fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 10

I've been drinking the witbier on occasion and enjoying it more and more. Either the phenolic flavors are diminishing, as I'd hoped, or I'm beginning to like the taste of bandaids! Troy tried it when he was in town and expressed hearty approval. I think it may have been his first witbier, though, so he certainly wasn't judging it in terms of the style.

When I make another wit I'll probably try a different recipe -- I'd like to end up with something closer to Hoegaarden -- but at this point I am not at all unhappy with it.

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 9

I have at last, I think, solved the mystery of the Belgian witbier flavor problem. I was talking homebrew with a co-worker the other day, describing my coriander and orange peel tea experiment, and he mentioned clove flavors. At the time I did not think that clove was a good description of the witbier weirdness, but as I was tasting another today (and liking it more, actually) with that word in mind, it did seem to have some relevance. I reread Palmer's off-flavor descriptions to find the problem that causes a clove flavor and found this:

Medicinal. These flavors are often described as medicinal, Band-Aid-Like, or spicy, like cloves. The causes are various phenols that are initially produced by the yeast.... Wild (gusher) yeasts can also produce these flavors.

Band-Aid is exactly it!

So there we have a probable cause or two. He doesn't say any more, other than that chlorophenols can result from the use of incompletely-rinsed bleach. Not an issue for me.

This page on phenols in beer offers a little more. Since I used mainly malt extract it's probably not due to leaching from the husks of overcrushed grain. Bacterial contamination is of course a possibility and I don't know how I'd rule that out. It's true that I was a little more interactive with this beer than usual. But it's this note that causes me to want to gratuitously use the word Belgium in a screenplay:

Phenols are usually part of the flavor profile in Belgians and Wheat beers, however.

Well then. That may be true, but I can say that I've had plenty of wheat beers and now a fair number of Belgians, and have found the phenolic component to be nowhere near this strong.

However, taking another look at the description of Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier is enlightening:

Produces a complex flavor profile with a spicy phenolic character and low ester production. Phenols tend to dominate other flavors and dissipate with age.

Oho! Now that I finally have a first hand grasp on the meaning of "spicy phenolic character" it all comes together! I think this is exactly what's expected, and my impression today that the beer might be improving is probably spot on. This has been a most educational brew. RTFM, man.

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 8

Finally bottled this Belgian pig. Saved the last pint for sampling, and just don't like it very much. I do think that some of the more aggressive notes have mellowed, so perhaps that will continue during bottle conditioning, but I'm pretty convinced that it's just not that good. My final forlorn hopes are that:

• the priming sugar is interfering with this tasting
  
• bottle conditioning will deliver great improvements
• carbonation is key to the success of the style
  

Time will tell. Stinkin' swine. I'm imagining all kinds of bottle labels.

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 7

Measured the gravity and tasted the Belgian witbier. Gravity is around 1.015, or about where it should be finishing. Every day or two I've been rocking the carboy, which causes a bit of additional bubbling but not much. That's a drop of only .002 in nearly two weeks, so I'm fairly sure it's done.

The flavor is still disappointing. It may have improved slightly since racking and tasting, but I'm not thrilled. It's certainly identifiable as a witbier but has a harshness that seems out of character for the style. I'll try to get it primed and bottled this weekend. Perhaps a few more weeks of conditioning and some carbonation will help.

I stopped by the Cellar to check into ways to reuse all these very nice 750 ml Belgian bottles I've accumulated. It did not look promising without using some serious corking hardware. Some web searching confirms that they right way to do this is with purpose-built corks and a beefy corker. The plastic champagne stoppers won't produce a reliably tight seal. Between buying the corks and wire cages at $.20 apiece and up, and renting a corker (not going to buy one for $80 - $120), it doesn't make much sense.

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 6

Airlock bubbling had slowed to a few times a minute and I'm just tired of having it in the primary (still krausen on top, though) so I racked the Belgian witbier to the secondary. Gravity is now at 1.017; expected final is 1.014.

Flavor is, frankly, disappointing. I am having trouble characterizing the bothersome aspects but the closest may be the green apple and cidery flavors of acetaldehyde. This is a common fermentation byproduct and it may be that this yeast strain produces a large amount, or just that the beer is too young. A solution to this, I see now that I've racked, may be to keep the beer on the yeast. Yay. Another may be to maintain a warmer temperature during conditioning. I can give that a try. Rousing the yeast can help; racking would have done that.

I have read that diacetyl production is encouraged by aeration during fermentation (which is not on its own a bad thing). That would make sense, given the prodding I've had to do while in the primary. Diacetyl may taste buttery. I don't know that it's jumping out at me, but it could also be a factor. The solutions during fermentation are the same as for acetaldehyde.

Well, I do hope this cleans up over the next week or two. It's sure not what I was hoping for.

Gah! And now my camera is going berserk too. Well, I guess it's been a good run with the old Canon A80. Must be time for an EOS-1Ds Mark III!

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 5

Well, this witbier has been educational from the get-go. Tonight, as we were watching the pounding of Duke and Memphis, Isaac off-handedly mentioned that my beer sure was a mess. Err...can you be more specific, son? Brown goo all over. Yay. And apparently it was like that this morning.

Last night after checking the gravity I rocked the fermenter several times to see whether that would knock down the krausen and to perhaps get some of the yeast off the walls. Some time during the night it apparently got very, very busy again, but this time I had an airlock on it instead of the blowoff tube. Big mistake. There was a primordial pond of thick, rich, and stinky glop on the lid. I threw away the airlock after mopping up the mess and installing a new one.

So this is twice with this beer that there hasn't been any noticeable CO2 production, I have agitated the wort, and that night it goes berserk. I wonder if this is a trait of the Wyeast 3944. The airlock is bubbling politely now, once every several seconds.

Update: The next morning it's still bubbling every 8 seconds.

Update: Every 10 to 11 seconds in the evening.

Update: Same pace after another 24 hours! I'd say that this qualified as a stalled fermentation.

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 4

Tonight I checked on the witbier to see whether it was ready for racking to the secondary fermenter. Peeping through the airlock hole I was surprised to see a healthy mound of krausen still atop the wort. I drew some from the spigot and measured the gravity at 1.025 (assuming that's a good place to get a sample). That still has a ways to go. I'll give it several more days and check again.

Flavor was pretty unpleasant. It was very cloudy, almost opaque, and I'm sure I got a mouthful of yeast and other crud from the bottom. The sweetness is about what I'd expect for that gravity. The spice notes were obvious. It looks like this is going to have a much more coppery hue than some of the pale yellow commercial witbiers I've tried. Speaking of which, I think I still have a Hoegaarden in the fridge. Not for long!

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 3

Last night I spent some time reading a very helpful sticky thread on fermentation at HomeBrewTalk. I did not realize that fermentation could take 72 hours to begin, or that sometimes completes without any noticeable airlock activity. After reading that, and many fermentation tales, I felt silly for having popped the lid and stirred. At most I should have sloshed it around for a while, but probably I didn't need to do anything.

At 4:45 this morning I heard a stentorian Glalalooplooploop from the fermentorium down the hall. I leapt out of bed, grabbed a flashlight, and inspected the primary. The sanitizer jar was bubbling merrily, lots of krausen in the blow-off tube, and every now and then there was the sort of eruption that had commanded my attention.

I'm not sure long it did this, but as of 8:00 there is again no visible activity. I'll probably take a gravity reading later.

I don't know, of course, whether my stirring prompted this, or whether it would have done it on its own at 60+ hours. There's also the possibility that the bucket lid wasn't tight, but I don't think so. I'd get movement in the blowoff tube with the slightest pressure on the lid.

In any event, this was a good experience.

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 2

Over 52 hours after pitching the yeast into the Belgian witbier there are no signs of active fermentation. Drat. All these things seem to be right:

• big fat puffy yeast smack-pack, smacked 3+ hours before pitching
• proper wort pitching temperature
• expected original gravity
• good ambient temperature (70)
• everything cleaned and sanitized
• aerated water and wort

The only thing I can think of that could be wrong is that I did not stir or otherwise agitate the fermenter after pitching the yeast. I pulled the stopper and saw that there was a nice foamy layer of krausen, but there is just no detectable CO2 production at all. Is it possible that the yeast stayed atop the wort and has set up shop in just a very thin layer, and that CO2 is being absorbed? I decided that I'd give it a good stir to see what might happen, so I boiled a long-handled stainless spoon and flailed it around in the bucket for a bit. Now I suppose there's an increased chance of infection, but it's all moot without fermentation.

If nothing has happened by tomorrow afternoon then I guess I'll pick up another pack of the Wyeast Belgian wit and pitch again. How annoying.

fourth brew (Belgian witbier), part 1

Belgian witbier (white beer) is a spicy, tart wheat beer hazy with suspended proteins from unmalted wheat. It is flavored with coriander seed and sweet orange rind. It's a good summer beer and in a fit of optimism, considering the extremely crappy spasticity of our weather lately, I figured I'd brew some now in anticipation of future warmth. Right!

I've tasted only a few but have generally enjoyed witbiers. In bottles I like the New Belgium Mothership Wit quite a bit. I've had the very different Hoegaarden witbier on draft and find it pretty tasty, too. I've been less impressed with Blue Moon but have had it only a couple of times, both draft and bottled. I would like to track down Celis White, which is made by the creator of Hoegaarden wit.

There is an interesting witbier presentation at http://www.winnipegbrewbombers.ca/Education/Witbier%20presentation.htm and an article wtih some history at http://www.byo.com/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/1678-witbier-style-of-the-month. As a style, witbier almost disappeared until Pierre Celis resurrected it in 1966.

I selected the recipe available at The Cellar, and online at http://beerrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/06/belgain-witbier.html. I already had coriander seed. They had no Belgian pilsner malt so I had to choose between a Belgian pale and a German pilsner. I went with the pale, thinking I'd be geopolitically correct, but in hindsight it probably would have made more sense to use the pilsner. The Hallertau hops were in both pellet and leaf form. I went with leaves mainly because I haven't used them before. The only other choice was between the Munton's dry ale yeast and the Wyeast Belgian Wit liquid yeast...no brainer there. Complete ingredients:

• 4 pounds dry wheat malt extract
• 1 pound extra light dry malt extract
• 1 pound unmalted wheat
• 1/2 pound flaked oats
• 1/2 pound Belgian pilsner malt (subbed Belgian pale 6L)
• 2 ounces Hallertaur hops (these were at 3.6% AA)
• 1/2 ounce sweet orange peel
• 1/2 ounce ground coriander seed
• Wyeast Labs 3944 Belgian Wit liquid yeast
  

I put all grains into their own bags. This is wheat on the left and malted barley on the right.

They went into 2.5 gallons of water as it heated to about 195 degrees in 30 minutes or so. The water became slightly cloudy wort within a few minutes.

It came off the heat and steeped for another 10 minutes. I rinsed the bags into the kettle with a quart of hot water.

The gravity of the wort at this point was about 0.995 at 150 degrees F. Using the correction formula that should be adjusted by 0.0187, giving 1.014 as the post-steeping gravity.

The spent oats was pretty much a glob of porridge. The spent wheat tasted pretty much like wheat.

All the dry malt was stirred in while off the heat. This produced ample foam, but by using the same technique one uses for adding polenta to boiling water I avoided clumping. Kettle went back on the heat and the foam eventually dissipated without any real danger of a boilover.

About 45 minutes later the kettle was at vigorous boil so I added the hops in a hop bag. The leaf hops smell fantastic when their vacuum-sealed bag is opened!

The bag really wanted to float, so I agitated it periodically throughout the hour-long boil, making sure that both sides were down and that there was some water exchange within the bag.

I see from Palmer that there are two types of German Hallertau hop (Hersbrucker and Mittelfrüh), and also that domestic Crystal hops are known as CJF-Hallertau. The bag didn't offer further identification so I don't know what they are, specifically. This Cellar page says they are grown in Washington, though.

After an hour the kettle came off the heat and I threw in the bag containing the orange peel and the coriander to steep, covered, for 20 minutes. The coriander seed is the large, oblong, Indian type. I've read that the smaller, round type is less desirable, but that's what they appeared to have at the brew shop. I ground the seed in the usual spice grinder, which was clean but had a distinct cumin scent. I don't think that will be a problem. I actually read somewhere that cumin is the "secret" spice in Hoegaarden.

The recipe calls for sweet orange peel, but from what I've read it's bitter (Curacao) orange that is more commonly used. This bag wasn't labeled as sweet or bitter so I don't really know what it is.

The hop and spice bags were then rinsed with 2.5 gallons of cold water into the fermenter. At this point I began thinking about this recipe's approach to wort cooling and did not like it. The wort, at the current temperature (still at about 180 degrees F in this case), is supposed to be poured into the fermenter, and then left to cool to 80 so the yeast can be pitched. I was suspicious of how long this might leave the wort at an undesirably warm temperature, so I instead placed the kettle in the sink with water and cold packs for a little bit, dropping it quickly to under 100 degrees. Adding this to the 50 degree water (distilled) gave me a temperature of about 78. I did some quick online searching for this calculation but didn't find one. I'll need to dig up an old physics text.

I poured back and forth several times to aerate. At this point I noticed that the seal on the spigot wasn't seated properly. Grrr. Had to empty the fermenter into the kettle and a couple of the gallon water jugs in order to fix that. This is a good thing to double-check in the future.

Pitched the yeast at about 77 degrees and plumbed a blowoff hose. The Cellar didn't have a large one, so I'm using a segment of 5/16 siphon hose. I doubt this will be necessary, considering the gravity of only 1.052.

The flavor of the wort is only faintly hoppy, as would be expected. An orange note is detectable but not assertive. The sweetness at this point pretty much dominates.

As for color, it seems awfully dark. It doesn't look like it's the result of the specialty grains (the pale instead of Pilsner, in particular) based on the color of the wort after steeping. Hmm.

After nine hours, nothing from the blowoff tube yet.

Update: After 17 hours, still nothing. I'm surprised. The wort is at 70 degrees now. I realize that I didn't shake the fermenter after pitching the yeast, so it may not have been well-distributed, but I'm sure it was well-aerated.

Also, I took a closer look at the online version of the recipe and saw that it has some differences from the printed sheet at The Cellar. It actually calls for 4 ounces total of boiling hops, and specifies a total of 17.5 AAU. That would produce a pretty different beer, I suspect, than the 7.2 AAU I used. That's annoying.