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A Shop Brew Story with a Wit Ending by Douglas King (Published in the August 1996 Brews and News) A group of seven Falcons met at the Home Wine and Beer Shop on Saturday, June 29th at 9 AM. We were a witty bunch of brewers with a mission, to brew a batch of Witbier on the Shop system. The brewers were myself, David Janss, Jerry Pooler, Gary Smith, John Seman, John Rasmussen, and Bill Ames. While none were first time all-grain brewers, all but one were first time Wit brewers interested in learning a little about how I make my version of Celis White. I am going to try to be complete in describing this brew, in the hopes that some of you might try making some. It's a great summer beer, and it only takes a couple weeks until it's ready to drink. Things started on time at 9 o'clock with adding reverse osmosis filtered water to the kettles. I normally use distilled bottled water for this brew, but I tried some R.O. water this time instead. It should still give the beer the nice soft, mineral free character that I feel this beer should have, and it was only 45 cents a gallon. The source for this water was a store at Platt and Victory that sells nothing but R.O. and steam distilled waters. Henry Dodge was the Falcon that told me about this place, thanks Henry. Gary Smith brought a bottle of Hoegaarden White Ale(a Pierre Celis Wit from Belgium) and I brought some of my last batch of the beer we were brewing, to sample while we brewed and during lunch. Unfortunately, we couldn't compare Celis White(a Pierre Celis Wit from Texas) as well, since the Miller Brewing Company has seen to it that we Californians can no longer get any. That's OK, I like mine better, anyway. The crew worked well together to mash the grains, boil the wort, clean all the equipment, and all the other brewing duties. Hopefully everyone learned a little something about the Witbier style in the process. Since it was really a hot day, instead of firing up the BBQ for lunch, David ran up to Dan's Sub Shop for sandwiches. Best Subs in town! We all enjoyed the sandwiches with a bottle of Anchor Steam, courtesy of Gary. Jerry was helpful in taking five gallons home to ferment and keg when it's finished. I took another five home with me, and we left five gallons at the Shop to ferment. The crew will return in three weeks to bottle some of the finished product, and we will have some kegged Witbier at a future club meeting for everyone to sample. Here's my recipe for Witbier. It's an easy beer to brew, we had it done by 3 or 3:30, if I remember correctly. While it might sound more like a weizenbier recipe with spices added, rather than a traditional Belgian Wit recipe, it seems to be similar to the Texas Celis White recipe. The percentage of malted wheat is high, unmalted low. I prefer to use the zest of fresh oranges rather than those dried Curacao peels. Interestingly, there is a rumor that Celis was buying his oranges from Fillmore until recently. He doesn't use the Curacao either. The supermarket spices seem to work as well as fresh, whole crushed spices, and are easier to use. Also note the temperature for conversion, 150 dF. This is what makes the beer fairly dry, hence, easy to drink. It finishes dry and doesn't linger or coat the mouth. Definitely part of what a summer Belgian lawnmower beer is all about. As it turns out, an addition of raspberry extract also works very well with this beer, if you're into such things. WitbierFor 15 gallons: Grains: 15 lb. Canadian wheat malt 9 lb. Domestic 2 row malt 2 1\4 lb. Stone-Buhr Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour Hops: 3 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh hop pellets 3.6 % AA Yeast: Wyeast #3944 Belgian White yeast, three 1 quart starters Adjuncts: 2 tsp. lactic acid for pH adjustment zest of 4 Valencia oranges 1 tbls Spice Islands ground Coriander seed 1 tsp. Schilling Cumin seed, crushed Procedure: Mash in @122 dF, rest 30 mins, raise to 150 dF, rest 75 mins., raise to 170, transfer to lauter tun, sparge with 170 dF water, boil and skim 30 mins, add hops, boil 50 mins, add spices, boil 10 mins, chill, collect 12 gal @1.060, add one gallon bottled, distilled to each 5 gallon fermenter, O.G. 1.048. Ferment @65-70 dF. Primary only, 3 weeks. The witty ending? 15 gallons of light, tasty witbier in a couple weeks! If you like what you taste when we bring this beer to a meeting, give it a try at home! Give me a call if you want any additional info on this brew. Back to The Roost || Brew Recipes || Brews & News |
