Brewing Belgian Wit

grub · Post by **grub** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:02 pm

we don't generally do anything other than a single step rest. what i've found to be the biggest help with not getting a stuck sparge is making sure to keep the temperature up. mash out to 170F and have your sparge water at or above that. preheat the tun too if you're moving the mash from another vessel. anytime i've had a stuck sparge it's generally been because the temp got too low or it was running too fast - with wheat or otherwise.

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:30 pm

Here's what I ended up going with:

5 lbs. pils malt
4 lbs. flaked wheat
1 lb. torrified wheat
1 lb. flaked oats

1/2 lb. rice hulls

infusion mash @ 150°F 60 min., batch sparge to obtain appx. 6.25 gal. wort. Gravity came out slightly lower than anticipated, so boiled a little longer prior to first hop addition to bring it up.

1 oz. Saaz @ 60 minutes
1/2 oz. Saaz @ 5 minutes

added spices @ 20 min
1 oz. Coriander seed
3/4 oz. Sweet Orange Peel
3/4 oz. Bitter Orange Peel
...and more @ 5 min
about 1/2 oz. of a blend of white peppercorns, cardamom pods and anise seeds

Fermenting with Safale WB-06, airlock showed vigarous activity within a few hours.

Looking forward to this one..

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:37 pm

That's a lot of spices, and WB-06 is a hefe yeast, not a witbier yeast.

Let us know how it turns out!

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:35 am

Yes, the WB-06 is supposed to be more of a hefe yeast. Read alot about people fermenting wits with it, and although most felt that it was not exactly true to style, the general consensus was that it produced a very tasty wit-like beer regardless. We shall see..