Christy's Witbier

Ok - so I may or may not be getting a puppy tomorrow. This of course changes my plans of brewing at 6:30am - now I must drink some coffee porters and brew through the night. Here we go:

Small 4 gallon batch:

3 lb Wheat
3 lb 2 row
.25 lb Carapils
.13lb rolled oats
.5 lb honey
.75 oz Tettnanger at 60 minutes
orange peel & corriander @ 5 minutes
Belgian Wheat yeast 3942


And there it is. Should be a nice, drinkable wheat beer.

According to my beer software I'm looking at around 5.1 SRM - so it will be the lightest beer I've made yet. Also it's IBU's are clocking in at a modest 17.5 - also a low for me. I have read that late additions to wheat beers are pretty much useless as the yeast flavor takes over. I'm not going to dry hop this thing here.

The honey addition was something I added to my last hefeweizen. I liked the boost in gravity - and I guess technically that makes it a "braggot" (beer and mead mix). Oh well - it will taste good either way.

I added a small amount of oatmeal to enrich the mouthfeel.

And finally my last straying from the Bavarian purity act, the peel and spices - well they just add a nice touch. Additions of spices, called "gruit" in Europe, were traditionally added to beers instead of hops. Eventually some dick ruler started taxing these spices and boom: people started using the flowers of a rapidly growing vine called "hops".

Another factor that caused gruit to be no longer utilized is the presence of psychoactive and poisonous herbs that were frequently added into the gruit. When Protestant Puritans saw the often aphrodisiac effects of the gruit in the beer, some guy was probably like: "hey, we should add hops to beer so we don't trip balls like those hippie Calthoics". Hops being a sedative preserved their inhibitions slightly more and they didn't trip balls.

Hops also acted as a preservative and they taste awesome.

Not bad fermentation activity for only 6 hours in and no yeast starter. Also a nice light color.

After some further research I have decided that (according to BJCP standards) this beer will be a Belgian Wit. The Belgians were the Dogfish Head of Europe.While the Germans were only brewing with 4 ingredients (only 3 that they knew of) - the Belgians were adding sugar, fruit, spices, sour beer - anything that wouldn't make 'em go blind. The wit beer at one time was a sour beer and typically has fruity, citrus, and bubblegum flavors. It's typical grain bill is around 50/50 barley to wheat and it is hopped with the noble variety (crystal was bred as the "American Hallertauer" - so that is why I chose it). Although a very popular beer at one time in Europe - it became extinct after lagers gained popularity in Europe during the 19th century. Hoegaarden Brewing eventually started brewing Witbier again in the 1960's but only in the past few decades has the style gained popularity here in the states.