Witty Ging

Last night I brewed a witbier that was my first non Mr. Beer recipe. I picked up the ingredients from Corrado's Home Beer Center and everything cost about $20. The good news is that I have some coriander and orange peel leftover for another batch since the recipe only called for half an ounce. I crushed the coriander using a rolling pin and plastic ziplock bag. I am calling this beer a Witty Ging:

3 pounds Wheat Dry Malt Extract (DME)
.75 oz. Hersbrucker (50 minutes)
.5 oz. Coriander (15 minutes)
.5 oz. Bitter Orange Peel (5 minutes)
Safbrew T-58 Yeast

As you can see in this picture, I clearly need a bigger brewing pot. I have only used 1 pound of DME before this recipe, and the amount of volume that 3 pounds took up was a little surprising. This was also the first time I used a hops bag for the boil. It was a little surprising how buoyant it was even after it was completely saturated (If you are using a hops bag, remember to sanitize the bag before you put the hops in it). The volume eventually decreased as water evaporated, but there were a few close calls with boil overs (luckily the stove top escaped unscathed).

The beer turned out a LOT darker than I was expecting. My hydrometer reading came in at 1.061, which is a lot higher than my expected 1.050 that QBrew estimated. This just means that the Witty Ging will be a higher ABV than I thought!