The recipe is based on a cobbled together Boulevard Zon clone recipes on the net. I should have been able to nail the hops as Boulevard provides their additions but the LHBS was out of Bravo so I used some Amarillo on hand (it's just bittering hops anyway). I also put in some torrified wheat just to mix things up but mainly because of how cool that name is ... "torrified." WPL410 Belgian Wit II was used for the yeast since I used WPL400 in the previous batch.
Also put in a undocumented but typical amount of coriander and lemon zest and about 10-15 basil leaves freshly picked at about 15 min left in the boil.
Brew Day went ok. Had issues getting the mash temperatures with strike water and had to adjust with "flame on" the pot and ice. The OG was 1048 which was ballpark close to the target 1052. I went on the high-end of the style because of the unmalted grains just in case the mash didn't completely take. The main issue on brew day was clogging the exchanger with some hop pellets and not being able to cool quickly. Out of frustration and perhaps inspired by one-too-many homebrews - as well as a blind beer tasting on the side to determine which keg to order for a vacation for some whole-hoggers ... PBR won the lager selection - the wort was pored into the conical fermentor. The fermentor was placed in the lagering fridge and filled with water to cool: I do not recommend doing this in anyway shape or form. The fridge was unplugged when (as) I did this. This worked in a pinch and really hope to avoid doing this again.
Tasting...
Fast-forward thru racking to secondary and keg conditioning and we tasted the wit this Sunday.
Aroma:
Good citrus and spice. Not overwhelming but not sutle. A hint of basil comes out too but would be hard to spot it if I didn't know it was in there.
Apperance:
More of a straw color than white but pretty close to what one would expect. This extra strawy may be due to the torrified wheat, not sure. Had a good unmalted wheat haze typical of these beers. Good white lace head, fairly thin. Some bubbles but haze masks most of those.
Taste:
Good citrus, lemon, organge spice, some basil if you think about it. Good flavor at the start but first pints were a bit harsh at the end: harsh as in "is that hop bitterness or astringent tannin I don't likey." This mellowed out upon the 2nd pint (I'm told there was at least a 3rd). I should have calculated the IBU to see this was out of style (~50 instead of 10-20). I often overhop with pellets because something is lost (I read that in a Nice Armenian man's book, you may have read it too) and also because some hops can entrain and cake up on the top portion of the fermentor (same book). May not have happened that way this time. Hopefully, the hop bitterness might meld a bit upon aging. This is not a compliant. Hoppy wheat beers are what the cool kids are doing (here, here, also here ...) and this beer is totally drinkable and enjoyable, just not to style. I'm starting to ramble now: morale of the story, calculate IBUs and don't rush the recipe.
Mouthfeel:
A bit thin but not obviously thin. This may be due to the higher alcohol beers that came before this one.
Overall:
Very drinkable, very refreshing. Sessionable but not the first choice to do so: could mellow out with time. Will probably enter in the Dixie Cup contest later this year for more feedback. Pretty happy with the results.
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