Apple Cider Wit

[sweetspot]

I have been wanting to brew something different and came upon the idea of brewing a cider wit. My thought was to brew 4 gallons of normal Belgian style white ale and then to top it off with 1 gallon of preservative free apple juice prior to fermentation. My first question was regarding whether anybody has tried such an experiment and how it turned out. I have a vague idea of what will happen but anything more concrete would be appreciated. My other question was about the spicing. I was thinking about adding 1/2 tsp of coriander, 1/4 oz of bitter orange peel and maybe 1/8 tsp of cinnamon. What is the collective wisdom of the crowd? Your help and advice is much appreciated.

[dmtaylor]

Amazing coincidence.... I've got one last bottle of a sort of apple wit in my refrigerator as we speak. It's one of my favorite and best recipes.

I use 1 gallon of fresh cider in a 3-gallon batch. I heat the cider to about 170 F for 15 minutes on the side, and then add to the wort at flameout. The WLP400 wit yeast actually throws off some apple esters so it is a good matchup. And I skip the coriander and orange, but instead added some Bamburg smoked malt -- I used about 1.5 lb. Actually, I'm explaining this backwards. My beer was really intended to be a smoked apple blonde ale. The first time I made it I used a clean yeast, Nottingham I believe, and it was great, even won a ribbon as a fruit beer in competition. The second time I brewed it, I tried WLP400 wit yeast because I thought the extra apple esters and a little Belgian character would make the beer even better. I was right. It's a great combo. The apple character is low but noticeable in my beer. You might want to bump up to 1.5 to 2 gallons cider for a 5-gallon batch to ensure the apple shows up. And if you use coriander, orange, and cinnamon, it will tend to cover up the apple even more. In the amounts you have specified, it might be alright, but bumping up the volume of cider would be a good idea to ensure it comes through.

Best of luck. I think you'll be happy with it as I am with mine.

[iloman]

Holy crap that sounds SOOO GOOOOD right now. I think I just found what I want to brew next. Thanks!

One question: What temp did you ferment this at, and would you change it any to add more or less of the cider esters?

[dmtaylor]

I fermented at 65 F. I'd keep it the same. 65 F is a good default for 90% of ales anyway.