2nd batch

[Brownbeard]

Ordering my 2nd batch tomorrow. I am leaning towards a witbier. My wife really likes it and I want to make something that she is going to drink. Any opinions on that as a 2nd brew? It should be similar to making the ale. I am going to do an LME kit from Northern Brewer.

[Brownbeard]

OK, just for kicks, I priced the extract kit, then priced the individual items at the same place and the price was a full $4 cheaper for the seperate ingredients. You are paying $4 for the directions I assume?

[YamahaXS]

Sometimes, you get little extra things in kits. like grain socks, better yeast, clarifying agents, priming sugar, sanitizer, etc...

Call the shop and ask them why its more... I bet they have a good answer for you. :D

[ray m]

May I suggest, Brownbeard, that you use DME instead of LME. DME might give you a slightly lighter color, closer to the style guidelines for color, if that concerns you. It should be a pretty easy 2nd batch kit, too---you should only have to do an initial bittering hop addition at the start o' the boil & that's it. I also highly suggest using a liquid Belgian Witbier yeast strain...if memory serves me correctly, if you get a kit, you will get some crap generic dried ale yeast---and all you'll end up with is a regular ol' ale. Do not let the words "liquid yeast" frighten you, grasshopper---it's not hard to work with at all, & you make beers in the appropriate style, too.

[mmmBeer...]

I too love wit beers! (although I lean towards hefeweizens myself) Definitely go with the liquid yeast specific for the wit beer style, the generic ale yeast will not produce the flavours you are looking for. Although I have completely switched to whitelabs, my earlier beers were with generic yeast (coopers) and for typical ales it was fine, but I wouldn’t want to try and create a specialty beer without the right yeast strain!

[Tom C]

The Belgian wit yeast by wyeast is a hearty yeast. For extra flavoring in your wit throw some corinander in the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Tom C

[paul84043]

The Arrogant Bastard 020202 Vertical Epic Ale that I just made a few weeks ago is a Belgian Witbier.
It has bitter and sweet orange peel, coriander seed and pepper in it...
It's very tasty, and actually..ready to bottle!!!

[Brownbeard]

The Northern Brewer kit comes with the Wyeast 125mL Whit smack pack. It also comes with the corriander, and the bitter orange peel.

[Brownbeard]

OK, the recipe calls for the standard 6.6# of LME, how much DME should I be using. I found a recipe that looks real similar to me on BYO's site.

5 lbs. Light DME
3lbs. Honey
2 oz. Hallertauer hops
2 oz. crushed coriander
1 oz. grated orange peel (can I use fresh as opposed to dried?)
Wyeast packet, it calls for the Belgian Ale, but I am doing the Wit packet
1 1/4 cup dried malt extract for priming.

Step by Step:
Prepare yeast starter culture in advance. On brew day add malt extract, honey, and 1 oz. hops
to 1.5 gallons water and boil for one hour. Add 1 oz. crushed coriander and 0.5 oz. hops and
boil for 10 minutes. Add remaining coriander and orange peel and boil for three minutes. Add
remaining hops and boil for two minutes.

Pour two gallons of cold water into fermenter and sparge wort into fermenter. Top off with
water to equal five gallons. Follow normal fermentation procedures (five days in primary, a
week in secondary), prime, and bottle as usual. Age two weeks.
**************************************************

Will the honey make this a sweeter brew?
Whadaya think?

[YamahaXS]

Honey will not neccessarily make your beer sweeter, it depends on the yeast, and how well it can attentuate the sugars. You don't need to boil the honey, you can add at the end of the boil for 10 minutes. Honey will take longer to ferment though. Plan on this beer taking a couple of months before its ready for consuption. Be sure to prepare a starter for your yeast to help it along quicker.

I roughly estimate DME as 115% stronger than LME. so about 5 pounds of DME is equal to about 6 pounds of LME. That is just my rule of thumb, and I don't remember where I got it from.

[mmmBeer...]

According to my sources 4# of DME is equal to 5# of LME.

3 pounds of honey sounds good. There will be a residual sweetness left behind, but given the other ingredients you are using I doubt it will be noticeable (btw I was considering this recipe too, with the WL Belgian wit yeast, can’t wait to here how it comes out).

I could be wrong, but I believe honey contains unfermtables that regardless of yeast type will leave a lingering sweetness (like lactose).

[Brownbeard]

Originally posted by YamahaXS
Honey will not neccessarily make your beer sweeter, it depends on the yeast, and how well it can attentuate the sugars. You don't need to boil the honey, you can add at the end of the boil for 10 minutes. Honey will take longer to ferment though. Plan on this beer taking a couple of months before its ready for consuption. Be sure to prepare a starter for your yeast to help it along quicker.



I was wanting to serve this in the end of september, maybe I should avoid the honey. If I remove the honey from the recipe, is there a replacement I should consider? I am looking for a Wit I can serve at the end of september, a month and a half from now.

[Brownbeard]

Never mind, I am gonna run with it and see how it does with 6 weeks time. May not be perfect, but it will be better than the Michelob keg I had for the party last year.

[mmmBeer...]

Go with the honey! I have a honey brown that was very drinkable after 6 weeks; I only used 1 Kg of honey though (2.2 pounds). It is not that it’s bad before 6 weeks, it just kinda mellows out, as it gets older, but is till very drinkable at 6 weeks.

Some of the recipes I was looking at called for Belgian candy sugar instead of honey, and I plan to try this in my wit.

[sallad]

i've had some really good success using honey. it really adds some smooth, creamy textures and great flavor. it does take longer to ferment, and you can expect to get a lower FG than you would using all grains. my last honey brew went from about 1040 all the way down to 1002. typically, i've used only about 1lb of honey per batch. also, its a good primer- use about .5 cups (maybe a little less if you're kegging) and allow extra time to carbonate. 6 weeks minimum til its ready. i have yet to have any last more than 3 months though. yum!

[Brownbeard]

Ordered the ingredients to do the above recipe tonight. I found a local co-op that has local clover honey for $1.50 a pound.