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Blue Monday witbier

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akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
A shameless Blue Moon knockoff...

5 gallon batch
3/4 lb White wheat malt
1/2 lb American 2-row
1/2 lb Flaked wheat
2 oz Belgian aromatic malt
4 lb dry light extract
1 lb dry wheat extract
1/2 oz Tettnanger (4.0%) 60 min
3/4 oz Tettnanger 15 min
1/4 oz bitter orange peel 15 min
3/4 tsp coriander seeds (crushed) 15 min
3/4 oz Saaz (4.4%) 5 min
1/2 oz bitter peel 5 min
3/4 tsp coriander 5 min
1/4 lb orange blossom honey 0 min
Belgian Wit Ale yeast (Whitelabs WLP400)

First attempt at a partial mash. Added grains to 1.5 qts of 165ºF water. Clumsily attempted to keep constant temperature (aimed for 155ºF) with the oven. Mostly fell short in that regard, so mashed for something like 90 mins. Wort ran sweet, so I figured I was ok. 2 lbs of the DME were held out until 15 mins left in the boil--to keep the color down as much as possible. I did a partial boil, boiling 4 gallons.

OG was 1.051. Pitched at 4pm, first bubbles started appearing just before 10. I did "start" the yeast out in a cup of boiled water plus 2 tbsp DME at around 11:30am, so it had a few hours head start on that.

The temperature in the apt is in the low-mid 60s, so that should be darn near perfect for this beer, I think. Will update with results.
 
It's been nearly 2 weeks now and it still seems to be chugging along, albeit slowly now. First reached 4 bpm yesterday, and the krausen-y foam is still there at about 1/3 of its peak. Is it too cold? The temps have been steadily 64-66 F this whole time. It started up rather quickly and reached high krausen (almost 3" tall!) in about a day.

I guess I'll just keep waiting. Usually my beers are quite calm by the one week mark. On the plus side, I have had the time to prepare 50 shiny de-labeled bottles.
 
Activity is down to ~2 bpm today. SG=1.014. I don't think it's going to drop any further, so I'll probably bottle. The foam is now just a thin layer of bubbles & yeasties, some of which got disturbed and fell to the bottom when I moved it to the kitchen. I'm a little disappointed that the flavor is just wheat at this point. There is orange and spice in the aroma and a tiny hint of spice at the finish. I think it will be much better carbonated, but this is the least interesting flat beer I've made so far. Final judgement will be reserved for December or so.
 
This beer turned out pretty well. I wish there was more orange flavor (I'm told this actually comes from the coriander?) and maybe a tad more hops bitterness. Otherwise it's nice, with a thin but lasting head. Easy drinking! Hmm, maybe I'll have one tonight... :drunken_smilie:
 
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