22/5/2014 Brewing Belgian Beers (#7): White beers

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Brewing Belgian Beers (#7): Whitebeers

Description

Suggested guidelines: 1.044-1.055, 4.5-5.5% ABV, 15-22 IBU, 2-4SRM. Golden yellow, cloudy when chilled. Coriander flavor and mildacidity essential. Wheat and bitter orange peel flavors desirable. Mildhop flavor and aroma ok. Low to medium bitterness. Low to mediumbody, medium or higher carbonation. No diacetyl. Low to medium esters.

White beers feature a hazy yellow color, a rich white head, and a flavor thathighlights coriander blended with wheat and malted barley. Aromas tend to berelatively neutral or even a bit orangey due to the coriander. Mild hop aromas areok, but should have the floral character of Goldings rather than the bite of varietieslike Saaz. Body should be medium or a bit lighter, and the carbonation should bereasonably agressive. Hop bitterness should be low, but a mild acidity is essentialand contributes to the beer's quenching powers. There should be no alchoholflavor, but esters are ok at low levels. These beers should always be verydrinkable, and personally I prefer mine with lots of coriander.

Brewing Method

Extract brewers are going to have a hard time getting the traditional yellow colorand won't be able to add oats (which require mashing). However, if you use 50percent wheat and 50 percent barley extracts and follow the guidelines below youshould still have a very distinctive and satisfying beer.

All grain brewers have an interesting adventure ahead of them. White beers areusually made of 50 percent malted barley and 50 percent raw, unmalted wheat,although a small percentage of oats (5-10%) can be used to add some silkiness.Expect to get the same yield from all three grains, and therefore draw up your grainbill based on weight.

Unmalted wheat is available in health food stores and food coops, and often calledwheat berries. There is debate whether soft white or hard red varieties arepreferable, but both seem to work. One thing is indisputable: the stuff is anightmare to grind by hand, rather like running little rubber bullets through yourCorona. Find someone with a flour mill or a mechanized grinder to help you out.

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The fineness of the grind doesn't seem to be critical, and I grind my wheat ratherfine. Rolled oats work fine if you want to use oats at all.

Museums use wheat starch as a glue, and once you mash in you'll see why. Startwith a loose mash using two quarts of water per pound, and plan on using anextended protein rest (45 mins-1 hour) at anything between 117 and 126 degreesfarenheit. This is how the Belgians do it, and you'll be amazed at how theproteolytic enzymes work a mess of wallpaper paste into a light, workable mash.Never has the miracle of mashing been better demonstrated.

The white beer protein rest offers a tradeoff. If you run the rest longer (1 hour)you'll get an easily spargeable mash, but the final beer may be clearer and lesscolorful than you want beer; rests of 45 minutes or less give wonderful color, butcan be sticky to lauter. Personally I use 45 minutes and watch the lauter tuncarefully. If you're willing to sacrifice some authenticity, you can substitute severalpounds of malted wheat for a portion of the unmalted variety.

Following the protein rests, raise the mash to your favorite saccrificationtemperature via heat or hot-water infusion. After saccrification mash out at 170 andsparge as usual and bring the runoff to a boil.

Belgians tend to use "classic" hop varieties such as Hallertau, Saaz, and East Kentor Styrian Goldings, but since your hop levels will be low anyway there's plenty ofroom for flexibility. For your first white beer you may want to try Styrian or EastKent Goldings, or maybe some nice Hallertau plugs. I use an ounce of the latter fora 1-hour boil, and throw in another half ounce to boil for fifteen minutes, aiming fora total of 16-18 IBU.

You'll also need bitter orange peels and ground coriander. Bitter orange isn't verybitter and doesn't give much orange flavor: what it does give is a pleasant herbalflavor, not unlike that of chamomile tea. (Try boiling a peel and chilling the liquidovernight to get an idea of the taste.) Use bitter orange at a rate of about 0.5 gramsper liter of finished beer (about 1/3 ounce for a 5 gallon batch), and boil the peelsfor about 20 minutes.

Find whole coriander seeds in an ethnic market and grind them finely. (Powderedcoriander also works.) Start with 1-1.5 grams per liter, or about 1 ounce per 5gallons. Boil it for five minutes, or add to the pot after you've turned off the heat.Then you're ready to chill and ferment.

Almost any yeast seems to work, ranging from neutral American ale yeasts toGerman wheat beer strains to the more adventurous Belgians cultures. Creativitycounts for a lot, so if you have an interesting idea, give it a try. Keep in mind that

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the yeast should complement the other flavors, not dominate them. White beerfermentations don't require any unusual attention, although some of the commercialwhite beer yeasts get a bit sluggish when fermentation temperatures drop below 65degrees.

Mild acidity is a classic feature of a good white beer. The brave can attempt alactic fermentation, but there's an easy shortcut: add a very small quantity of 88%lactic acid to your beer at bottling time. Amounts between 5 and 15 milliliters per5 gallons work well. Be aware that the acid will need some time to blend with tehother flavors. This usually takes 1-2 months.

Commercial examples

Celis White (4.7% ABV, 50% raw wheat, 50% malted barley), Riva Blanche (5%ABV, sold as Dentergems in Belgium), Blanche de Bruges, Blanche des Neiges

Recipes

Rick Garvin's Cherry Blossom Wit (all grain for 5gallons)

RGARVIN@BTG.COMRick says: "The cherry tree was blooming when I made this and the wind keptblowing cherry petals into the boiler."

4.0 lbs Pilsner malt (50%)3.6 lbs Unmalted wheat (45%)0.4 lbs Rolled oats (5%)

0.89 oz Styrian goldings (6.2%) boiled for 60 minutes0.36 oz Saaz (3.2%) boiled for 5 minutes14.5 grams Bitter orange peel boiled for 20 minutes (0.75 grams/liter)35 grams ground coriander boiled for 5 minutes (1.8 grams/liter)

Ferment using Wyeast White (#3944)

Dough in at 117F. 20-minute rests at 117F and 122F. 60 minute rest at 146F. Mashout to 160F. Boil 30 minutes before adding the first hop addition. Hint: do notpuree the bitter orange in a blender with water. It will sink to the bottom of theboiler and scorch.

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[Phil's notes: A superb recipe, particulary for people like me who LOVEcoriander. If you want something a bit more sedate you might want to cut thecoriander by 1/3]

Todd Enders' Witbier (all grain for 5 gallons)

ENDERS@PLAINS.NODAK.EDU

4.0 lbs Belgian pils malt4.0 lbs raw soft red winter wheat0.5 lbs rolled oats

0.75 oz coriander, freshly groundZest from two table oranges and two lemons1.0 oz 3.1% AA Saaz3/4 corn sugar for priming

Hoegaarden strain yeast

Mash in: 12 qt. at 124FProtein rest: 15 mins. each at 124, 128, and 132Saccrification: 30 minutes at 161FMash out: 10 minutes at 170F

Sparge with 5.5 gallons at 168-170 (may be pH adjusted to 5.5)

Boil: 90 minutesHops: 1 addition, 30 minutes from the end of the boilCoriander: 1 addition, 15 minutes from end of the boilPeels: 1 addition, 10 minutes from end of boil

OG: 1.046

Lactic acid can be added at bottling if desired. Use 10-20 ml of 88% lactic acid, orto taste.

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