Whats the difference between using wheat BERRIES and wheat MALT?

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as_saturn_ascends

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hi all!

I have seen several recipes for wheat beers and hefes etc.

what would be the advantage of using wheat malt instead of unmalted hard red wheat?

is there really that much of a difference? can i use wheat berries as 80% of the grain bill or do i need wheat malt?

any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Wheat berries have no diastatic power, therefore they do not convert themselves. Wheat malt has enough diastatic power to convert itself.

80% wheat berries will make something like oatmeal, but not beer.
 
Thanks Nateo. I've been interested in this because some of the recipes ive read call for that amount of wheat berries and no other malts with high diastic power.

but they make no mention of using wheat malt.... it makes me wonder if that works.

in some of my beers i add wheat berries as an adjunct and it gives a really nice wheatieness to it especially for the first couple weeks.
 
I've had better luck using large amounts of wheat malt to get the "wheatiness" I'm after. I've used 50% wheat berries and was disappointed.
 
Ah I think this info works really good for me. Here in Idaho i can buy large bags of wheat and barley really cheap so I think I will start malting my own base malt about 80%modified and then just buy the specialty stuff. we use local water here too from the spring so it may just be a step closer to a more regional beer anyway.

thanks for all the help you two.
 
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