Zoso White

Classification: wit, Belgian ale, wheat beer, all-grain

Source: David P. Brockington (bronyaur@stein3.u.washington.edu), r.c.b., 12/14/93

I used three sources when formulating this recipe -- Rajotte's Belgian Ale, Jacksons New World Guide..., and Jackson/Guinard's article on Belgium-Style Specialty in the 1991 special Zymurgy on traditional beer styles. I have only brewed this twice, inspired when a friend came back from Belgium raving about Hoegaarden White, and after Celis White was discovered in Seattle. My interest in the style was piqued, to say the least.
I used different yeasts and malted wheats in the two times that I brewed this. The first batch used a wheat that was too dark, and the resulting beer came out darker than it should have. Also, I changed yeasts -- the first batch used Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Ale) which worked ok but not well enough for me. I switched to Wyeast 3068 (The new Weihenstephan Wheat) for the second batch. I will use the new Belgian Wit Wyeast next time I brew this.

The recipe seems to work -- Pierre Celis judged it at the Dixie Cup this year and gave it a 35. This was for the original version (Wyeast 1214) and it lost a couple of points for color. It did do well enough to take Second in the Specialty category at the Dixie Cup. I also had the amazing opportunity to have Michael Jackson try it during a lunch at the NHC in July, and he liked it. (Of course, would he say otherwise in person?) We talked about the cumin possibility, and he agreed that cumin probably is not in Celis White. (and it certainly didn't find its way into my beer -- have you ever smelled fresh cumin?)

Ingredients:

6 pounds Pils malt. (preferably from Belgium)
3 pounds malted wheat
3 pounds unmalted wheat
1 pound malted oats
1 ounce Tettnanger (5.4 AAU) for 60 minutes
0.75 ounce Tettnanger for 20 minutes
0.5 ounce fresh ground coriander for 60 minutes
0.25 ounce grated, dried orange peel for 60 minutes
0.25 ounce coriander for 30 minutes
0.25 ounce orange peel for 30 minutes
0.50 ounce orange peel for 20 minutes
yeast (see note in description)

Procedure:

The mashing schedule for the Dixie Cup version is as follows:

Mash-In with 2.5 gallons (.75 quart/pound)
30 minutes @ 125F
Add hot water to mash to raise temperature to 148-150F
Hold there for 60 minutes
Sparge to 6 gallons in kettle with 170F water
Water used is untreated, Seattle City water

The next version, with the 3068 yeast, I did a simple single infusion at 154F for 60. Seemed to work as well as the double infusion.