WhoGarden (hoegaarden clone)

[DeathBrewer]

different yeasts work different ways. wit yeasts don't work quite as fast as hefeweizen yeast IME, for example. and if you aren't using a secondary, you should always leave in the primary longer.

i've had beer go from grain to glass in just 5 days, but it takes a big starter, arousal of the yeast, finings and/or filtering, and special care through the whole process.

trust me, your beer will be better if you let it wait a little longer. no sense in risking mucky beer just to save a few days time. and if it's not finished fermenting completely, you could stall fermentation and leave it sweet. not worth it IMO.

 

[lspr_mtu]

different yeasts work different ways. wit yeasts don't work quite as fast as hefeweizen yeast IME, for example. and if you aren't using a secondary, you should always leave in the primary longer.

i've had beer go from grain to glass in just 5 days, but it takes a big starter, arousal of the yeast, finings and/or filtering, and special care through the whole process.

trust me, your beer will be better if you let it wait a little longer. no sense in risking mucky beer just to save a few days time. and if it's not finished fermenting completely, you could stall fermentation and leave it sweet. not worth it IMO.

Thanks. I agree, I always try to error on the longer side when in doubt. I'm certainly not in any rush, I still have 3 full kegs

 

[PWalk]

So three weeks in the bottle now and my version of this is coming out bitter on the pallette. I'm wondering if I over did it with the bitter orange peel because I went light on the hops both at the beginning and end of the boil using Willamette to bitter and Saaz for aroma. I'll post up the recipe once I get home but figured I'd get some speculation on the orange peel first. I used 1 oz. in the boil.

 

[DeathBrewer]

1 oz is quite a bit. i only used 0.25 oz of bitter orange peel in mine.

 

[PWalk]

You know I thought I might have been adding too much when I did the full ounce but I really like the scent it lends a beer so I figured I'd go bigger with it not figuring it would lend a significant bittering effect.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I don't like the effect of bitter orange peel myself, it adds a bitterness which really detracts from the smoothness of the beer. I use orange marmalade instead as was suggested in Radical Brewing, 6oz went into my last Wit (DB has tried it) and I think it could take up to 12oz next time.

 

[adamjab19]

what about rolled oats in a wit recipe? anyone add them for some mouthfeel? heard it on the jamil show but they never gave an amount or a percentage. how much for a 5 gallon batch? oh and is 62*F too cold for wlp400?

 

[DeathBrewer]

62°F will work...maybe take a little longer, but it'll be nice and clean.

never used rolled oats.

 

[Saccharomyces]

what about rolled oats in a wit recipe? anyone add them for some mouthfeel? heard it on the jamil show but they never gave an amount or a percentage. how much for a 5 gallon batch? oh and is 62*F too cold for wlp400?

See the recipe in my dropdown, I use flaked (rolled) oats. I prefer to ferment with this strain around 72*F. I did my last batch at 68*F and I was not happy with the yeast character, it was too clean.

 

[DeathBrewer]

oh, rolled oats are the same as flaked oats? i are stupid. they will work great.

ferment temp on what you would like. i like most of my beers pretty clean, sacc likes the funk

 

[adamjab19]

thanks guys.

 

[PWalk]

So I pulled out another bottle tonight to try and what a difference a little time makes. Almost zero bitterness right now and the beer is extremely drinkable. It's damn near one of my finest brews yet. Just another reason to never give up on a batch.

 

[nghtmre4u]

Well i brewed this up yesterday part of a double brew day along with b/m centenial blonde.I was getting nervous being the first time i used liquid yeast and only my 3rd a/g.Pitched the yeast at 9:30 pm last night and as of 2:00pm today no airlock activity.Well here is a pic of it at 10:30 pm est the pic sucks as it is a cell phone pic.The smell coming out of the airlock is amazing.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Hope you have a blowoff tube handy. I ferment this yeast in a bucket for a reason.

 

[nghtmre4u]

yes was just sanitizing it.sure glad i bought one to have just incase

 

[Saccharomyces]

I have the same wine filtering gizmo. I like it.

This yeast is a champ in the mid 70's, gives an awesome phenolic character, but at such a high temp it really does get a mean krausen on it!

 

[nghtmre4u]

Fermeter is in the mid 70s i just installed blow off tube and turned down the heat in the fermenting room want to try and keep it around 70-72.I like the mini jet filter for some of my wines makes a big difference on some of them.

 

[kscomp0]

Sacch:
How did your Grado Witbier turn out?
I am putting together a Wit and am interested in the inclusion of corn sugar.
I guess the sugar just seems somewhat redundant to me.
Why not just decrease the percentage of wheat in the recipe? Perhaps do a 70:30 Pils:unmalted wheat. Isn't most of the body coming from the unmalted wheat, or does the corn sugar give you an even lighter body because you can decrease both the pils and unmalted wheat overall?
Basically, I am wondering about the difference between:
45% Pils
45% unmalted wheat
10% corn sugar
or
70% Pils
30% unmalted wheat

Do you think that either of these would get closer to the lightness of Hoegaarden as opposed to a 40:60 Pils:unmalted wheat recipe?

Cheers

 

[DeathBrewer]

the corn sugar would definitely lighten the body.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Ever come up with a final Hoegarden Clone DB?

 

[DeathBrewer]

I still haven't brewed it again

I've been far too busy with my BJCP and brew requests from friends, but I'll get back on it soon (I hope.)

 

[nghtmre4u]

well i kegged this the other day and it is still a little flat but it has a very bitter taste.the only thing i changed was the bitter orange peel i used sweet instead from the lhbs.It has the taste at first then bam bitterness.will let it go for a few and see if it mellows out at all.It was in the primary for 4 weeks then racked to keg.Fermentation temps were a little high when she took off around 74 cooled down to 68 then kept at 66-68 for the rest of fermentation.

 

[DeathBrewer]

what kind of bitterness? can you better describe it? you sure it isn't from the hops?

 

[nghtmre4u]

its hard to describe i will give it a try later tonight and see if i can describe it better.

 

[adamjab19]

I bottled a wit the other day and the taste is great but there is a bite to it at the end of the taste. Nothing horrid. Mine has only been in the bottle for a few days though. I'm going to wait until it is carbonated and really cold. I'm think mine may be the acidualted malt or chamomile tea. I only used .5oz bitter orange peel so I am rulling that out.

 

[crazyirishman34]

from what I have read chamomile flowers are the secrete to the hoegaarden flavor

 

[WarrantedFED]

Here is a 5 gallon all-grain recipe that I will try:

This is not evident by the plain reading of the recipe, but I will prepare the unmalted wheat as a sort of 'hot cereal' prior to commencing the all-grain mash. I may add .5 lb of rolled oats while I'm at it.

 

[WarrantedFED]

Just went into the primary. Thanks to my awesome 82nd Airborne brother-in-law for funding this one for me as a Christmas present!

 

[WarrantedFED]

So... Was a snuff spoon quantity of cumin about right here... That's about how much I used...

For reference:

 

[WarrantedFED]

The result is quite good. Not quite Hoegaarden though. The wit yeast flavor in my clone is much more pronounced. The clone needs more foamy head too. All in all, I would make this again. The color is spot on!!





Hoegaarden (L) Clone (R)

 

[WarrantedFED]

The result is quite good. Not quite Hoegaarden though. The wit yeast flavor in my clone is much more pronounced. The clone needs more foamy head too. All in all, I would make this again. The color is spot on!!

Hoegaarden (L) Clone (R)

After a month in the keg this tasted spot on!