Rapscallion Tangerine Ginger Wit

Rapscallion Tangerine Ginger Wit

Courtesy of Adventures in Homebrewing
Taylor, Michigan

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.042   FG = 1.010
IBU = 30   SRM = 4   ABV = 4.1%

What screams summer more than a wit beer? Try a little twist this season with Adventures in Homebrewing’s Rapscallion Tangerine Ginger Wit. This recipe is a light wit with a magnified dry finish due to the light addition of ginger. If you like your wits with a little more octane, try a pound of honey in the secondary. Serve in a Pilsner glass with a slice of blood orange.

Ingredients
6 lbs. (2.7 kg) wheat liquid malt extract
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) aromatic malt
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) white wheat malt
8 AAU Northern Brewer hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 8% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) ginger root (5 min.)
1 oz. (28 g) tangerine peel (5 min.)
Wyeast 3944 (Belgian Witbier), White Labs WLP400 (Belgian Wit Ale), or Lallemand Abbaye Ale yeast.
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by step

Add crushed grains to a muslin bag and place in 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of water in your brew pot. Slowly raise the temperature to 150–160 °F (66–71 °C). Steep your grains at this temperature for 20 minutes. Remove the bagged grains from the pot and allow the liquid to drain from the bag into the pot. Bring wort to a boil and then remove from heat. Stir in the malt extract until it has all dissolved, being sure not to scorch any on the bottom of the pot. Return kettle to the heat and boil 60 minutes, adding hops, ginger root, and tangerine peel as indicated.

Cool the wort to ~100 °F (38 °C) as quickly as possible. Transfer the wort into the primary fermenter and top off with cold water until a total of 5.13 gallons (19.4 L) is reached. Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast when the wort cools to 78 °F (26 °C). Ferment at your chosen yeast’s optimal temperature. Once the primary fermentation is complete, bottle or keg as normal.