Belgian White question?

I have the items to make a belgian white, When I went to the home brew store they gave me Bitter orange peel and said to use it. the Original recipe did not call for it but I figured he new what he was talking about. They also said to use 6lbs of Liquid wheat extract vs the recipe 3 liquid and 2 dry.

First question when do I put the orange peels in, The rcipe says to add the cascade hops in the secondary so that is when I was going to do add the peels am I correct?

Second will the adjustments made with the extract cause any probablems?

Thanks for the help.

Here is the recipe

31/3 lbs wheat malt extract
2 lbs dry wheat extract
1/4 whole-wheat flower
2 tsp coriander seeds
11/2 ounce Hallertauer hops
11/2 Cascade hops (dry)
1 pkg Belgian white beer yeast

Here is what the HBS changed it to.

6lbs what malt extract
1/4 lbs whole wheat flour
2 TSP (.5oz) coriander seeds
1 oz Hallertau 6% alpha
1oz Cascade 6.2% alpha
Forbidden fruit yeast #3463
bitter orange peel .5oz

There’s really no " right or wrong " answers here. If you like the flavor of orange infused in your beer, go ahead and use the it. I’d personally put it in with 5 minutes left in the boil so it’s sanitized. If you’d rather use it in “secondary”, put it in a little boiling water first then allow it to cool before you put it in. You can put unsanitized hops in a secondary (called dry hopping) because they have a natural anti bacterial quality. Orange peal doesn’t.
As for the malt extracts, neither choice will cause you problems; you’ll just get a different flavor. Generally liquid malt extract has a little better flavor assuming it’s fresh. Todays dry extracts are decent as well, but if it’s an all extract batch you probably will want to use the best extract possible. Make sure it’s fresh and from a reputable source.
Either way keep your fermenting wort in a stable temperature controlled environment that keeps the wort in the middle of the temperature range recommended for you yeast strain and you’ll make as much if not more flavor impact than dry vs. liquid malt extract anyway. Remember, people make wort, yeast make beer! Keep your yeast happy and they’ll return the favor!

In Belgian beers the orange peel is used primarily for its bittering properties, not to get an orange flavor. You want to have it in for the full boil. That said, I’ve never made one…

Great the HBS owner said the Peel would balance everything. This is the first time I have ever used so I will give it a shot and see how it tursn out. Thanks for the advice, brew day for this beer should be Mon night crazy busy this weekend.

The Belgian White recipe that I have brewed calls for the bitter orange peel 1 minute before flame out at end of boil. Hope this helps.

If you put orange peel in for the full boil you will have done nothing but added sludge to your beer; the flavors will long have floated off with steam and the peel will break down to a lifeless pulp. If you’ve never done it why would you offer advice? Orange peel is NOT hops!

I add coriander and orange peel to my Wits with 5 minutes left in the boil. I tried adding some after fermentation was done to try to get some aroma, but it didn’t really work. I’m not sure about dry-hopping a wit, but that’s up to you.

You don’t really need a secondary for a wit, as they’re supposed to be cloudy. Of course, Forbidden Fruit drops out on me as it ages and some of my wits have ended up crystal clear :roll: Flour in the boil has helped, though.

[quote=“BrewingRover”]I add coriander and orange peel to my Wits with 5 minutes left in the boil. I tried adding some after fermentation was done to try to get some aroma, but it didn’t really work. I’m not sure about dry-hopping a wit, but that’s up to you.

You don’t really need a secondary for a wit, as they’re supposed to be cloudy. Of course, Forbidden Fruit drops out on me as it ages and some of my wits have ended up crystal clear :roll: Flour in the boil has helped, though.[/quote]

How much flour did you use? When did you add it? I’ve had the same issue with my weizens. The cloudy styles can be a challenge for us keggers…

[quote=“Demus”]

How much flour did you use? When did you add it? I’ve had the same issue with my weizens. The cloudy styles can be a challenge for us keggers…[/quote]
Last batch I added about a tablespoon right at the beginning of the boil. It’s still nice and cloudy and it’s been about 2 months since I bottled it.

It’s probably less traditional, but I’ve made some very tasty wits with fresh orange zest in place of the dried peel.

Many Belgian beers that traditionally have that orange flavor have no actual orange in them at all. That is something that many American brewers do to enhance the orange flavor. Historically speaking I believe it was the yeast that were responsible for the contributions of the orange flavor in the beer. However, because many of us also don’t follow the the fermentation profile of the Belgian brewers, our beers don’t seem to have that same orange ‘kick’ as theirs do.

Personally I’m in the camp of not adding any orange to my Belgians Wits. I allow mine to ferment much warmer than any of my other beers and they have all come out quite nicely (though, with, as you would expect, a lot more fruity esters from the higher temps during fermentation, go figure orange eh?).

Though as in all things brewing, it is your beer, try it a few ways and make it whatever way YOU enjoy drinking it :slight_smile:

Thanks for all te advice I like to hear how others do things. The recipe calls for a 1/4 lb whole wheat flour I wondered why after reading the posts it must be to keep the cloudy look of a whit. I don’t have a scale so I am gong to have to eye ball this one.

Yes.

Whenever I brew a Wit, I add 1 oz of orange peel and 1 oz of coriander with 10 minutes left in the boil. I don’t secondary it. I’ve not yet had an issue.

Coriander will add a nice orange/citrus flavor. I only use 1/2oz because I think 1oz can be overpowering, but that’s just my opinion. I have also used both dried orange peel and orange zest and had decent results with both. I prefer to use fresh orange zest just because I will always use a fresh ingredient over a dried one. But both will work. One thing I’ve started doing with anything I want to stay cloudy (weizens, wits, etc) is add some flaked wheat to the mash. I’ve used as little as 1lb and as much as 50% of the grist (Belgian Wit with 50%Wheat malt and 50% flaked wheat, came out great). Flaked wheat will cloud-up a beer up that won’t drop out. It also adds more of that ‘wheat’ flavor you may want, that you just can’t get from wheat malt and wheat extract. And you don’t have to worry about cereal mashing or anything else with flaked wheat. Doesn’t even get crushed. Just toss it right in the mash with the rest of your crushed grains.

I like to do both, using fresh orange zest and dried bitter orange peel. That said, I’ve accidentally forgotten the bitter peel before and ended up with a tasty brew.