Entry #212: Right Technique, Wrong Style
At a 400-entry BJCP competition you judge Entry #212, declared Belgian Witbier (OG 1.048, 4.8% ABV, 14 IBU). Your scoresheet reads: hazy pale straw, dense white head; aroma of banana and clove with a light bubblegum note, and no coriander or orange peel detectable; flavor of soft bready malt, low bitterness, medium-dry finish with a faint tart snap; light-medium body, high carbonation; no diacetyl, no DMS, no astringency. Brewer's notes: 50% unmalted wheat, Wyeast 3944, fermented at 68°F (20°C), coriander and bitter orange peel added at 5 minutes left in the boil, no kettle finings, single infusion mash, no protein rest. It is the only Witbier in its flight.
1. Is this beer in style for the declared category? What is the beer telling you, and what does that imply about the brewer's process?
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Not in style - but not flawed.
Witbier expects: a spice-and-citrus-forward aroma (coriander, orange peel, sometimes a grainy-sweet wheat note), low to moderate spicy/phenolic yeast character, IBU 8–20, 4.5–5.5% ABV, effervescent, often a light lactic tartness. This beer delivers the malt, the haze, the carbonation and the tart snap - but the aroma is banana and bubblegum, which is isoamyl acetate and ethyl hexanoate: Weissbier fermentation character, not Witbier character. And the defining spice signature is simply missing.
Diagnosis of process:
- Banana ester at this level comes from warm fermentation and/or low pitch rate. 68°F is warm for 3944, which is a moderate phenol producer; underpitching pushes ester formation further.
- Missing spice is a dosage/volatility problem, not a recipe problem. A 5-minute addition of coriander and orange peel loses volatile oils to steam and, at a low load, disappears entirely. Typical fixes: larger charge, and split between late boil and whirlpool/flameout.
- The banana is masking the spice too - a strong ester note sits on top of delicate coriander.
Conclusion: a technically clean, well-made beer that lands closest to a low-hop wheat ale with Bavarian-type fermentation character - not a Witbier.
2. How do you score a technically clean beer that misses its declared style? Walk through your sheet.
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Judge the beer against the style it was entered in. That is the entire premise of a style competition. You do not reclassify it, and you do not reward it for being pleasant in the wrong category.
- Aroma (highest weight here): deduct for the absent coriander/citrus and for the banana being out of character. Leave specific, actionable language: "Expressive banana/bubblegum ester dominates; spice and citrus not detectable; classic Witbier aromatic signature absent."
- Appearance: full marks. Correct haze and head retention for the style.
- Flavor: moderate deduction. Malt and bitterness are within range, but the ester profile is the story of the beer, and it is the wrong story.
- Mouthfeel: full marks. Body, carbonation, and dryness are on target.
- Overall impression: the drinkability is high and the brewing is clean, so this should not be scored as though it were flawed. Expect something in the mid-to-high 20s rather than the low 20s - a well-executed beer that is stylistically off, not a defective one.
- Do not mark "diacetyl" or "astringency" or invent faults to justify the low score. Name the actual gap.
Also say what it is not: do not tell the brewer to enter it as Weissbier either - 3944 is not that profile, and the spice-free wheat base with a lacto-snap is not a match there either.
3. What three concrete changes would you recommend to the brewer, ranked by impact?
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1. Move the fermentation temperature (largest effect). Drop from 68°F to the low 60s°F and pitch a healthy, properly sized starter. This suppresses isoamyl acetate and lets the phenolics and spice read. Hold it there through the first 48 hours - ester formation is front-loaded.
2. Rebuild the spice addition. A 5-minute addition is too late and too small. Increase the coriander (fresh-crushed seed, not pre-ground) and fresh orange peel, and split the charge: about half at 10 minutes, half at flameout/whirlpool. Consider adding at the end of fermentation in a bag if the brewhouse addition keeps disappearing.
3. Protect the wheat haze and body. With 50% unmalted wheat and no protein rest, a step at 122°F for 15–20 minutes improves runoff (rice hulls help) without destroying the protein haze Witbier needs. Keep the tart snap - a small acidulated malt addition or a controlled lactic adjustment in the kettle stabilizes that faint tang, which is currently one of the beer's best assets.
Bonus: none of this is a repitch-a-new-yeast problem - 3944 is the right strain. This is temperature and process, not organism.