Clear Belgian Wit.

[Little Rock Brewing]

This is a Wit beer I bottled on Sunday (200ml tester bottle, the rest in brown). Clearly it's gone clear!
The recipe was 2.5kg Pilsner, 2.5kg wheat and 800g oats.
Typically I struggle with clarity in styles that should have it.
Now I have a clear beer when it should be cloudy!
Any clues what the issue might be?

 

[Sadfield]

Was it unmalted wheat?

 

[dmtaylor]

What yeast did you use? Main factor is yeast IMO.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I use malted wheat in my Weissbier and that’s hazy. The problem *might* (I’m making an educated guess here) be the oats? Believe it or not you can have too much protein leading to large protein clumps that fall out of solution.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

It was malted wheat.
The yeast was CML Gretel (spec below)

GRETEL. Hefeweizen Yeast.

Suitable to brew wheat beers.
Attenuation: 85-90%

Flocculation: Low
Fermentation: Ideally 18-30°C (64-86°F)
Max ABV 11% in 20 litres- Pitching Rate: 60g/100 litres
INGREDIENTS:Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), emulsifier E491.

Dunno about the oats, or if that's the reason.
I'm too new to this (only my second wheat beer)!

I just hope it tastes good.

 

[chthon]

Observations from brewing other wheat and weizen beers:

• German weissbier obtains its haze from the yeast
• I made a crystal weizen from MJ M20 yeast and a weizen recipe, just by lagering and then bottling without the yeast sediment
• Other beers where I used more wheat and oats also went crystal clear
• Belgian wit beers are hazy from unmalted wheat and yeast when they are served fresh, that is short after bottling, but when stored for a longer time also become clear
• Fresh beers are more hazy than beers that have conditioned

Changed M21 to M20, as the M20 is the weizen yeast, and M21 is the wit yeast.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

So have I accidentally made a Crystal Wit?

 

[Sadfield]

That pretty much covers it @chthon.

I think a wit yeast would more likely be more saison like than hefeweizen, wouldn't it?

 

[chthon]

That pretty much covers it @chthon.

I think a wit yeast would more likely be more saison like than hefeweizen, wouldn't it?

Not really. The commercial wits here, Hoegaerden, Brugs Tarwebier, Blanche de Namur, etc. are really not that attenuated. When I used the MJ M21 Wit I got an attenuation of 74%.

 

[Sadfield]

Not really. The commercial wits here, Hoegaerden, Brugs Tarwebier, Blanche de Namur, etc. are really not that attenuated. When I used the MJ M21 Wit I got an attenuation of 74%.

I was thinking more about flavour, more peppery than clove, less isoamyl acetate than a hefe, leaning to more citrus. I'd imagine with a different mash and fermentation profile that WY3711 would work quite well.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Give the bottle a shake. Problem solved

 

[dmtaylor]

Give the bottle a shake. Problem solved

+1 I came here to say almost exactly the same thing. I wouldn't shake it, but just turn it upside down once or twice. Then indeed, problem solved.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Shake and serve.
Good plan!

 

[Jim Brewster]

If you used malted wheat and hefeweizen yeast I'm struggling to see how it can be a witbier

 

[Sadfield]

How would shaking the bottle solve the problem? It'll just turn the beer yeasty, it won't add the extra proteins, beta-glucans and grainy flavour that unmalted has over malted, nor will it remove the extra sweetness from malted.

Best to just leave it as is, and enjoy what you have, a Kristalweizen that's probably quite nice.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Just looked at the recipe again and it says flaked wheat. I just used malted wheat. I guess there's a difference?
I'm not really up on the difference between witbier, hefeweizen etc.

 

[Sadfield]

Whilst not perfect and derided by some, the BJCP guidelines are a good place to start for unfamiliar styles. Both for the beers characteristics, and typical ingredients. They even give commercial examples to look out for.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Just looked at the recipe again and it says flaked wheat. I just used malted wheat. I guess there's a difference?
I'm not really up on the difference between witbier, hefeweizen etc.

There's very little difference between malted and unmalted wheat in the grand scheme of things. They are the same grain and very lightly kilned, so unless you use unmalted wheat (in which case you'll need more malted barley to provide the enzymes, or a more complicated mash schedule) you don't need to worry.

I also brewed a hoegaarden clone with malted wheat. Tasted spot on

Hefeweizen is German wheat beer. Wit is Belgian wheat beer. They probably use different yeast strains. But again, in the grand scheme of things, they are very similar. I wouldn't worry too much what other people call you beer - just enjoy it for what it is!

 

[Sadfield]

There's very little difference between malted and unmalted wheat in the grand scheme of things. They are the same grain and very lightly kilned, so unless you use unmalted wheat

Unmalted wheat isn't kilned. The two are as similar as dough and baked bread.

Wit and Weizen are totally different as a result.