Advice - this is what i have in the cupboard - witbier?

[Rhubarb]

Hi,
I want to use up stock and brew a witbier. This is what i have in the cupboard:
5kg wheat malt
1.5 kg maris otter
Around 200g crystal malt
Around 300gr blak rye malt
Rolled oats
Cane sugar
Orange peel and coriander
S04, t58 and s33 yeasts
In the freezer i have around 50g saaz and some grapefruity experimental hops (75)
I have a burcoboiler - biab - and i intend to end up with 27L wort.

Id thought:
3kg wheat
1.5kg maris
200g crystal
500g oats
1kg cane sugar

I dont know if i can add more wheat to replace the sugar?

Any feedback on 33 vs 58 yeast please

All feedback and advice welcome!

 

[Ajhutch]

I wouldn’t use crystal malt for a witbier personally, that’s not really true to style. Some sugar is ok, it’s a Belgian style after all, but I’d probably up the wheat malt a little bit and reduce the sugar. A mash that heavy on wheat malt will be sticky but with biab you should be fine, conversion might be slow so maybe mash for longer than normal. Saaz would be ideal for a traditional version, if you wanted a modern twist a late or dry hop with grapefruit could be interesting, I just did a witbier with lemon drop hops and lemon and lime in a similar vein. I’ve not used either yeast but in theory I think either would be ok, they’re both Belgians. I used the MJ witbier yeast and it was fairly Belgian-y at bottling

 

[chthon]

Remove the sugar and the crystal malts, add 10% wheat flour in the mash, and use the T-58 for fermentation.

For a Belgian witbier, you would normally swap the amounts of wheat and base malt, but since you are stuck with what you have, this will be a nice experiment.

Try to mash long (90mins), and maybe at around 65° C. The wheat malt contains much enzymes which will help the lautering. I once did a German weissbier with 30% pilsner and 70% wheat, and lautering was reasonable.

 

[Rhubarb]

Wheat flour? As In bread making flour? I only have thay, and its v high protein.

 

[chthon]

Wheat flour? As In bread making flour? I only have thay, and its v high protein.

Yes. This adds a part of the taste of witbier. This would usually be unmalted wheat. But wheat flour is also unmalted wheat, just grinded to flour. And no problem with the high protein, your wheat beer needs to be a little cloudy/hazy.

Trust me on this one: I brewed a small beer with 10% flour and Rochefort yeast, and it tastes a bit like a witbier. I actually didn't expect that.