Our latest brew was a Belgian Wit, and I really feel like we're beginning to come into our own. We researched recipes online to see what we wanted to get at the home brew store. The end goal, which I really don't know how to do, was to get a beer like a Hoegaarden or a Blanche de Bruxelles. Those beers are so light and almost golden, we've never gotten a color close to it. We brewed 2 wits before this one, and while they tasted pretty good, they didn't have the color or were as orangy flavorful as those Belgian beers. The ones we brewed before were recipes from the brew store, and the latest one was different.
The recipe we used was the one on this website http://www.brew-dudes.com/belgian-white-ale-recipe/248. We didn't measure the malt ourselves, and once we got it into the mash tun I really felt like it wasn't enough. We also went to a different brew store, so I'm afraid they may have measured the weight of the malt incorrectly. They also didn't have liquid yeast, so we had to re-hydrate dried yeast (some sources say this is not preferable).
All in all we brewed the recipe, added the hops, crushed the coriander, etc. We substituted powdered ginger instead of fresh. The initial gravity was low (I don't remember the number now, but I'll add it in when I can look it up). Added the yeast. At 4:45 AM the next morning, I was awoken to a spurting sound. Granted, we've had blowouts before, but never this early after brewing. The beer was spraying out the top of the air lock. We traded out the air lock with a tube and bucket of water to keep it under control.
The fermentation quit after a couple of days, which leads me to believe there wasn't enough sugar from the malt and the yeast quit eating. But it could also be the different yeast. We'll have to see. The plan is to bottle this week, which will be day 7 of fermenting. That's shorter than usual, we usually give it 2 weeks. When it's done it's done!
We'll see how this one goes. There will definitely be an update! And next up: a 90 minute IPA! Dogfish Head Style. I love me some hops!
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