Simply Beer » Wit

What to do in a Blizzard? Make Snow Beer!

Simply Beer — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:00:57 +0000

Yes, you read that right. 2 weeks ago we had a blizzard here in the north east which got me thinking; “Had anyone made beer from snow?” With no positive responses, I decided, what the hell lets give this a whirl. After a quick ph test, I found the snow and my normal brewing water was the same ph, so I gave it a shot.

Let me avoid the jokes right off the bat, I only used the snow that my dogs had peed on and I had written my name in!

Ok, with that said, since this was a spur of the moment brewing session I grabbed the first recipe I had the ingredients for, a Belgian Wit. Even though I had all the ingredients I wasn’t sure what kind of yeast to use since I didn’t have time to make a starter, but we’ll get to that later.

So, one of the “obvious” things I learned with this brew; it takes a lot of snow to make the water for this 5 gallon batch, about 35 gallons of snow. It also takes a long time to melt the snow, which turned this brew day into a long one. Not only did it make a long day, but I also needed to strain and filter the water to get out any particulates that may have been in there.

The Grist

A small grain bill for this beer.

3.5 lbs Pale Wheat
3.5 lbs Pilsner
1 lbs Flaked Oats

The Mash

Like the grist, the mash was straight forward, 152° for 60 minutes with 1.25 quarts of water per pound. Then a 170° fly sparge for 60 minutes.

The Boil

2 oz French Strisselspalt @60 minutes (2.0%)
1 oz Bitter Orange @10 minutes
1 oz Coriander Seed @10 minutes
1 tsp yeast nutrient @10 minutes

After the 60 minute boil and the wort cooling, I still hadn’t decided on yeast. I had Belgian Wit yeast and Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. I decided to go with the Brett since I didn’t know what off flavors the snow would lend to the beer and I figured a sour funky beer could cover that up.

It is still under going active fermentation after 2 weeks and the krausen has just begun to fall.

Stay tuned for more updates.

What to do in a Blizzard? Make Snow Beer! is a post from: Simply Beer

Beer Review: New Belgium Mothership Wit

Simply Beer — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:08:48 +0000

My Biggest issue with New Belgium is they don’t distribute to New Jersey. In order to get New Belgium beer (and others), I trade yeast samples with a beer buddy in California. In my last trade I got a New Belgium Mothership Wit along with some other beers that I’ll be reviewing later.

New Belgium Mothership Wit

Appearance:

Poured a billowy white head that sits nicely on top of a hazy straw colored brew. The head dissipated pretty quickly to a thin white collar.

Aroma:

A nice mix of orange, coriander, and a bit of clove with underlying banana. It has a very appealing aroma, while definitely a wit had some aroma characteristics of a hefe-weizen. I guess the best way to describe it would be a fruit salad of sorts.

Taste:

I was looking for a heavier mouthfeel with this beer, but it really was a nice balance of flavors that matched a thinner mouthfeel. A very refreshing summer beer, the coriander and orange were held in check allowing the wheat malt character to have a place in the beer and finished nicely with a spice bitter orange flavor. The taste did not disappoint!

Overall Impression:

This is a beer you drink on a hot day to refresh yourself. A session beer at 4.5% abv, I could drink this all day (if they sold this in Jersey!!!!) Well balanced a great example of a wit.

Food Pairing:

This would be nice with a spicy shrimp salad or classic hummus. You’d want to play off the zesty orange in this beer.

Calories: With an ABV of 4.8%, this beer has about 175 calories

Glassware: Open Snifter(see picture), or Pilsner

Simply Beer Rating: 92

Beer Review: New Belgium Mothership Wit is a post from: Simply Beer

Homebrew Recipe: Belgian Honey Wit (Extract)

Simply Beer — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:41:05 +0000

The Wit or Witbier is a classic summer time ale, great session beer with hints of coriander and orange. I wanted to take that a step further and I added japanese bamboo honey to the recipe.

“Japanese knotweed flowers are valued by some beekeepers as an important source of nectar for honeybees, at a time of year when little else is flowering. Japanese knotweed yields a monofloral honey, usually called bamboo honey by northeastern U.S. beekeepers, like a mild-flavored version of buckwheat honey. This honey is a very dark honey and also has a pleasant sweet taste to it.” *

Amount	Item	Type % or IBU
6.00 lb	Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract	92.31%
0.50 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain	7.69%
1.0 oz	Liberty [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops	13.6 IBU
1.0 oz	Hallertau Select [1.50 %] (5 min) Hops	0.9 IBU
0.50 oz	Coriander Seed (Boil 10.0 min)
0.75 oz	Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min)
0.5 lbs	Japanese Bamboo Honey (Boil 0.0 min)
1pkg	Wyeast Belgian Wit #3944

Schedule:

Steep grains at 155° for 30 minutes
bring to boil while adding LME
60 minutes add 1oz Liberty Hops
10 minutes add Orange & Corriander
5 minutes add Hallertau Select Hops
Flameout (o minutes) add honey
combine wort and water in sanitized container to make 5 gallons
cool to 70-75°
take Hydrometer reading (expected OG 1.052)
add yeast

Primary 10-14 days

Secondary 20 days

Prime & Bottle or Keg for another 3-4 weeks

Drink and Enjoy!

* (source ebeehoney.com)

Homebrew Recipe: Belgian Honey Wit (Extract) is a post from: Simply Beer

Beer Brawl 14 – Mikkeller

Simply Beer — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:28:00 +0000

This week we switched things up a bit and focused on a Brewer rather then a particular style of beer. For this Beer Brawl, we choose to focus on Mikkeller beers. Mikkel Borg Bjergsø is a ‘gipsy-brewer’, who brews at different breweries in Denmark, Norway, Germany and the United States. Each beer that is made is unique and may only be a one time limited release.

With me on this podcast were Mark Jackson, Will Hogan, and Corey Greenberg. The only prerequisite I have for these Beer Brawls is a love of beer. You don’t need to know anything about the beers we are drinking only a willingness to try them and voice an opinion.

As usual we have a podcast of The Beer Brawl:

Podcast

or download from iTunes

On Tap Tonight:

Mikkeller Not Just another Wit
Mikkeller Stateside IPA
Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast
Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch

What a good hour of drinking! The Wit and two stouts were amazing beers. The Wit was probably one of the best I’ve had. The Stateside IPA was just an average IPA, kind of lost between an English and American IPA. The Beer Geek Breakfast and the Beer Geek Brunch were two amazing Stouts! Both had an extreme amount of coffee, great aroma and flavor.

Download the podcast and listen to all the details about these craft brews stacked up against each other.

Next week will be Hefe-Weizen.

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Beer Brawl 14 – Mikkeller is a post from: Simply Beer