Witty Monk

I brewed a slightly suped up batch of Witty Monk today. The only changes were the addition of 1# of Wheat Dry Malt Extract (DME) and Safbrew T-58 yeast instead of the two Mr. Beer yeasts that came with the cans of Hopped Malt Extract (HME). I tried re-hydrating the yeast for the first time. I didn't "proof" the yeast or anything; I just let it sit in the warm water for about 20 minutes before pitching. My original gravity (OG) reading was 1.053, which was a lot lower than what QBrew estimated (1.065). I double checked everything in QBrew and it looked correct. I'll just have to hope for the best and see where the final gravity lands. My best guess is that the Witty Monk HME can's are no properly designated in the database, but who knows.

The Witty Monk had an amazing orange-y smell. There were also little pellets in the HME cans. At first I thought it was something bad, and thought the cans might have been expired or worse (infected). I did some research and they were probably just a few coriander seeds! Coriander is a popular ingredient in wheat beers. In fact, coriander is nothing more than a dried cilantro seed. Who knew!?