Nit Wit

THE PLAN:
One of my favorite beers is Victory Whirlwind, a PA brewed Belgian Witbier. I made a pretty damn good wit last summer as an extract batch, and so this year I was going to do the same thing, but decided to go all grain at the last minute. Why not?

THE RECIPE:
6# Belgian Pils
4# Weyerman Ligth Wheat Malt
1# Flaked Wheat
1 oz. Hallertau
1/2 oz. Saaz (homegrown)
1 oz Sweet Orange Peel
1 oz. Bitter Orange Peel
Zest of 1 Orange
Wyeast 3944 - Belgian Witbier, 1L starter on stir plate for ~ 36 hours.

5/16 BREWDAY:
Decided to do a double infusion mash schedule...
9.9 qts @ 132F --> 120-122 for 30 min.
8.8 qts @ 198F --> 152-154 for 30 min.
7.7 qts @ 206F --> 168F for 10 min.
Sparge w/ 1.38 gal. @ 205F --> 168F
Collected 6.5 gallons
First runnings - 11/1.044
Pre-boil - 10/1.040
Boil - 60 min, hops @ 60 (Hallertau), 10 (Saaz), orange peels @ 10
Post boil/OG - 12/1.048

6/9 PRIMARY to BOTTLE
Happy 9 months Bear! Well, Brix is down to 6/1.010 which actually exceeded my estimate by about 3 points. Nice! Smell and taste were right on, color was maybe a smidge darker than Whilrwind, but, man this will be good! Can't wait!

6/22 FIRST TASTING
I had the supreme pleasure of first trying this beer with the one and only Don Osborn when I went out to MN for a work conference. Don was gracious enough to invite me over for some homebrews, and I brought with me a few VT beers as well as some homebrews, this being one. I was a little worried that it hadn't carbonated much since I had only bottled it 6 days prior, but it poured fine, even though the head dissipated pretty quickly. It was pretty good, sweet, light, a little tang from the orange peel... still not quite where I wanted it, but will be able to tell better when I sample it with a Whirlwind and my last bottle from the one I brewed last summer.