Seeking advice on brewing witbiers

I have brewed a wheat beer three times now that has this for the grist:

4 lbs, 8 oz pilsner malt
4 lbs wheat malt
1 lb flaked wheat
0.5 lbs 20L crystal malt

I have not any any problems with sparging, and did not use any rice hulls. Maybe someone will point out a time when they wish they had used rice hulls for wheat beer? I thought that was more of a rye thing than a wheat thing, but I suppose I could be wrong.

 

If you can find it use 20% each flaked wheat and raw, unmalted wheat. It'll give you a little more protein haze in the finished product. Otherwise it looks good. If you are using dried peels keep in mind that they will absorb water and swell tremendously. I've had those peels plug my pump and hoses so now I use a hops bag for orange peel.

 

If concerned about a stuck sparge, do a beta glucanase rest (98-113 F) before going up to saccharification (154 F), and then perform a mash out (168 F) to make the grain bed a little more fluid.

For the chamomile, make sure its very fresh. If fresh it'll taste like pineapple, if not, it'll be gross.

Make sure to get indian coriander, not american coriander. The american stuff can make your beer taste like hot dogs.

 

I would drop the mash temp to no more than 152 or else it will be too thick, you shouldnt have a probelem with a stuck sparge if you add rice hulls. I brew quite a few wits and never use rice hulls.

I would skip the chamomile if this is your first go around, less spices the better IMO

 

By all means use fresh oranges (sweet or sour) and you want to zest them. Yield is ~0.5 ounce of zest per medium sized orange and I would still bag 'em. Have not used chamomile, coriander is considered the norm (not powder, crush the seeds just before adding), and it goes in the bag also.

Don't know if you save/wash yeast, but the strain you picked is mighty tasty in a non-wit pale ale. This would be the time to learn how to re-cycle yeast if you're not already doing it.

If you think a step-mash is beneficial, check out the mash calculator on brewersfriend . . . I find it helpful and you should see if your system has the required range. Good luck.

 

I brew this recipe six time and it's turn out just grate.

3 lbs 6.7 oz Pilsner - Bel
3 lbs 6.7 oz Wheat, Flaked
1 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter
5 oz Corn, Flaked
5 oz Oats, Flaked
5 oz Unmalted Wheat
1.8 oz Acid Malt
* rice hulls

Mash Steps
122.0 F 20 min
140.0 F 20 min
149.0 F 20 min
161.0 F 40 min

Boil
1.00 oz Tettnang - Boil 60.0 min
0.39 oz Tettnang - Boil 60.0 min
0.49 oz Tettnang - Boil 15.0 min
2.00 tsp Camomile (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.75 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.50 oz fresh oranges zest (Boil 5.0 mins)

Wyeast Labs #3942

 

I agree on the sentiment about going light on or skipping the spices.

Simplicity = deliciousness, i.e. the KISS methodology. It's the Occam's razor of beer.

 

I noticed in your other thread, you made 10 gallons of pale ale. If you make 10 gallons of wit, would you consider using two separate yeast strains?

 

No need, wheat gelatinizes at normal mash temps

 

It's not really witbier yeast, more wheat beer yeast, but I love WY3638, Bavarian wheat yeast. You might consider half the batch with that yeast. I use it in my elderberry wheat beer (same wheat beer recipe as I quoted earlier, with dried elderberries added to the boil). I made one batch of that recipe using non-3638 (it was a mixture of yeasts, actually), and it just didn't do it justice.

I have personally been meaning to try WY3944, Belgian witbier yeast. Anybody tried it?

Any particularities of recipe choices that differentiate wits from wheats?

Anybody got their own preferred best yeast for wits and wheats?

This thread has me wanting to make a wit or wheat beer, even tho it's the middle of winter. Of course we went from huge ice storm with no power all night for half the city a couple nights ago to about 80 degrees and sunny today, so no wonder I'm all jacked up....

 

You can go higher with the temp, I normally shoot for 151-152F, and it turns out just fine. The end points arent truly as sharp as that figure shows

Personally I dont used Flaked + Berries, I just use ground up berries. The flaking process gelatinizes the wheat, which is an unnecessary pre-mash step anyway, and both should add haze to the finished product.

Yes raw wheat berries add gravity points, its just starch after all.....

 

As others have said, use fresh citrus zest rather than dried - it imparts a much nicer character than any of the dried products.

On the spice side of things (if you want to add anything above the traditional coriander), I've found that lavender works very well with the style. I'm not sure where to procure it commercially as I use dried lavender from my mother's garden, but it has a broad floral character with hints of sweetness and fruit. I wouldn't want to go heavy-handed, but it can bring a nice depth of aroma and flavor.

 

Lavender sounds great for a wit.

Which reminds me, I sure do love jasmine tea, anyone tried jasmine before?

 

So...is there really some advantage to using raw wheat over flaked? ...enquiring minds want to know