So a little looking around and we found out that a Belgian Wit is much different than we thought. We had been inspired by New Belgian’s Organic Wit and though that all the tart and spicy was a product of the yeast. Well, only partially. Organic Wit is an awesome beer, but a smarter pair of brewers would have actually read the bottle. On the bottle it says it’s brewed with spices. Duh. We were still inspired and not deterred. Time for a brew session.
We started with yet another brewing classic styles recipe. This was going to be fun. Ingredients we had not used before and a mash that called for 2 stops. The first at 122 degrees and the second at 154. In addition to pilsner malt, wheat flakes and flaked oats, it called for coriander and orange zest. We added some lemon zest on top of the orange and the wort tasted great. A pitch of yeast (WLP 400) from a starter grown up from the last wit attempt, worked very well so far, with both carboys staring to ferment after 24 hours. We have read that the WLP 400 might take a little while to ferment out but it is the correct yeast for the job.
One of the smoothest brew days yet we hope will lead to a wonderful Indian Summer beer in the next few weeks. We shall see.
We are also excited to try some of the beers that we did last year and see if we can brew them better, a second or third time around.
till next time, cheers.
Los Angeles Brewers 