In the Fermenter: My Wit's End

Since warm weather is almost here and my Pils won't be ready until late June, I decided a few weeks back to whip up one of my other favorite warm weather beers: Belgian Wit.

While I could just try and clone a commercial Wit and call it a day, I've decided to get experimental. First off, my local homebrew store was out of Unmalted Wheat, so I switched over to US White Wheat out of necessity. Also, I had a bunch of dried sweet orange peel from the grocery store in my cabinet. I decided to save some cash and use it instead of the usual bitter peel. Finally, I had yeast cultured from my Abbey Blonde in the fridge. I've been pleased with the spiciness it produces, so I ran with it rather than buying a liquid Wit strain. When all is said and done, I probably won't have a true traditional Wit. What I will have is a nice Summer beer.

Here's the five gallon recipe:

Grains:
4 lbs Castle Pilsen
4 lbs Rahr White Wheat
8 oz Flaked Oats

Hops:
1 oz Styrian Bobek (3.9% a.a.): 60 min
1 oz Styrian Bobek (3.9% a.a.): 7 min

Extras:
1 oz Crushed Coriander Seed: 10 min
1 oz Dried Sweet Orange Peel: 10 min

Total Boil Time:
90 min

Yeast:
Safbrew T-58

Mash Schedule:
Protein Rest: 124F for 20 min
Saccharification Rest: 149F for 60 min
Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes

Original Gravity:
1.051
Estimated Final Gravity:
1.012

IBU: 16
SRM Color: 3

Fermentation Schedule:
2 Weeks Primary
2 Weeks Secondary
2 Weeks Bottle Conditioning

Cost: $14 per case
Commercial Equivalent: Blue Moon Belgian White: $32
Savings: $18

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