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Recipe: 4 lb 2-row pale malt 4 lb wheat malt 1 lb flaked wheat 5 AAU (28g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 60 min 1 oz ground coriander @ 2 min Zest from 2 oranges (16g) @ 2 min Rack onto cherries in secondary. Used 4lb 2oz of sweet red cherries bough fresh in season and then frozen. Cherries were de-stemmed but not de-pitted. Wyeast 3944 - Belgian Witbier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General Notes: First fruit brew. Same recipe as Brevity Wit, but was racked onto cherries. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tasting Notes: Tasting notes taken 6 November 2010. Dispensed from chilled keg into a tulip. Appearance: body is a rich red-amber hue with a touch of haze. It's not cloudy like most witbiers, just slightly hazy. Head poured two fingers of creamy white foam with a very light pinkish cast, but this dissipated somewhat quickly. Overall, it looks like a cherry beer, but I would personally have preferred more haze and better head retention. (3.5) Smell: aroma is quite tart and somewhat sweet with a light cherry component. The coriander and orange really come through and complement the cherry well, although there's not much in the way of malty goodness here. Not bad, for what it is. (3.5) Taste: light, refreshing wheaty flavor with a bit of tartness and a bit of cherry. It is rather tasty, although a bit too tart and a bit too dry for my taste. I'm not certain how I would improve it, though; perhaps a higher mash temperature to sweeten it up a hair? Still, not bad. (3.5) Mouthfeel: the body is rather light, although for the style that's not a huge problem. Still, the carbonation is pretty well-integrated at this point and the feel is rather creamy. I have carbonation nailed at this point, I think, so maybe next time I'll incorporate some dextrine malt or something to edge the body a bit higher. (4) Drinkability: this is a relatively tasty lowish-alcohol brew, so it's got a lot going for it in the drinkability realm. Still, I feel like its dry tartness can be dialed down a notch. One glass at a time, this brew is; anything more starts to get trying. (3.5) Overall score of 3.55 (B). This is a pretty good first attempt at a fruit beer, in my opinion. Notes for the future: higher mash temp, use some dextrine malt, and maybe use either a) more cherries or b) a variety of cherries rather than just sweet red cherries. Rainiers could add greater complexity to the flavor; and, while they might add to the tartness, the added sweetness from a higher-temp mash would balance this out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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