Thats another one under the belt -

Summer Wit
Witbier

Type: All Grain
Date: 17.08.2010
Batch Size: 26.00 L
Boil Size: 23.53 L
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.50 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 50.00 %
1.85 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 37.00 %
0.65 kg Wheat, Torrified (Thomas Fawcett) (2.0 SRM) Grain 13.00 %
28.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [6.80 %] (60 min) Hops 15.0 IBU
24.07 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
24.07 gm Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Safbrew Wheat Beer (DCL Yeast #WB-06) Yeast-Wheat

Est Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.14 %
Bitterness: 15.0 IBU Calories: 420 cal/l
Est Color: 3.9 SRM Color: Color

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 5.00 kg
Sparge Water: 9.15 L Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C TunTemperature: 22.2 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Mash In Add 13.03 L of water at 75.6 C 67.8 C
10 min Mash Out Add 7.30 L of water at 91.9 C 75.6 C

Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

Plumped for a larger than normal brew - usually aim for 23L but thought 26L would go well as this appears to be a lovely summer drink (despite it raining everyday since brewing!)

Got the mash on - 5kg grains and 13.03L of mash water at 66c for 90 mins. Had only a 1c drop in 90 mins - plenty of towels and sleeping bag wrapped around mash tun. Mashed out with 7.30L at 74c for 15 mins.
Preheated 9.15L of sparge water in my Electrim HLT - got this to the temp i needed and decided to lift higher to give a good header feed to my mash tun - as soon as i moved the Electrim, it conveniently decided to spill its guts everywhere - the boiler element and connected cable simply slipped out into the heated water. How it didnt trip the rcd God only knows? After removing the items from the drawers under the worktop and removing the water from them (and kitchen floor) I got my 50L stockpot on the gas and completed the task in hand. Got the boil on with my burner. This has turned out to be a fantastic way of boiling up, Im still using my piddley little 5kg bottle of propane - this has now done 6 BBQ's, one 90 min boil and now a 60 min boil and I still have propane sloshing around in the bottle, seems to be very economical!Once I hit a rolling boil, I crank back the gas controller to reduce gas usage but still keep a rolling boil going.
Did boil in garage as weather was showery, added 28g of Goldings at start of boil (60min) - Was looking for 15 IBU's - when I did the calcs on Beer Smith it called for 38g of Goldings. On the day the penny dropped when i noticed the alpha was 6.8 on the Goldings bag - realised Beersmith was set for alpha 5.0 and used a quick online calc to adjust the amount needed. - Was unsure whether to use Irish Moss or not as most wheat / Wit beers are cloudy anyway - I decided to use just a small pinch rather than a teaspoon (sat on the fence!. Last 5 mins added coriander (24g cracked) and also bitter orange peel (24g).
Got temp down quickly with wort cooler and got my gravity of 1.045 at 25L rather than 26L - quite happy with that - brewhouse efficiency must have been slightly down (Mash out i feel is similar to a small batch sparge -this may be why?)Usually fly sparge all brews.
Added my yeast (Safbrew Wheat beer dry yeast WB-06)at 22c.
Brew now happy and bubbling away with a nice fluffy yeast head - colour looks nice too.
Got a Turbo Cider on the go last night - start gravity of 1.057 to start with - looks good and fermenting good also - 4.5L batch
God I love brewing!
regards
Howard