Wheatgerm?

Can/Has anyone experimented, theorize or speculate what would be the results of using wheatgerm in their brew? Would it be like using raw wheat? Would you cereal mash it, protein rest and then up to sacc? Wheatgerm is the "heart" meaning all the good stuff is in there. I might try using it in my wit, but I just wanted to see if I could get any feed back.

Until this moment, I've never thought about it. Without the husks, it could gum up the works something fierce if you use very much of it, so you need to account for that. I don't know if you would need to mash the toasted wheat germ, and I don't know that you need to cereal mash the untoasted.

Unless there is something just particular about wheat germ you want, it seems like an expensive way to add wheat to a beer, no matter what.


TL

The "good stuff" is a lot of oil & oil-soluble vitamins. Not much on the starches and proteins vital to brewing.

Agree with david here. The germ contains extra fat and protein compared to the rest of the wheat. Yes it's good nutritional stuff but these are ingredients you want to minimize in a beer. IMO stick to brewer's wheat products like regular malted wheat, flaked or torrified wheat if you want that grain in your beer.