Pain In The Wit

[bolus14]

To begin with I used the recipe from The Mad Fermenationist. http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2013/03/hibiscusgalaxy-wit-recipe.html

Pain In The Wit (BIAB)
Witbier

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (G): 5.0
Total Grain (lb): 10.625
Total Hops (oz): 0.25
Original Gravity (OG): 1.046 (°P): 11.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.52 %
Colour (SRM): 3.6 (EBC): 7.1
Bitterness (IBU): 13.6 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 60
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
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4.500 lb Pilsner (42.35%)
3.500 lb Flaked Wheat (32.94%)
2.000 lb Wheat Malt (18.82%)
0.500 lb Flaked Oats (4.71%)
0.125 lb Acidulated Malt (1.18%)

Hop Bill
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0.25 oz Sorachi Pellet (12.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/Gal)

Misc Bill
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2 bags Chamomile @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
1 oz Coriander Seed @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
5 oz Orange Peel @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 156°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 68°F with Wyeast 3463 - Forbidden Fruit


Brew started off fine, hit 156 for my mash as planned since I want this to have a full mouthfeel to it, even though it has a lot of wheat and oats in it. It was cold outside, 15 degrees with -2 wind chills, so I was wondered about the temp dropping, in the end it only dropped to 154 after 60 min. Then the fun started, wort took a while to drain from the bag, usually after 15 min there's no drip but with a little squeeze i was getting a slow trickle so I gave it 5 more min and called it good.

Started raising the temp to boil during that last 5 min and boil started fairly quickly, Got the hops in and then my son decided to run out of the garage so I had to go after him. He didn't get far but it was log enough to have a boil over, looked like between .25 and .5 gal worth on the garage floor and it blew out my burner. Got the boil going again and all was fine until about 30 min in when I started to get my water hoses for my wort chiller.

I got the hose out to the faucet and tightened it on then moved my hose carrying that i wind the hose up with and pulled enough to snap the connector on the faucet. Well this meant letting the wort cool by Mother Nature, luckily it was frigged out so not the end of the world, and given the style quick cooling to get a clear beer is no big deal either. Threw spices in with 5 min left, let boil finish, pulled out hop bag and it's holding a bunch of water. This has been a problem for a while so it might be time for a new bag, let that drain out and put kettle cover on 3/4 of the way for it to cool.

3 hours later checked the temp and it was at 85, wife wanted to go to the movies and I figured letting it sit out in the cold would end up dropping the temp too much. So, siphoned into the fermenter, put the lid and airlock on and put in a room in my house that's normally around 65 this time of year. Checked it when we got home from the movie and it was at 78. I debated for a while to pitch at that temp or let it sit over night. Some say pitching that high works out with this strain, but I end up decided not to.

Wake up in the morning and temp is at 65, so I checked the OG and pitched. OG was 1.044 lower than expected and I only got 5 gal into the fermenter when I planned for 5.25, thanks to boil over.

I'll update in a few weeks after she's fermented, but I'm hoping the lower temp doesn't create too much clove. Some research seems to show that lower temps either great a little more bland product or more clove character while higher temps give more of the "fruitiness" of this strain. Any thoughts?

I may dry hop with Galaxy or something else, maybe El Dorado as I had luck with that as a dry hop last year, or may just use some more orange zest as a "dry hop."

 

[bolus14]

Checked on this after 7 days in the fermenter. Gravity is at 1.020, since this is my first time using this yeast I'm not sure if it's normal for it to still be this high after 7 days or if it just takes a littler longer than other strains to get down to FG. Most other strains I've used are pretty much finished up between 4-7 days, although I've been using starter or washed yeast for almost everything for the last year.

I'm going to give it another 7 days, check it again and will decide if it's stuck, if the temp needs to be raised, or if my mash temp was just too high and it's going to finish this high.

Right now the smell definitely has Belgian funk, followed by citrus, mainly orange and lemon/coriander, followed by some spiciness, mainly clove. The taste is mainly clove and pepper like spice with citrus right behind. I'm really hoping the clove subsides as this reminds me of the level clove in Allagash White from the bottle but still has the level of citrus as that does when on tap. So, to me this is pretty reminiscent of Allagash white, wouldn't call it a clone by any stretch, but I really want the clove to dissipate.

If the clove doesn't subside I'll definitely dry hop to attempt to overpower that flavor. I have also decided for sure that I'm going to add some R.W. Knudson Black Cherry juice to some of this, but not sure how much juice or beer I'll be using yet, still researching.

 

[bolus14]

Bottled this up this past weekend. I ended up dry hopping with 1.5oz of El Dorado for 4 days. Cracked a bottle after 4 days in the bottle and 30 min in the freezer.

The mouth feel is excellent, better than any commercial Wit I've had. Little citrus in the background. A little "hoppier" than the style would approve of but for me, a non hophead, it works. There's a slight grassy hop like taste in the finish but not over powering. Really thought this would be a beer that I'd want to just chug to drink but it's actually enjoyable and only around 3.5-4%

 

[bolus14]

Here's a pic, my crappy phone camera made it look more orange than it is. Actually lemon like yellow and cloudy.

View attachment 1426809852457.jpg