Brewing With Wheat

I am officially done brewing with wheat. This is the third AG batch I had get stuck when sparging. Rice hulls do not work. Any other suggestions? This batch only had 2 pounds of wheat in it.

I just did a 2 1/2 gallon batch of Belgian Wit that had 1 1/2 pounds of pale malt and 3 1/2 pounds of unmalted wheat. I used my Corona style mill with it set as tight as I could to mill the grain and had no rice hulls at all. No problems with getting it out because I BIAB brew using a 5 gallon paint strainer bag to mash the grains in. When the mash is over, let it drain a bit and then squeeze the wort out of it. Try it! Make sure you mill the wheat very fine to get your efficiency up. I think I got about 85% on that batch.

I'm with RMMN, BIAB > 50% wheat--- no problems

Two words - reinheitsgebot.

Kidding - I agree that BIAB is a good alternative. If you don't want to BIAB 15 lbs of grain, do a satellite BIAB mash with the wheat and some barley.

Good luck,

I just brewed a summer wheat that had 7 pounds of wheat in it. I usually put about three big handful's of rice hulls in my mash tun as I crack a little finer than most and I want to avoid a stuck sparge. On this batch, I did get a stuck sparge when turning on my herms but I just shut it off and added another three big handful's of hulls and gave it a good stir. No issues after that. Just give yourself PLENTY of rice hulls and that should do the trick. Wheat tends to gum up so giving it that filter medium really does help. Next time, just add twice as many hulls in there and you should be ok. They wont hurt the wort at all even when used in higher percentages. Wheat is great to use in beers so dont just give up on using a great ingredient, just work around how to use it in your system. Good luck!

I brewed a 10 gallon batch of wheat ale with 12 lbs of wheat, 5 lbs of 2-row and a few big handfulls of rice hulls this weekend. No issues at all. I put the rice hulls in first, right on my false bottom, then my ground 2 row, so that the wheat part of the grist starts out at the top. Of course I stir like hell and break up dough balls when I mash in. I guess it depends on your equipment.

scottyg354 said:

I am officially done brewing with wheat. This is the third AG batch I had get stuck when sparging. Rice hulls do not work. Any other suggestions? This batch only had 2 pounds of wheat in it.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that you have a stainless braid in the bottom of your mash tun.

Once I built a CPVC manifold for my mash tun, my stuck sparges went away.

LandoLincoln said:

I'm guessing that you have a stainless braid in the bottom of your mash tun.

Once I built a CPVC manifold for my mash tun, my stuck sparges went away.

Click to expand...

Round 10" SS False bottom. Doesn't really cover the whole area. Just bought a twelve inch that I have been reluctant to install. I think the weekend.

"Round 10" SS False bottom. Doesn't really cover the whole area..."

Well, theres your problem!

TahoeRy said:

"Round 10" SS False bottom. Doesn't really cover the whole area..."

Well, theres your problem!

Click to expand...

So that extra inch on the sides of it is causing it?

Anything that is not allowing you to filter the grist will cause to much material through to allow for a good filter bed with the grain. I could be wrong, but to me that would make the most sense as people use wheat all the time. I bet as soon as you install the 12" false bottom you will have no issues.

Definetely the size of the false bottom. Did two brews this weekend, although neither were with wheat. But they drained perfectly.

Do you condition your malt before milling? If you search this site and the brew wiki you will find how to do it. I used to get stuck sparges all the time, now I never get stuck sparges.

EDIT: I just saw you resolved your issue. Still, conditioning malt is awesome. It's a pain, but worth it.

Scotty, I use a bazooka screen, this one:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/mash-boil-screen.html

and I never use rice hulls in my wheat's and never once had a stuck sparge, and I make a lot of Hefeweizens and Belgian Wit's, sometimes with up to 70% wheat (and I crush it pretty fine too). FYI, you have to use needle nose pliers to "fold" the end in a bit (like rolling the end of a toothpaste tube) if you install it in a round Rubbermaid tun.

Since installing that and returning my false bottom the only thing I ever got a stuck runoff/sparge with is one pumpkin ale batch where I didn't use rice hulls. Since then I use rice hulls with my pumpkins and as goopy as the canned pumpkin is I still get no stuck sparges.

I batch sparge however, not sure if you batch or fly.


Rev.

Rev2010 said:

Scotty, I use a bazooka screen, this one:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/mash-boil-screen.html

and I never use rice hulls in my wheat's and never once had a stuck sparge, and I make a lot of Hefeweizens and Belgian Wit's, sometimes with up to 70% wheat (and I crush it pretty fine too). FYI, you have to use needle nose pliers to "fold" the end in a bit (like rolling the end of a toothpaste tube) if you install it in a round Rubbermaid tun.

Since installing that and returning my false bottom the only thing I ever got a stuck runoff/sparge with is one pumpkin ale batch where I didn't use rice hulls. Since then I use rice hulls with my pumpkins and as goopy as the canned pumpkin is I still get no stuck sparges.

I batch sparge however, not sure if you batch or fly.


Rev.

Click to expand...

I batch sparge. No time or patience for fly sparging lol. I hear that you get just as good results from batch sparging anyways.