Double White Ale Tasting & Recap

Brew Date: 3/24/12

Tasting Date: 5/7/12

The first few "tasting & recap" posts will be for beers that I brewed before the start of this blog, so I'll introduce them quickly with the recipe before getting into the results.

Recipe (6 gallons)

O.G.: 1.062

F.G.:  1.011

ABV: 6.8%

IBU: 22

Malt:

5# Pilsner (40%)

5# Wheat Malt (40%)

1# Torrified Wheat (8%)

1# Oats (8%)

8 oz. Table Sugar (4%)

Mash @ 148 degrees for one hour

Hops:

1/2 oz. Nugget (15.1% AA) @ 90 minutes

Yeast:

Wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit pitched from previous batch

Adjuncts:

1 oz. Fresh ground Indian coriander at flameout

1.5 oz. Minolla orange peel at flameout

Results!

So far, the feedback for all of the wit beers I've brewed have been positive to very positive.  But for me, I'm never quite happy with them.  Yes, I've made them light, tight, and refreshing with a prominent orange and coriander note.  But I have still yet to make one that is on the level of Allagash White, Hoegaarden, or Southampton Double White (which inspired this beer).  I wish my first "results" post was a homerun, but as former Jet's coach Herm Edwards says, I must "put my name on it" and explore what went right and what went wrong with this one.

Apperance:

While the beer isn't nearly as cloudy as it's supposed to be, I'm happy with how it looks.  Bright pale color, creamy white head and a lot of lacing.  There's a few tricks to fix the cloudiness level, so I'll try those next time.  Not perfect, but it's appetizing.

Aroma:

I feel like I hit the aroma really well.  The spice level in most wits is either too much or too little, but here I've hit the perfect level for intensity.  The Indian coriander I used smells outstanding when it's freshly crushed, but it comes out even better alongside the yeast notes on a wit.  It's citrusy, with a distinct peppercorn note.  If you've ever smelled pink peppercorns, it reminds me most of that.  The orange peel is on the subtle side, which is how I like it.  My biggest problem with Blue Moon and Shocktop is that the orange smells artificial, and when they put add another orange peel to the glass it gets overwhelming to the point where the beer has become an air freshener.  I feel the citrus component can be played around with on subsequent versions of this, but I like where this is at.

Flavor:

Everything checks out about this beer until about mid palate.  Looks good, smells great, and has the tight zip on the front palate that you'd expect.  The beer tastes refreshing, and has a wheaty, breadiness to it, but the aftertaste has a lingering off flavor.  I'll get into more of the specifics of all my wit beer tinkering in future posts, but on this version I tried replacing some of the unmalted wheat with malted wheat.  This, I think, led to a less traditional wheat flavor than a classic wit.  There is also less yeast and spice character than the nose.  And I'm not sure if the malted wheat experiment had anything to do with this, but the tartness traditionally added from wheat is a bit overwhelming, and not in an enjoyable way.  This tartness is felt mostly in the aftertaste, which takes the refreshment factor down a little bit.  Still, for an almost 7% abv beer, this is really drinkable, but I think some of the flavor intensities should be shifted towards the yeast and spices instead of the malt.

Overall:


I like this beer, and other people like it too.  But it's not perfect. This keg probably won't last too much longer, which is a success in some ways, but I still wouldn't brew it again.  The next wit I make will have a completely different recipe, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, don't use malted wheat in a wit beer.  It doesn't give the right wheat flavor.