Help a dumb@$$ please

Ok, I'm supposed to be brewing up a batch of my wheat beer with a friend this weekend since he wants a batch. I'm debating doing an AG or an extract as I know he liked the extract, but I'd kind of like to do another AG, though this would only be my 3rd AG batch.

My first AG batch went pretty well and I just pulled a hydro sample yesterday and I it tasted fantastic and should be close to be being done now.

My 2nd batch was my practice run for this same wheat recipe, but unfortunatley my dumb@$$ bought the wrong kind of wheat I was supposed to get german wheat at 2SRM, but bought carawheat at 46SRM. How this batch turns out is yet to be seen, but now I am looking for info and advice.

Info I need: I'm assuming this is the wheat I should have used but want to double check http://www.midwestsupplies.com/pale-wheat-weyermannr.html BeerSmith called for "Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0SRM)".

Advice: My extract version is proven to be tasty, should I just brew him up an extract or take the chance on my first(or first with the right ingredients) AG version of this as my practice run was a bit of a failure(failure since it didn't achieve it's purpose, but may still be a tasty beer)

That's wheat malt for sure with lovibond rating of 1.5. What proportions with pale malt are you using in the recipe?

I vote all grain.

WOW!!! That's a lot of self-deprecation in one little post -- you seem pretty smart to me, wanting to go all-grain.

Yep, for a base wheat malt that's the stuff.

For my first 3 gallon all grain batch I accidentally bought 6 lbs of crystal 60. I caught the error before brew day, but now with many batches behind me I wish I would have brewed it -- it would have been interesting!

Go all grain. Lifes too short for regrets and in two months when you are drinking your extract wondering what might have been had you done the AG one you will wish you had. My 2c.

Yikes! Wheat and CaraWheat are not even close to being interchangeable.

Normal wheat malt is very, very fermentable (and delicious). CaraWheat is wheat malt that has been made into a Crystal Malt, meaning that it adds body and sweetness to a beer, but is not particularly fermentable. Are you familiar with malts like "Cyrstal 40"? That's basically CaraWheat, except the former is made from barley and the latter from wheat. Supposedly, CaraWheat gives a slightly different flavor than C40, but I don't know how distinct it is.

I expect that you're CaraWheat batch (its all grain right?) will end up around 1.030 or so, meaning really, really sweet and not very alcoholic.

Do the AG. Wheat AG is very easy and one of the more forgiving styles IMO.

So what you messed up that other one. It happens. Get the right stuff and do it right this time!

Blender said:

That's wheat malt for sure with lovibond rating of 1.5. What proportions with pale malt are you using in the recipe?

Click to expand...

It was 7Lbs of Pale Malt and 4.3Lbs of the carawheat

HotbreakHotel said:

WOW!!! That's a lot of self-deprecation in one little post -- you seem pretty smart to me, wanting to go all-grain.

Yep, for a base wheat malt that's the stuff.

For my first 3 gallon all grain batch I accidentally bought 6 lbs of crystal 60. I caught the error before brew day, but now with many batches behind me I wish I would have brewed it -- it would have been interesting!

Click to expand...

Yes, but I will admit when I do something dumb and learn from I distinctly recall looking at the cara in the grain room of the LHBS, thinking this stuff looks way too dark, but rather than finding someone and asking I just weighed it, crushed it, bought it, and brewed it.....the smart thing to do would have been to ask, and the little voice in my head was telling me to ask, I just didn't listen

ghpeel said:

Yikes! Wheat and CaraWheat are not even close to being interchangeable.

Normal wheat malt is very, very fermentable (and delicious). CaraWheat is wheat malt that has been made into a Crystal Malt, meaning that it adds body and sweetness to a beer, but is not particularly fermentable. Are you familiar with malts like "Cyrstal 40"? That's basically CaraWheat, except the former is made from barley and the latter from wheat. Supposedly, CaraWheat gives a slightly different flavor than C40, but I don't know how distinct it is.

I expect that you're CaraWheat batch (its all grain right?) will end up around 1.030 or so, meaning really, really sweet and not very alcoholic.

Click to expand...

Yes, it was an All Grain batch. I hit an OG of 1.052, but how far that drops is yet to be seen. Though if it tastes like crap I figure I'm due anyway. This was the 8th brew of my brewing career, and thus far all of my beer have been between decent and fantastic. I've yet to screw anything up too badly, so it might be about time for a failed batch......though my fingers are still crossed that one turns out atleast drinkable