Brewing Master » Homebrew Beer » Last minute Belgian White question.
Last minute Belgian White question.
Question:
I’ve just started on my first batch of homebrew. Recently fell in love with Belgian White called Spanish Peaks and decided to use that as my benchmark for this first attempt. Prepared my yeast from Wyeast Belgian White and it is merrily bubbling away in a half gallon milk bottle so I think I’m ready to boil. For the malt extracts, I plan on using 3.3 lbs of wheat and the remainder(3.3 lbs minus the 1/3 cup used for starter) of extra light – both from Munton’s. For hops, I’ll use Perle Pellets, alpha acid 6.9, 1/2 oz at the start of the boil, the other half near finish. Corriander seed, 1/2 oz, lightly crushed, near the finish. Lemon, orange, and a touch of peppercorn also near finish. The questions: How near the finish. Recipes range from 15 down to 5 minutes. How much lemon, orange, pepper? How is the peel prepared, slices or zest? Are the peppercorns crushed? At what point can the starter be put in the fridge, currently bubbling at a bubble every 15 seconds? TIA, — Bob Capistrant "There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don’t believe this to be a coincidence." — Jeremy S. Anderson
Response:
I’ve just started on my first batch of homebrew. Recently fell in love with Belgian White called Spanish Peaks and decided to use that as my benchmark for this first attempt. Prepared my yeast from Wyeast Belgian White and it is merrily bubbling away in a half gallon milk bottle so I think I’m ready to boil. For the malt extracts, I plan on using 3.3 lbs of wheat and the remainder(3.3 lbs minus the 1/3 cup used for starter) of extra light – both from Munton’s. For hops, I’ll use Perle Pellets, alpha acid 6.9, 1/2 oz at the start of the boil, the other half near finish. Corriander seed, 1/2 oz, lightly crushed, near the finish. Lemon, orange, and a touch of peppercorn also near finish. The questions: How near the finish. Recipes range from 15 down to 5 minutes.
I made a spiced belgian ale and i added the spices with 15 min to go. This gives more flavor. If you wanted to, you could add a little at the very end for aroma. How much lemon, orange, pepper? How is the peel prepared, slices or zest? Are the peppercorns crushed?
witbiers traditionally use dried bitter orange peel availible from most homebrew shops. I have heard, but cant confirm that using regular orange peel gives the beer a ham-like aroma. crush the pepper lightly. i would go very lightly on the pepper, no more than 1/8 oz, since this style is delicate. if you do use the orange and lemon, use the zest and avoid the bitter while part of the peel. At what point can the starter be put in the fridge, currently bubbling at a bubble every 15 seconds?
depending on how long before you start to brew, I wouldnt put the starter in the fridge. the yeast will go dormant. One of the reasons for a starter is so the yeast are active. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – TIA, — Bob Capistrant "There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don’t believe this to be a coincidence." — Jeremy S. Anderson
Response:
I’ve just started on my first batch of homebrew. Recently fell in love with Belgian White called Spanish Peaks and decided to use that as my benchmark for this first attempt. Prepared my yeast from Wyeast Belgian White and it is merrily bubbling away in a half gallon milk bottle so I think I’m ready to boil. For the malt extracts, I plan on using 3.3 lbs of wheat and the remainder(3.3 lbs minus the 1/3 cup used for starter) of extra light – both from Munton’s. For hops, I’ll use Perle Pellets, alpha acid 6.9, 1/2 oz at the start of the boil, the other half near finish. Corriander seed, 1/2 oz, lightly crushed, near the finish. Lemon, orange, and a touch of peppercorn also near finish. The questions: How near the finish. Recipes range from 15 down to 5 minutes.
I made a spiced belgian ale and i added the spices with 15 min to go. This gives more flavor. If you wanted to, you could add a little at the very end for aroma. How much lemon, orange, pepper? How is the peel prepared, slices or zest? Are the peppercorns crushed?
witbiers traditionally use dried bitter orange peel availible from most homebrew shops. I have heard, but cant confirm that using regular orange peel gives the beer a ham-like aroma. crush the pepper lightly. i would go very lightly on the pepper, no more than 1/8 oz, since this style is delicate. if you do use the orange and lemon, use the zest and avoid the bitter while part of the peel. At what point can the starter be put in the fridge, currently bubbling at a bubble every 15 seconds?
depending on how long before you start to brew, I wouldnt put the starter in the fridge. the yeast will go dormant. One of the reasons for a starter is so the yeast are active. – enjoy. -Christopher
Response:
I put my spices in once I’ve racked to a secondary. I’ve found that alot of the aroma/flavor get blown off with the CO2 during primary fermentation. I make up and boil abou a pint of wort, turn the heat off, put my orange peel and crushed spices in a hop sack and immerse for five minutes to sanitize. Once cooled, I and to the secondary and let finish for about 7 days. Hope this helps, Bob Pastor
Response:
My 2 cents: Change the final Perle to cascades at 15mins. 1tsp coriander and 1oz of orange at 2 mins (you can do lemon and peppercorns if you want – 1/4oz lemon zest and a half tsp whole peppercorns I’d think… Then, when you rack this to secondary put another oz of orange into the secondary and rack the beer ontop of it. The Muntons is 55%barley 45%wheat, so you should probably use 6lb of that, skipping the light malt. and if you use grains, steep a quarter pound of carapils for 30 mins at 150. You need to replace the body that you’re not going to have from the oats that a belgian white has in it… Just my 2cents, but… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I’ve just started on my first batch of homebrew. Recently fell in love with Belgian White called Spanish Peaks and decided to use that as my benchmark for this first attempt. Prepared my yeast from Wyeast Belgian White and it is merrily bubbling away in a half gallon milk bottle so I think I’m ready to boil. For the malt extracts, I plan on using 3.3 lbs of wheat and the remainder(3.3 lbs minus the 1/3 cup used for starter) of extra light – both from Munton’s. For hops, I’ll use Perle Pellets, alpha acid 6.9, 1/2 oz at the start of the boil, the other half near finish. Corriander seed, 1/2 oz, lightly crushed, near the finish. Lemon, orange, and a touch of peppercorn also near finish. The questions: How near the finish. Recipes range from 15 down to 5 minutes. How much lemon, orange, pepper? How is the peel prepared, slices or zest? Are the peppercorns crushed? At what point can the starter be put in the fridge, currently bubbling at a bubble every 15 seconds? TIA, — Bob Capistrant "There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don’t believe this to be a coincidence." — Jeremy S. Anderson
BigJohn You know what to cut!!
Response:
Change the final Perle to cascades at 15mins. 1tsp coriander and 1oz of orange at 2 mins (you can do lemon and peppercorns if you want – 1/4oz lemon zest and a half tsp whole peppercorns I’d think… Then, when you rack this to secondary put another oz of orange into the secondary and rack the beer ontop of it.
The Curacao (bitter orange) needs to be boiled to extract the flavors/bitterness from it. The coriander should be added as close to knock out as possible to avoid boiling off its aroma. I would not recommend adding additional Curacao to the secondary, but I would recommend "dry-spicing" with some additional coriander *if* the resulting brew does not have the nose that you desire. — John Varady http://www.netaxs.com/~vectorsys/varady Boneyard Brewing The HomeBrew Recipe Calculating Program