AG1 A Hoegaarden esque beer

[james1988]

So I finally go around to doing my first brew. I did it Wednesday night as impatience got the better of me. I started at 2100 and finished at 0200 Thursday. It was all going well until mid way through the boil both the elements cut out. Much sucking of teeth and swearing later I realised I left the safety cut out switches in the elements. I run the hot wort into a fermenting vessel while the elements cooled and later returned it to carry on boiling. I'm not holding out much hope for the brew but it could turn out fine.

My first go was at a Hoegaarden sort of clone. As I'm partial to a Witbier I thought why not and got all the ingredients together after reading about it on another forum. I've listed the ingredients below:

2000g lager malt
2000g flaked (unmalted) wheat
1000g wheat malt
500g porridge oats

30g Saaz - full boil
2 oranges (standard oranges!) - 15 minutes
10g crushed coriander seeds - 15 minutes
20g Bobek - flameout steep - I didn't bother with this. After reading the thread I found it only gave a more citrussy flavour and wasn't really required and being on a budget I decided against it. Most people were saying it tasted just as good without it.

Yeast: WB-06

This should give you 23L but due to the inefficency of the boiler and mash tun I ended up with 18L. I need to work on my technique as well as I feel I probably had a fair bit to do with such a low quantity of wort. The original gravity was 1048.

Pictures...

The grain.

The three stage set up (Boiler/HLT, Mash Tun and Fermenting Vessel).

Hops weighed out.

Grain mixed together before adding to the mash tun. As it was a really thick mash I added it to the water and not the other way around to stop dough balls.

Mash time (90mins).

Keeping the mash tun warm.

After the 90minutes.

Sparge time.

Wort added to the boiler and hops thrown in.

A good boil (before the elements cut out! :evil: ).

The spent grain.

Fermenting away nicely (I've just realised it looks like a face).

Hopefully it will have finished fermenting by next week. I'm a complete amateur at this so if somebody could point out where I could improve that would be fantastic. Critiscism is welcomed :up:

James

 

[phettebs]

Looks nice. I always add the orange peel along with the coriander for my Wits right at the end of the boil. You have to peel down to the white part to release the essential oils that give that nice orange flavor and aroma.

 

[james1988]

Will remember that for next time. As the recipe said whole I thought it literally meant the whole thing

 

[phettebs]

You could always add some to secondary prior to bottling/kegging to make up for any lack of orange profile. No harm!

 

[Darcey]

Hmm Im looking at doing something similar to this next...

 

[james1988]

Just remembered about this thread. I've made a start on the beer and it's wonderful (if I do say so myself). It's light, got a good head, the correct colour and it is really citussy(?). Each pint is refreshing and for a first go at all grain brewing I'm impressed. So impressed I've ordered some lager malt and yeast tonight to get a brew on this weekend. :

James

 

[Darcey]

Mmmm Looks good :drink:

 

[mhewitson]

This looks good - definitely where ill be starting when I get round to going AG.

 

[Mark1964]

have you noticed the face in your fv looks like a guy with a mexican tash