Recipe

Hoegaarden Original White Ale clone

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.049  FG = 1.011
IBU = 14  SRM = 4  ABV = 4.9%

Ingredients
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) Pilsner malt
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) malted wheat
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked wheat
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
2.5 lbs. (1.13 kg) wheat dried malt extract
3 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 4% alpha acids)
2 AAU Saaz hops (15 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4% alpha acids)
1/8 oz. (3.5 g) lightly crushed coriander seed (0 min.)
1/4 oz. (7 g) dried Curacao orange peel (0 min.)
Wyeast 3944 (Belgian Wit) or White Labs WLP400 (Belgian Wit Ale) or Mangrove Jack’s M21 (Belgian Wit) yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Heat 9 quarts (8.5 L) water to 163 °F (73 °C). Crush whole grains and add, with flaked grains as well, to liquor. Hold mash at 152 °F (67 °C) for 90 minutes. Runoff and wash with 12 quarts (11.4 L) water at 170 °F (77 °C). Add dried malt extract, stir well, bring to a boil. Add East Kent Goldings hops, boil 45 minutes. Add Saaz hops, boil 15 minutes. Remove from heat, remove hops if possible. Add coriander and orange peel, steep 30 minutes.

Pour into fermenter along with enough pre-boiled and chilled water to make up 5.25 gallons (20 L). Cool to 70° F, pitch yeast. Ferment at 65° F for two weeks, rack to secondary and condition cooler (45° F) for three to four weeks. Prime with DME, bottle and age three to four weeks at 45° to 50° F. Serve at 40° F in a heavy glass tumbler.

All-grain option:
Replace the dried malt extract with another 2 lbs. (0.91 kg) each of Pilsner malt and flaked wheat. Increase mash water to 16.5 quarts (15.6 L) and sparge water to 16 quarts (15.1 L). Mash time and temperatures will be the same. Proceed as above from boiling.

Issue: November 2000

Brouwerij De Kluis, Hoegaarden
This is the standard by which all witbiers are measured. Hoegaarden Wit is cloudy and very pale golden in color, with a restrained white head and aromas of coriander and wheat that are impossible to ignore.