crop boiled for 5 mins at end of EKG boiling


Method:

Use a big stock pot to dissolve wheat spraymalt & sugar in 3 litres of
water then bring it to boil.

Then add coriander seed, orange peel and Kent Golding hops in a hop bag.
Boil for 15 minutes.

10mins into boil (5 min before end of boil), add last bag of Saaz hop into pot.

After that, turn off fire and remove all bags from pot.

Add Wheat beer kit into pot and stir.

Transfer to fermenter and top up 23 litres mark with cold water.
Continue brewing in the normal way.


Questions:
Orange peel - I'm going to have to use fresh oranges, any pointers on what kind? How many does it take to get 40g of zest?
Is 500g too much brewing sugar to add for fermentation?
Fermentation temp - I don't have much control over this, but ambient seems to be around 22c at the moment will this be ok?

thanks in advance

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Anyone?
This is my first kit mod, really want to make sure the recipe is right

[trucker5774]

That all sounds about right. The only small point I would have changed (picky, I know) would be to empty the kit can into the FV and use the boiled goods to rinse the can out

[Befuddler]

Hoegaarden's unique colour and character comes from a high percentage of unmalted wheat.. I'm not sure how close you can get to that with a kit. I'm sure this will be a nice wheat beer, just don't expect it to be white!

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Thanks guys, yes will wash can out.
So the amount of sugar is correct @500g ?
that's the only worry for me I think.
I'll report back to let everyone know how it turns out

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Right then, going to get this bad boy brewing today, wish me luck!

[trucker5774]

Good luck! Keep us up to date.

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Safely in FV, it smells superb! I've got a good feeling about this... can't wait to sample it when I keg it up.
I ended up using 60g of fresh orange zest, that was x4 standard sainsburys largish oranges.
OG 1040, does that sound about right?
I pitched yeast @ 20c and fingers crossed the nice stable temps will keep up, as I'm not temp controlling the brew.
Will keep you posted when it's drinking time!

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I was a bit worried as it's been a hot day with temps creeping up to 23c, just checked the fv though and it's nice n foamy

[jason123]

I thought wheat beers liked a warmer fermenting temp.
I did some coopers wheat beer kits because I love wheat beer and whilst very very nice, didn't really remind of german wheat beers probably because they were done in January and didn't get the higher temps.

You'll be in for a cracking brew though, however it turns out.

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Well temps have been around 23/4 I really hope this isnt too warm...

[Biamoasta]

I did some coopers wheat beer kits because I love wheat beer and whilst very very nice, didn't really remind of german wheat beers probably because they were done in January and didn't get the higher temps.

If you used the kit yeast, that was probably the problem. The kit yeast will only give off very mild aromas, compared to typical Bavarian wheat beer yeasts. I've made a wheat beer with the Coopers kit and used WB-06 yeast. It came out great

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Sorry for all the questions...
How long should I leave this in primary?
I want to keg this, and have read it's best to over prime wits with say 200g of sugar, will a standard budget keg cope with that?

[jason123]

I did some coopers wheat beer kits because I love wheat beer and whilst very very nice, didn't really remind of german wheat beers probably because they were done in January and didn't get the higher temps.

If you used the kit yeast, that was probably the problem. The kit yeast will only give off very mild aromas, compared to typical Bavarian wheat beer yeasts. I've made a wheat beer with the Coopers kit and used WB-06 yeast. It came out great

Thats it, the wheaty characteristics were very mild. The actual brew was absolutely bloody lovely though, I'd say more like a cross between a pale ale and a lager almost.
I've just tried a BIAB wheat beer kit with a Schneider Weise bottle yeast starter, It'll be interesting to see how that turns out but as it was a first and terrible attempt, I'll just be happy if its drinkable.

[subfaction]

Sorry for all the questions...
How long should I leave this in primary?
I want to keg this, and have read it's best to over prime wits with say 200g of sugar, will a standard budget keg cope with that?

Any clues on the above, I don't like opening the lid too often on my FV, so might just give it 14 days, but what kind of FG should I expect?
Any idea on the priming, I don't want a leaky budget keg...