[KyleFR]

My wife recently asked me to make her a variation of a Belgium Wit that would have a little less orange finish but incorporate a little lemon. The recipe that I am going to attempt to use (extract) includes:

5lbs Extra Light DME
2lbs Clover Honey
1oz Hallertauer (Boil)
0.5oz Hallertauer (Flavor)
0.5ox Hallertauer (Aroma)
WYEST 3522 Belgium Ardennes

I also have dried orange peel (.25-.5oz) and coriander (1-1.5oz).

Any suggestions on adding a lemon component and if so, how to do it? Thanks!

[HoosierBrew]

My wife recently asked me to make her a variation of a Belgium Wit that would have a little less orange finish but incorporate a little lemon. The recipe that I am going to attempt to use (extract) includes:

5lbs Extra Light DME
2lbs Clover Honey
1oz Hallertauer (Boil)
0.5oz Hallertauer (Flavor)
0.5ox Hallertauer (Aroma)
WYEST 3522 Belgium Ardennes

I also have dried orange peel (.25-.5oz) and coriander (1-1.5oz).

Any suggestions on adding a lemon component and if so, how to do it? Thanks!

Try using Sorachi Ace as your aroma addition instead of the Hallertau - it has a nice lemony character. And for more lemon you could add the zest of a lemon or two to a hop bag/fine mesh bag, add the bag to your fermenter after fermentation is done. Give it 2 or 3 days, then bottle. Unless you keg, in which case you could add the bag to your keg and pull it when it hits the flavor amount you want. Good luck.

[Stevie]

You will want to use a wheat based extract.

http://www.morebeer.com/products/dried-malt-extract-dme-bavarian-wheat-1.html

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-ingredients/malt-extract/maillard-malts-wheat-malt-extract-syrup.html

[HoosierBrew]

+1 to wheat extract, too.

[gmac]

I'd leave out the coriander and use a lot, and I mean a lot of lemon zest at flameout. Post ferment you could also add some but I would want to wash them well or sanitize them. You will get lemon flavour without sour from the zest.

[Iliff Ave]

Equal parts lemon and orange zest at the end of the boil and post fermentation if necessary.

[morticaixavier]

I'd leave out the coriander and use a lot, and I mean a lot of lemon zest at flameout. Post ferment you could also add some but I would want to wash them well or sanitize them. You will get lemon flavour without sour from the zest.

leaving out the coriander is a good suggestion. It provides a lot of the 'citrus/orange' character in traditional wit beer. I'd also skip the dried orange peel in favor of fresh citrus zest. meyer lemon in particular makes a wonderful sweet lemon flavor wit.

[reverseapachemaster]

In addition to the recommendation that you use a wheat-based extract I would also point out that wits typically do not have any hop addition but for bittering. That doesn't mean you can't use hops later in the process but it may not line up with what your wife is expecting.

I would look at using lemon zest along with a small amount of ginger. Fresh ginger, not the dried powder stuff you have in the pantry.

[homoeccentricus]

Not sure whether you really want a true Belgian wit. But if you do:

- you DO need to have (unmalted) wheat. "wit" means "wheat". Maybe steep wheat flakes?
- you DO need coriander. It's the coriander that provides the citrusy flavor.  The orange peel balances this out with its bitterness. The trick is to dose it correctly.  I'd say order of magnitude of 0.75 gram per liter. Don't overdo it.
- you DO need witbier yeast, not Belgian Ardennes.
- you need to keep the IBUs low, maybe 15 or so.

- you DON'T put a slice of lemon in your glass. It's not classy. 

[erockrph]

As you can see by the diverse responses, there's a lot of directions you can take this in. If you wanted to do something similar to a traditional Witbier, I'd simply take a fairly traditional recipe and swap out the orange peel for lemon zest. If you want it to be really lemony, maybe cut the coriander quantity to 25-50% of the original recipe and go heavy on the lemon zest. I do think that you do need at least a little coriander for it to taste like a Wit. I also agree that wheat DME is a better choice than Extra Light and that a true Witbier strain is your best yeast choice.

[reverseapachemaster]

- you DO need to have (unmalted) wheat. "wit" means "wheat". Maybe steep wheat flakes?

I thought wit translated to white.

[Slowbrew]

- you DO need to have (unmalted) wheat. "wit" means "wheat". Maybe steep wheat flakes?

I thought wit translated to white.

Me too.

[homoeccentricus]

- you DO need to have (unmalted) wheat. "wit" means "wheat". Maybe steep wheat flakes?

I thought wit translated to white.

It does, except in witbier, there it's basically the same as German Weizen.

[gmac]

If you want it to look "witty" add a bit of flour to your boil to ensure you get cloudiness and yes, use a wit strain.

[homoeccentricus]

Maybe I should start a thread on the quality of American wits. I had a few when I was in California in the summer, and they were very mediocre.