I have a recipe for a great tasting wit beer. The only problem is that it clears up very fast and very clear. I use 40% wheat, oats, (w/no protein rest) and I use WLP 0400 Belgian Wit yeast fermented @ 62*. I also used Irish moss and I have transferred to a secondary for one week. Obviously I should lose the Irish Moss and skip the secondary.
I would love to have a more cloudy beer, but don’t know what aspect affects the clarity the most. What is the best wheat to use and would a protein rest help the oats?
I was going to say the same thing. Randy Mosher, Graham Sanders, and others have suggested that by adding about 1 tablespoon of wheat flour in the boil kettle, your beer will be cloudy every time. You might want to pre-mix it in a little cold water so that it doesn’t turn into a doughball, but other than that, I’m betting it will work (I haven’t tried it yet but will on my next wheat).
It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who has wheat beers come out crystal clear. I’ve work so hard over the years to get clear beer it seems weird to complain about it being too clear. I’ll have to give the wheat flour a go on my next wheat.
Adding raw wheat in the kettle and/or in the keg has not worked for me. My witbier gets extremely clear in the keg after a couple weeks no matter what. I’m thinking this may be a beer that is better bottle-conditioned than kegged.
I think it’s the yeast that makes the German wheat beer cloudy, but the Belgian wit yeasts floc out. It’s the difference between hazes, whether from protein or other sources.
