The Belgian Witbier was brewed on Sunday without a hitch.

I did use a little bit of rice hulls in my mash tun to make sure I didn’t have a stuck sparge. I am still not sure if I needed them or not but I used them and I didn’t have a problem.

It was the first time that I had a multiple temperature mash. I infused the grains with 3 gallons of water to 122°F and let it sit for 15 minutes. After that, I used boiling water to raise the temperature to 152°F and let it rest for 45 minutes.

The boil went on for 90 minutes with one hop addition at 60 minutes to go. I added coriander and fresh sweet orange zest with 5 minutes to go. After I put the immersion chiller into the boil, I spent the next 10 minutes zesting.

Yeah, zesting. I nicked my thumb while I was doing it too. It was just a nick so it didn’t become blood orange zest.

The plan is to keep the fermentation at 68°F for the first week and then raise it to 72°F for the second week. I had to create a water bath for the better bottle because I can’t get low enough ambient temperatures in the house.

Here’s a photo of the setup.  I need to drop the water temp by a degree.

Belgian Witbier