Witbier grainbill critique

Some of my best beers have crazy simple grain bills. But some are very complex. I would agree that before adding anything, it's kind of important to ask yourself why.

 

To follow on, my currently boiling Dunkelsweizen has 4 base grains (Pils, Munich, Vienna, and Maris Otter), along with (of course) wheat plus medium crystal, Special B, and Carafa II Special. Way more grains than I usually use in any beer, but I wanted some enhanced flavor from the base grains and, to be honest, I was able to use up the Munich, Vienna, and Maris Otter that I had laying around. Two wins (I hope).

 

I think if you want malt complexity in your beer, it's probably ok to add more than 4 malts. Something like a doppelbock or an imperial stout are beers I could see with more than 4 malts, with each malt playing a different role. Say you want a beer with bready, chocolate, coffee, caramel and nutty notes, with maybe some oats or wheat for enhanced mouthfeel. Difficult to achieve all of these with only four malts.

However, if you aren't emphasizing malt, it doesn't make sense. An IPA with 6 different malts in it seems overcomplicated for instance.

A wit is not a style I'd associate with something you want to complicate the malt bill on, in my opinion. Esters/phenolics, spices, and a crisp finish are hallmarks of the style, and achievable with a minimal amount of malts. As always, to each their own.

 

You just gave me a great idea! Quadro-smash! Four base malts, four hops! How about this...

3 lbs maris otter
3 lbs golden promise
3 lbs vienna
3 lbs munich

equal parts of four hops, mixed together, select from this list:

cascade, willamette, super-galena, belma, citra, millenium, nugget, bravo (because I actually have these to choose from)

I'm thinking the bravo, citra, willamette, cascade combo

Then hop it like a hoppy pale or IPA. How about 45-50 IBUs and a metric-butt-ton of late hops?

Or am I just a schlepp-****? Don't answer that!

 

Point taken. Imperial stouts with only four malts would be a bit trickier than expected. Theory reviused to "unless obviously necessary."

 

KISS RIS

16# MO or Optic
1.5# pale chocolate
1.0# RB
1.0# crystal of your choice (mine is special roast)

 

Does the pils have enough enzymes for all the wheat?

 

@koopa to springboard off of BushDoctor's post:

• What is you mashing process? What temperature(s) and for how long? Mash Thickness?
  
• What is your typical conversion efficiency for your Wit beers?

Cheers!

 

I'm not Koopa, but the answer is yes.

 

@JackHorzempa I recently started fly sparging, but haven't brewed a wit that way yet. The following is via batch sparging and usually results in a 79 - 82% mash extraction for me....

Strike in with about 1qt per pound water to grist ratio at a target 113F and hold for 20 minutes to help break up the beta glucans in the unmalted wheat / oats.

A side effect to doing this can be an increased clove profile, as 113F is the high end of the ferulic acid rest range. While clove is more sought after in a hefeweizen, I dig a little of it in my wit as well. Fortunately, there is a way to limit the amount of 4VG produced during this rest, and that is via controlling the wort ph at this time. To minimize the ferulic acid rest effect, I'll add my brewing salts just prior to doing this rest. They will reduce my mash ph to the 5.2 - 5.4 range, which curbs the 4VG production a bit. Of course if I decided I want more clove, I can simply do the rest at 113F before adding my brewing salts. This leaves my ph closer to 5.6 - 5.7 during this rest, which is more conducive to 4VG production. I usually go the latter route when making a hefeweizen since I want a big clove profile in that style.

Next I add enough hot water to step the mash up to sacchrafication range. Typically I aim for a resulting 1.8 - 1.9 quarts per pound ratio after this addition and a target temperature in the 150F - 154F range (depending on whether I want my FG to be in the middle or high side of the style range). I'll rest here for 60 minutes. Then I'll do a 10 minute mash out at 170F before collecting runnings.

 

At this point, would it just be "a beer"?