70% wheat and no rice hulls

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Kaiser

Kaiser

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And no stuck sparge either.

I just got done with the first Weissbier of the season and I'm impresses how easy it was to lauter a 70% wheat malt grist. I have done 60% before. It took just 30min with batch sparging, which is well in the shadow of the time it takes to bring it to a boil. I could have been faster if I would have watched it.

But I did make sure that the run-off is not to fast and I conditioned the malt. with 24 mil, the crush was also less agressive than usual. The conditioning even preserved some of the outer layer of the wheat malt, which served like husks. But milling this took longer since conditioned malt just doesn't fall though the hopper as easily as dry malt :(.

Kai
 
Most I have done is 60%, and no stuck sparges either. I'm not sold on using rice hulls and im not sure I ever will be.
 
I've done a few 70/30's as well. I used rice hulls on one that I fly sparged, but the 2 I batch sparged I didn't bother. I used my normal crush (corona style mill) and didn't condition the malt at all. I think my rectangular cooler helps in my case, there is much less grain bed pressure caused by weight.
 
Here's a question.

Does doing a protein rest for a wheat-heavy recipe impact how easily it can be sparged? Or more generally, does the mash schedule (doing decoctions, or just a multi-step infusion mash) have any effect?
 
I did a hefe with 67% wheat, no rice hulls, no stuck sparge.

Kaiser--how did your efficiency turn out with that much wheat? Did you feel like the conditioning helped it at all?
 
Looks like it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal after all.

the_bird said:
Does doing a protein rest for a wheat-heavy recipe impact how easily it can be sparged? Or more generally, does the mash schedule (doing decoctions, or just a multi-step infusion mash) have any effect?
Click to expand...

I don't know, I didn't do a protein rest either and the only decoction was a thin decoction for mash-out.

Looking at the average malt specs for Weyermann Wheat and Pilsner, I see that wheat can have an up to 70% higher viscosity than Pilsner malt. This could be mitigated by beta glucan rests and protein rests, But I didn't seem to need this. One of the reasons for omitting the protein rest for me was to see what kind of body and head retention I will get without it. The next one I'll brew will have a ferulic acid rest and will transition throug the protoelytic range as well. I can then compare if the head retention and body are significantly different.

Kai
 
Ryanh1801 said:
Most I have done is 60%, and no stuck sparges either. I'm not sold on using rice hulls and im not sure I ever will be.
Click to expand...
Slightly :off: .

First time I used rice hulls, I picked up 4 gravity points and gained 7% efficiency.

I just think anytime you have a "fluffier" grain bed, sparging is more effective.

I'd recommend everyone try using hulls at least once in one of their recipes. They are now as much a part of my brewing "gear" as PH buffer, charcoal water filter and whirflok tablets.
 
I have used them before, and never noticed any sort of difference. (Knocking on wood).. Ill probably have a stuck sparge today now.
 
I've never heard of using such a large amount of wheat in the grain bill. What type of beer does that create? More importantly, what are the benefits and drawbacks in a beer made with that type of grain bill?
 
BierMuncher said:
.First time I used rice hulls, I picked up 4 gravity points and gained 7% efficiency.
I just think anytime you have a "fluffier" grain bed, sparging is more effective.
I'd recommend everyone try using hulls at least once in one of their recipes. They are now as much a part of my brewing "gear" as PH buffer, charcoal water filter and whirflok tablets.
Click to expand...

Is this for batch or fly sparging. For batch sparging I'm inclined to say that a fluffier grain-bed holds back more wort and the more wort is held back after each sparge, the less the efficiency will be. This assumes that you are able to drain the wort (no stuck sparge).

EinGutesBier said:
I've never heard of using such a large amount of wheat in the grain bill. What type of beer does that create? More importantly, what are the benefits and drawbacks in a beer made with that type of grain bill?
Click to expand...

This is for a Bavarian Wheat, which contain 50% - 100% of wheat. I'll try a 100% wheat beer later in the season, just to see how this will taste. There are some breweries that use 100% wheat in their beers, but the majority should be in the 60% - %80 range. The larger amount of protein and beta glucans should have a strong affect on the head retention and body of the beer.

Kai

 
Kaiser said:



This is for a Bavarian Wheat, which contain 50% - 100% of wheat. I'll try a 100% wheat beer later in the season, just to see how this will taste. There are some breweries that use 100% wheat in their beers, but the majority should be in the 60% - %80 range. The larger amount of protein and beta glucans should have a strong affect on the head retention and body of the beer.

Kai
Click to expand...
Interestingly, I did not know that about Bavarian Wheat. In fact, it's been so long since I've had a BW. Does the taste sort of have a "twang" to it? I've found some wheat beers to have something along those lines. I'm trying to get a feel for the taste here.
 
EinGutesBier said:
I've found some wheat beers to have something along those lines. I'm trying to get a feel for the taste here.
Click to expand...

With Bavarian Wheats, you have to keep in mind that a lot of the flavors are coming from the yeast and not the wheat. Since these are the only large % wheat beers in Germany, one may be inclined to contribute a yeast derived flavor component to the wheat. If you make a 100% barley beer with a wheat beer yeast, you may be surprised how much it tastes like a regular Weizen.

To this point I still have to get a feel for what taste is actually coming from the wheat.

Kai
 
Interesting, Kai. So the high wheat volume is for authenticity as well as the body and head retention characteristics? I wonder if there's a cost advantage with doing an all barley beer with wheat yeast over an all wheat beer with wheat yeast...
 
By law, wheat beers have to have <=50% wheat in them. Wheat malt seems to be equally priced to barley malt, so there is no cost benefit here, but larger amounts of wheat are more difficult to lauter and may take longer time in that stage. That's where I would see a difference in cost. And then there is a taste difference, I just don't know what flavors exactly. I was just warning you that you should not attibute everything that is different for a Bavarian Wheat is because of the wheat.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:

Is this for batch or fly sparging. For batch sparging I'm inclined to say that a fluffier grain-bed holds back more wort and the more wort is held back after each sparge, the less the efficiency will be. This assumes that you are able to drain the wort (no stuck sparge).

Click to expand...

I do a hybrid Batch/Fly. Using a pot, I add sparge water to the grain bed gently and slowly, just enough to keep up with a slow outflow. The water level never falls below 2-3 inches above the grain bed. Never stir. By the time the sparge is finishing up, my wort is running completely clear out of the tun.

So even though I'm adding water in "batches", I'm applying the water to the grains in the same fashion as a sparge arm would do.

Slow runoff to prevent suction and stuck sparges.
Keep water level above grain bed to avoid channeling.
Never stir the grain bed so I don't resuspend sugars that would otherwise be squeegied out by the sparge water.

I went from 72 to 82% with just this method (read about it in BYO).

Sorry to keep rambling :off:
 
BierMuncher said:
I do a hybrid Batch/Fly.
Click to expand...

With regard to my comment, this is fly-sparging as you rely on an even flow though the grain-bed to extract as much extract as possible. In this case a fluffy grain-bed helps as it prevents the dreaded channeling.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:
With regard to my comment, this is fly-sparging as you rely on an even flow though the grain-bed to extract as much extract as possible. In this case a fluffy grain-bed helps as it prevents the dreaded channeling.

Kai
Click to expand...
Right...

I was just trying to avoid admitting to going over to "that" camp. :cross:
 

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