Chamomile in the keg for a witbier

[rustyhoover]

I have a fairly standard witbier (pale malt, flaked wheat, some flaked oats, WLP400) I 'm kegging tonight and I’m considering adding chamomile in the keg almost like a dry hop.

I have some celestial seasonings chamomile tea, which is 100% chamomile flowers, but I’m not sure how much to add. Any thoughts?

Also, I’m slightly worried about contamination, so I’m thinking about just brewing small amount of fairly strong tea, cooling, and dumping it in. My gut feeling is that this will give the effect I’m after, but I’m kinda guessing…

Any thoughts at all on my options or the idea in general would be appreciated! :cheers:

[bwmac2]

I made a wit with about 2/3 oz of chamomille at the end of the boil, then let it steep for about 10 min in a grain bag. Flavor seemed about right. I’d suggest the tea route. The chamomille might need the hot water to bring out the flavor and aroma. Good luck,

[pietro]

I don’t think contamination should be a huge concern, but I took a similar precaution. My last wit came out as one of those beers where I simply wouldn’t change a thing. Going into the fermenter, it smelled simply amazing. zest of 4 different citrus, coriander, freshly crushed by me, and dried chamomile.

Once fermentation had finished, I wanted a little more, as I felt like a lot of the aromatics had been blown away during the ferment. I added 2oz of dried chamomile (fresh maybe would have been better) and zest of another orange to a sealed container and covered with vodka for about an hour. I discarded the vodka (tried and smelled it, it didn’t seem to absorb any of the aromatics) and added the material to the fermenter (you could do the same w/ a keg, though I would highly recommend a string and muslin bag). Again, it is one of my favorite beers I have made. Something about me doesn’t trust the tea route, as I’m not sure if all the aroma compounds become soluble that quickly. Then again, I’m not sure they become soluble in the beer either.

I don’t know how people keg wits (though many do). Tasting the beer with and without yeast in the pour, I note significant differences in flavor and aroma. IMHO wits need yeast when served and other than agitating the keg with each pour, I’m not sure how you get that.

[rustyhoover]

Thanks for the replies.

My guess is that making tea and adding that would probably lend more flavor but less aroma than other methods.

Soaking in vodka for a while sounds like a good way to go, as it might affect volatile aroma compounds less than boiling.

This will be my first time kegging a wit, so maybe I’ll post some notes on kegged vs bottled later. Wit yeast doesn’t flocculate well at all, and I’m counting on enough staying in suspension for my tastes. I’m going to drink it young and pretty quickly, so my guess is it’ll be OK .