Hoegaarden GW Style

[crookedeyeboy]

Im finally doing a Beligan Wit after 50 brews!

Has anyone got any advice on the addition of coriander seeds and orange peel (both fresh zest and bitter dried stuff)?
Ive used coriander seeds in a brew before 40g crushed and they were lovely. GW's recipes are always on the light side with everything, hops, coriander etc.
The book recommends 3g of orange peel and 3g or coriander seeds, no where near enough in my head....

Any suggestions welcome:

Pale Malt 3.138kg
Wheat Malt 2.636kg
Flaked Oats 293g

Styrian Goldings 4.5% 90mins 26g
Saaz 3% 90 mins 17g

Saaz 3% 5 mins 15g

Orange Peel 50g
Coriander Seeds crushed 50g

WLP 400 Belgian Wit Yeast fermented at soemthing like 25°C or 26°C

[TheMumbler]

I've never done a plain wit (done a few fruit ones) but 50g of coriander sounds like too much to me. I'd go with something more like 10-15g, you don't really want the coriander to dominate, IMO it is there to set off the other flavours. YMMV of course. Make sure it is good and fresh. According to Randy Mosher the ovoid type is better for beers than the spherical and I followed that advice when brewing mine using Dhania Coriander which is rugby ball shaped. I haven't done any kind of comparison though.

[Fisker]

Also, note that normally a Wit is brewed with unmalted wheat (e.g. flaked wheat), not wheat malt. This has an effect on both taste and color, I think, but I haven't tried with malted wheat so I can't say for sure. There's a style description here: Wit (beersmith.com)

[jmc]

This recipe is nice

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


+1 for Flaked wheat. Much more body

[crookedeyeboy]

It is unmalted wheat but Beer Alchemy didnt have it!

Thanks for the advice, im teaching two mates how to brew so I want it to go well!

[jmc]

It is unmalted wheat but Beer Alchemy didnt have it!

Thanks for the advice, im teaching two mates how to brew so I want it to go well!

I had a look at the Hartington site where you run the brewing course.

Is that a LIDL boiler you use?

Just interested as I have one.

[crookedeyeboy]

Its not a LIDL one but one of the original Brupaks style ones, its enamel.
Its not really that great but I use it for teaching as it doe the job.
I have two 60 lt buckets at home with multiple elements which give a much better boil.
I dont use these on the course as they require the use of my plate chiller and I dont want to over complicate the day!

[crookedeyeboy]

Just on the oranges bit, I see from the link to the other recipe thatthe oranges were just 'thrown' into the boil then fished out and put in the fermenter.
Whilst I like this idea would it not be better to zest them and squish them to get the juice out surely you'll be getting some bitterness from the pith inside the orange??
Just thinking.....

[jmc]

Just on the oranges bit, I see from the link to the other recipe thatthe oranges were just 'thrown' into the boil then fished out and put in the fermenter.
Whilst I like this idea would it not be better to zest them and squish them to get the juice out surely you'll be getting some bitterness from the pith inside the orange??
Just thinking.....

I agree with you

I zested my oranges and then peeled with knife to remove peel+ pith.
In past I added at 15mins from end of boil but I'd add at 5mins if I did it again.

On another brew I added camomile as well borrowing idea from leedsbrew

[crookedeyeboy]

Cheers JMC nice to know im thinking along the right lines, what was the camomile like?

[jmc]

Cheers JMC nice to know im thinking along the right lines, what was the camomile like?

To be honest, with that brew the chamomile was overpowered by quite phenolic Floris Wit yeast.
I think they'd shine using WB06.

In case you want to try, I sourced camomile by emptying a pack of Tesco Camomile tea bags (~80p). They are 100% Camomile.

[Fido97]

I did a Belgian Wit recently and its turned out very fine even if I say so myself. I used 45g grated citrus peel (mixture of lime, orange and lemon) and then about 15g crushed coriander seed all of bunged at the end of the boil. Also threw in a pinch of elderflower and a little plain flour to try to cloud it up a bit. I think the quantity of coriander you suggest would be a little excessive but otherwise looks good. Good luck with it anyway.