Not 1st Place Wit NE More

Style: Belgian wit
Competition results: Best of show at the Brewer's East End Revival (BEER) 15th Annual Brew-off Homebrew Competition (2012)

All-grain recipe, 6-gallon batch size
Original gravity: 1.051
Final gravity: 1.011
Bitterness: 19.2 IBU

4.5 pounds Belgian pils
4.5 pounds pale wheat malt
1 pound Golden Naked Oats
1 pound flaked wheat
.5 pounds rice hulls
12 grams Crystal hops (3.5 percent AA)—added during boil, boiled 60 minutes
15.0 grams Hallertauer Tradition hops (6.5 percent AA)—added during boil, boiled 60 minutes
12 grams Czech Saaz hops (4 percent AA)—added during boil, boiled 30 minutes
14.2 grams coriander, crushed—added dry to secondary fermenter
3.0 ounces citrus zest—added during boil, boiled 10 minutes
1.0 liter Starter WYeast 3944 Belgian Wit
NYC tap water, added 1 gram gypsum and 1.5 gram CaCl to the boil. Mash pH was 5.56 at room temperature.

Mash at 154 degrees F for 60 minutes and boil for 90 minutes.

Fermentation: Make a 1-liter starter the night before on a stir plate. Use a wine degassing rod attached to a cordless drill for 30 seconds to draw in oxygen (in the current setup I use pure O2.) Ferment the beer at 64 F for about two weeks, raising the temperature toward the end of fermentation.

Brewer's notes: I believe the key to this recipe is using fresh citrus zest. I used a mixture of grapefruit, lemon, and navel and Valencia orange zest. Also, get the freshest green coriander you can get—it's important. I also completely forgot to add the coriander to the boil, so I made a "tincture" by boiling the coriander for 10 minutes in about 4 ounces of water and added it to the serving keg. I also think that the Golden Naked Oats are much more flavorful than flaked or raw wheat, and I sub them in all recipes calling for flaked wheat. The beer peaked at about 5 weeks after brewing, when all the flavors came together and seemed balanced.