This is a story of failure. This is a story of a beer that just wasn't meant to be.

I picked up the grain for this batch in late spring, before we even knew we were moving out of state. The time was never right to brew it. I finally made myself do it on my first brew day in our new city... because late November in Denver is totally the time for light wit beers. The recipe is roughly the wit beer from Brewing Classic Styles with the usual grain substitutions courtesy of our wonderful friends at Valley Brewers. I don't appear to even have the full grain bill written down, but given how well this beer worked out (... not), I guess that's OK. On the plus side, this was my first foray into Inland Island's fabulous yeasts, and I look forward to working with these tons more.

Ingredients in this batch

  • 5 lbs 8 oz pilsener malt
  • 5 lbs flaked wheat
  • 0.25 lb Munich malt
  • 1 lb oats
  • 0.5 lb rice hulls
  • 1 oz Hallertau hops at :60
  • 1 pack Inland Island INIS-242 Belgian wit devil yeast
  • 0.25 oz chamomile at :08
  • 4 oz coarsely ground coriander
  • 0.65 oz lemon peel and zest
  • 7 gallons Denver tap water treated with Campden tablets
  • Light pilsener liquid malt extract to bring gravity sort of almost maybe into range

Process

Heated 7 gallons of water to 132. Mashed for 15 minutes at 138, brought the temp up to 155 for 15 minutes, then removed grain and brough to a boil. Added hops and spices according to the schedule above. Starting gravity was... 1.03. Did I mention this batch was cursed? I added liquid malt extract to bring the gravity up to 1.047 and pitched the yeast, which took off like a champ anyway.

The trouble continued when I decided, nearly a month later, to finally bottle the poor batch. I realized after opening the bucket that I was missing crucial equipment to actually fill bottles and cap them, so I decided (at nearly 11 pm on a week night) to put the lid back on the new bucket I had racked into. Well, the lid didn't fit. There were lengthy struggles and a lot of cursing. I settled for good enough, which of course wasn't. By the time I was ready to actually bottle the damn beer, the whole affair smelled like wet cardboard and nothingness, and I finally decided to just dump this failed batch. Goals for my next attempt: Better temp control, no grain substitutions, and a fermentation container that doesn't suck.