Using Winter Wheat

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

maltoftheearth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
493
Reaction score
13
Location
Carthage
I have a unique opportunity to use some locally grown hard winter wheat for a homebrew. To date I have only brewed about a dozen beers, 8 of those being all grain. I would like to create a wheat beer using this grain.

So, I am not expert and I have lots of questions:

1. From my limited reading it looks like I need other grains mashed in with my hard winter wheat. What percent of my recipe can/should be winter wheat?

2. I have read that I need to modify the winter wheat by boiling it? Do I boil the grains and then add them to the mash? Or do I add the boiled grain water to the mash? OR do I just mash for an extra long time?

3. Are these grains able to be malted and used to greater effect this way?

If anyone can point me to additional resources on working with hard winter wheat I'd appreciate it.
 
I was trying to find a book in my collection which touches on malting wheat, but I couldn't put my hands on it. I think it's called "the homebrewer's garden," or something very close to that. I've never malted wheat, so I can't help you more then that, let me know how it goes!
 
you dont really need to do a cereal mash with wheat, the gelatization temp is below normal mash temps

I normally take the berries and grind them to flour, add to the mash and brew as usual
 
you dont really need to do a cereal mash with wheat, the gelatization temp is below normal mash temps

I normally take the berries and grind them to flour, add to the mash and brew as usual

It was my understanding that the gelatinization temp quoted for wheat is for the pure starch and doesn't hold true for the grain itself. For example, when you add flour to a sauce to thicken it, you need to bring it to a boil to get the starch to thicken (gelatinize) as far as I am aware. This is opposed to pure corn starch, which thickens well below the boil. That said you will get some gelatinization at mash temps, and a bit of starch isn’t such a bad thing in a sour beer.

Boiling the wheat isn’t too tough. Just grind it and mix it with plenty of water. Using 2-row you’d be safe with 30-40% raw wheat.
 
Back
Top