Legendary Melbourne home brew shop Grain and Grape held its inaugural Brewcomp late last year where the winning entry would be made into one of their famous Fresh Wort Kits. That winner was Luke Gilchrist (pictured below) with his Chamomile Witbier and his recipe is reproduced for you here and is also available to purchase in kit form at grainandgrape.com.au.
Grain and Grape told us: “We’ve always considered the community of home brewers we service to be an integral part of the business. As such, when it came time to produce a new recipe for our Fresh Wort Kits, we decided to put it out to the punters to see what they could do. Our first annual Brewcomp had very few rules attached to it: brew a beer in one of the three prescribed styles (Irish red ale, Märzen or witbier) and entries would be judged according to BJCP scoring conventions. We had pretty high expectations going in as our customers make pretty incredible beer (we pride ourselves on it!), but even we were surprised with how delicious the entries were and how tough the scoring was. In the end, Luke came out on top with his brilliantly balanced wit. He’s a real perfectionist with his brewing, so we weren’t surprised to see such a well-executed beer come out of his Braumeister. We can’t wait to put on our next comp and see what kind of magic our regulars can pull off!”.
Luke’s Wit your Whistle Chamomile Wit
All grain (expected figures)
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 19
Volume: 20 litres
Ingredients
2.25kg Pilsner malt
1.35kg Wheat malt
670g Light Munich malt
450g Flaked oats
15g Sweet orange peel
15g Bitter orange peel
30g Indian coriander seeds (crushed)
8g Chamomile flowers
62.9g Saaz hop pellets
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier, or Danstar Wit
Method
- Mash in at 66°C for 60 minutes.
- Mash out at 72°C, sparge and transfer to kettle.
- Once boiling add 39.5g Saaz hops for a 60 minute boil.
- With five minutes left on the boil, add 23.4g Saaz, orange peel, coriander and chamomile flowers.
- Cool wort to 20°C, oxygenate or aerate and run into fermenter.
- Pitch yeast and maintain 20°C during fermentation.
- When FG stabilises, keg or bottle as usual.
Extract (expected figures)
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 19
Volume: 20 litres
Ingredients
1.7kg Pilsner malt extract
1kg Wheat malt extract
670g Light Munich malt
450g Flaked oats
15g Sweet orange peel
15g Bitter orange peel
30g Indian coriander seeds (crushed)
8g Chamomile flowers
62.9g Saaz hop pellets
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier, or Danstar Wit
Method
- Heat 6 litres of water in your brew pot to hit 71°C, aim for mash temp of 66°C.
- Add cracked specialty grains in a hop or grain bag and add to the pot.
- Mash for 30 minutes, checking mash temperature.
- Lift bag and allow to drain into pot.
- As the water heats up, add half the extract and stir to dissolve.
- Once boiling add 39.5g Saaz hops for a 60 minute boil.
- With five minutes left on the boil, add 23.4g Saaz, orange peel, coriander, and chamomile flowers.
- Remove from heat and set the pot in a cold/ice water bath to cool for 15 minutes then strain into fermenter.
- Fill with cool water to the 17 litre mark and stir vigorously while adding remaining extract.
- Top up to the 20 litre mark with warm or cold water until you hit 20°C.
- Pitch the yeast and ferment at 20°C.
- On day seven, check the SG. The brew is ready once this has stabilised over a couple of days.
- Keg or bottle as usual.
This recipe appeared in a previous issue of Beer & Brewer. To access multiple recipes every issue, from pros and homebrewers alike, subscribe to our magazine here.
