FlyGuy
Well-Known Member
I was going to post this in the recent thread 'Malted Wheat vs. Flaked Wheat in a Hefe?', but didn't want to hijack.
I have a hefe recipe (very similar to Baron's) using pils and wheat malt, and it came out excellent. I thought I might try a simple grainbill like this for a wit sometime soon. But I noticed that in the latest BYO, Jamil has a wit recipe that uses flaked wheat instead of malted wheat. He states that unmalted wheat is a necessity for a good wit, and that a base of unmalted wheat and pilsener malt is necessary to achieve the soft, slightly sweet, and gently grainy character of the beer.
This suggests to me that there are significant flavour differences between malted and unmalted wheat. Does anyone have some experience about how each contributes differently to the character of a beer with a high proportion of wheat in the grainbill? Is the use of malted vs. unmalted wheat a convention when brewing a hefe vs. a wit? (The recipes I have seen don't seem to confirm this.)
Thanks all.
I have a hefe recipe (very similar to Baron's) using pils and wheat malt, and it came out excellent. I thought I might try a simple grainbill like this for a wit sometime soon. But I noticed that in the latest BYO, Jamil has a wit recipe that uses flaked wheat instead of malted wheat. He states that unmalted wheat is a necessity for a good wit, and that a base of unmalted wheat and pilsener malt is necessary to achieve the soft, slightly sweet, and gently grainy character of the beer.
This suggests to me that there are significant flavour differences between malted and unmalted wheat. Does anyone have some experience about how each contributes differently to the character of a beer with a high proportion of wheat in the grainbill? Is the use of malted vs. unmalted wheat a convention when brewing a hefe vs. a wit? (The recipes I have seen don't seem to confirm this.)
Thanks all.