Wit beer (By Brad Smith)

Hey .

Gonna brew the Wit recipe included in the Download packs.. It's looks quite simple and I see it's received some nice reviews..

Curious though:

Do I need to crush the Coriander and Bitter Orange Peel? I have a Barley Crusher..

I've never brewed with Spices before..

Yes on the Coriander and No on the orange peel. Quick question: Have you already purchased the coriander and orange peel?

If the Coriander is from the grocery store it is most likely to old and I would use a Pinch more than the recipe requires. If its from the HBS or an organic market it should be fine. Be carefull with it. Powerfull stuff!

The Bitter Orange Peel, personally I would stay away from it. I got the following tip from Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing. Go to any grocery store that has organic produce and and find some Seville orange (or bigarade) note: these are not always available. As an alternate get two organic oranges and one organic Grapefruit and grate the skin off of them leaving the white flesh underneath alone. This will give you all the flavor you want and none of the unwanted tartness from the flesh of the fruit. He also states that Seville orange (or bigarade) can be substituted by whole cumquat's.

Add them in the last 15 min of the boil

Cheers

Preston

Hi,
  I run my whole coriander seeds through the grain mill on its normal setting to just crack them and not crush them.

  You don't need to do anything with the bitter orange peel.  I put both in the last 5 minutes of the boil to just give it a subtle flavor.  If you want a stronger spice you can boil it longer.

Cheers,
Brad

Wastegate said:

Quick question: Have you already purchased the coriander and orange peel?

Click to expand...

Yes - My Wife already has Coriander in the house
No - Have not purchased the Orange peel yet.. I was planning to pick up the recipe ingredients from my LHBS tomorrow afternoon. I was assuming they would have the Bitter Orange Peel as they haven't disappointed me yet.

Thanks for the Orange advice.. I'll give it some thought and decide if I want to use the Bitter stuff or the organic fresh fruit.

Try the fresh, you wont be disappointed.

I am making a third batch next weekend for SWMBO (She loves the stuff). I add 1# of honey to secondary which lightens the flavors and mellows the beer very nicely. Was actually thinking of making a double batch and adding Belgian Candi sugar to one and Honey to the other this time as an experiment and compare the flavor difference.

I also used fresh zest from several types of oranges & tangerines and one lemon and one grapefruit, with some coriander and other spices in the background, all added at 1 to 2 minutes so as not to burn them off.  The interesting thing was how strong the citrus zest was at first, dominating the spices.  Over time the zest faded and the spicing came forward.  It took a 3rd at two months old and again at four months, as very different beers. 

Heya, I brewed the Wit Beer recipe from the recipe packs a couple months back. It turned out to be my wifes absolute favorite. I made only a 3gal batch and I think she has drank every one almost. She is already bugging me to make more

its a great and simple recipe.

That's great... I actually Brewed 5 gals of it and bottled it.. I think the 2 cases lasted 1.5 weeks... I'm carbing up the next batch right now in a Keg. I assume it will be downed pretty quickly as well... It is really a nice Wit recipe.. so glad I did it..

Next year when summer rolls around, I will try the fresh fruit suggestions above..

Yes,
  I brewed a batch of Wit myself last weekend - its bubbling away now.  It is a favorite with the guests.

Brad