Beer Forum

I'll be making a Belgian Wit next, and I'd like to have some feedback on my first draft recipe:

It's a partial mash, but my pots are very small so I won't be mashing much. I wanted to use the oats for better head retention, and I read that this would only occur if I mashed them with some base grain.

The mash:
60 min @ 155º
1.5 lb. Weyermann Pilsner Malt
0.5 lb. Thomas Fawcett Oat Malt

The rest:
3 lb. Munton’s Wheat DME
2 lb. Briess Bavarian Wheat DME
(the two different wheat DME's are because I already have the Munton's but my local store only has Briess)
1 oz. Hallertau 4.6% AA @60 mins
0.5 oz. coriander @15 mins
15 black peppercorns @15 mins
1 orange, zest of @15 mins

The yeast:
WLP400

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Just FYI, oat malt is not quite the same thing as normal oats. I'm not sure what the flavor differences are though. Generally when you see oats in a recipe, they are flaked oats that are not malted.

I was wondering about that, but this was the only "oat" thing I could find on the brewmasterswarehouse.com website, and as they are on my way home from work I prefer to shop there.

Anyone else know more about oats?

These are the oats I was talking about:

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/product/0100578/briess-flaked-oats

This isn't an answer to your question, but more of a related question.

I've noticed that a lot of craft brewers use wheat FOR head retention. Is that unmalted wheat? And does that go away when the extract is made?

My point is that maybe you don't need to worry about head retention with wheat beers. Mine have always done well.

BenTheBrewer wrote:This isn't an answer to your question, but more of a related question.

I've noticed that a lot of craft brewers use wheat FOR head retention. Is that unmalted wheat? And does that go away when the extract is made?

My point is that maybe you don't need to worry about head retention with wheat beers. Mine have always done well.

Hmm, ok. I'm quite new to this, so I'm just basing my recipes off what I find on the internet. If I were to not use the oats, then my reason for using the CaraPils is eliminated. Would it be a bad idea to use only DME?

Travisty wrote:These are the oats I was talking about:

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/product/0100578/briess-flaked-oats

Thanks! The product information on this page says "Protein rest recommended unless flakes are pregelatinized." I suspect that this is not pregelatinized, so should I be using a protien rest? If so, what temperature and how long? I've also read that a beta-glucanase rest is a good idea with oats, but this thread leads me to believe that only one is necessary, and that these can be combined into a single rest at 122º.

I was under the impression that flaked oats were pregelatinized.