Brewing a Belgian Witbier

[chastuck]

Did what might be the last major brew for some time on my 3V kit over last weekend, so plenty of photos. I have just bought a 50L Braumeister and I expect to use this in the future for most of my brewing.

I brewed a 45L batch of Belgian Wit. Screen shots from Beersmith2. Ingredients were as follows:

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Note the rice hulls. I was worried the unmalted wheat flakes would otherwise block the mash.

Here’s a picture of the brew kit all ready to go on my brew bench in the Beer Gazebo:

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Consists of a 30 gal boil kettle, 20 gal mash tun and 20 gal HLT with HERMS - all Blichmann pots and US gallons. Picture also shows my 110L CLT, control panel, Chugger pumps and CFC under the bench.

A shot of the HLT almost full to the brim with 75L of treated RO water:

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Water treated with brewing salts to: Ca=50, Mg=10, Na=16, Cl=70, S04=70
(Hit minimums on Ca and Mg, keep the Cl:SO4 ratio low and equal).

Recirculating the treated water in the HLT to bring it up to strike temperature. Two elements are used - 5500W and 2400W - to ensure a rapid temperature rise.

The main 5500W element is powered by the control panel and I use a break-out box to work the 2400W element. This keeps the current through the control panel to reasonable levels. The break-out box is controlled remotely from the main control panel with 12v relay lines and SSR signal lines.

Strike water in mash tun ready for grain:

Controlling mash temperature by circulation of mash liquor through HLT:

Mash clearing after continued recirculation:

View inside boil kettle. Two elements are used giving 7900W for a quick boil. Similar to the HLT elements, they are controlled by the main control panel and the break-out box. Upon reaching the boil the smaller element is switched off. Note also the use of the Lauterhexe hop filter from BrewPi.

Sparging underway and collection of wort into boil kettle:

A nice rolling boil:

Crushed coriander seed and bitter orange peel ready to be added during last 5 minutes of boil:

Run off after boil through CFC into fermenter. Cooled to 20C.

The Lauterhexe hop filter works extremely well and there’s not much wort left in the boil kettle:

All packed up in the fermenter and 4 packs of White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit yeast added:

An oxygen wand was used to give the collected wort a 40 second O2 burst. Can’t wait to try this one!

 

[YeastFace]

Lovely set-up.

 

[Leon103]

What a setup.

 

[TartanSpecial]

impressive.....very impressive...

 

[wizurd]

Love that setup. Be good to see the final result as well.

 

[TheRedDarren]

I want that set up!
To the OP, do you have a build thread for this? Or could you point me in the direction of the info I need to build one?

 

[chastuck]

I want that set up!
To the OP, do you have a build thread for this? Or could you point me in the direction of the info I need to build one?

Search for the "My Electric Brewery" threads on this forum that I put up nearly two years ago. Start here: http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=41517. I sold the 100L kettles shown in the threads in Spring this year and then slightly downsized and rebuilt the same brewery using smaller Blichmann pots.

 

[Leon103]

To save me reading loads of posts, how much would that setup cost?

 

[chastuck]

To save me reading loads of posts, how much would that setup cost?

It's all relative really and depends on how much of the build you want to do yourself and how much you want to buy in. I just bought the bare bones pots and empty control panel box and built it all from scratch, but even then you may have to include the cost of various tools - stainless steel is not the easiest of materials to work with and needs good workshop tools and equipment. Time is another consideration and you may choose - as I did - to spread the cost over three or four years. And how do you cost-in your own time? Given all of this, I reckon I have spent some £4000 on getting the ultimate brewery I wanted, although not in one outlay.

 

[stevej]

It's all relative really and depends on how much of the build you want to do yourself and how much you want to buy in. I just bought the bare bones pots and empty control panel box and built it all from scratch, but even then you may have to include the cost of various tools - stainless steel is not the easiest of materials to work with and needs good workshop tools and equipment. Time is another consideration and you may choose - as I did - to spread the cost over three or four years. And how do you cost-in your own time? Given all of this, I reckon I have spent some �£4000 on getting the ultimate brewery I wanted, although not in one outlay.

2 Words, Brew Porn!! Its a lovely setup :thumb: