Protein Rest for a Belgian Wit?

A little while ago, I threw some father's day recipes out there for critique. One of them was a Wit, with a nice proportion of torrified wheat. One poster suggested I do a protein rest at 133*F. It seemed a bit counter-intuitive, given this is a wit (and all that implies), but the man certainly knows what he's talking about (has many brews under his belt).

So, is a protein rest recommended for a wit? If so, at what temperature? Furthering that, exactly how does one start at protein-rest temperatures, and get up to the 150ish required for the mash proper -- all while using a standard cooler-MLT?

Thanks brohams.

It's not gonna hurt, but a waste of time in my opinion. I've brewed many a Wit beers with single infusion.

If you're gonna do it, I've found the easiest way is an infusion. Dough in around 0.9qt/lb (with about 8qts) to reach ~125-130F. Then, adding around 9qts of 200-210F water should get you to sacc rest temps with a final thickness around 1.8qt/lb. The details, of course, are all dependent on your grainbill weight.

I wouldn't do a protein rest, but a beta-glucan rest would make for much easier lautering.

I have to agree. I don't usually do a protein rest with any of my beers, although I suspect a few styles could benefit from one. I believe that temperature range allows for beta-glucan breakdown, as previously posted, but yeah, who cares in a Belgian Wit?

Check out John Palmer's How To Brew. He talks about the different rest temperatures and what they're used for. I think a lot of the rests came from a time when grains weren't as highly modified as they are now.

My efficiency improved with a protein rest. I have heard that protein rests are good with wheat beers. Has anyone else concluded this? If I were to do a protein rest, I would keep it between 125 and 130, and bring it up to 155 with an infusion. I think its "to each his own" when it comes down to it. Cheers!

From what I understand if you are using torrified or flaked wheat you want to do a protein rest otherwise your not going to get much conversion from them.

If your using malted wheat I wouldn't bother with the protein rest

I just made a wit following the recipe in Radical Brewing. I believe Mosher recommends a protein rest, though I'm not sure why.

Bokonon said:

From what I understand if you are using torrified or flaked wheat you want to do a protein rest otherwise your not going to get much conversion from them.

If your using malted wheat I wouldn't bother with the protein rest

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Hmm, interesting. I will be using torrified wheat, and quite a bit of it at that. I suppose I'll just follow the above recommendation, that is, dough in at protein temps, then add a few quarts of hot water to bring it up.

EDIT: Took a look at Palmer's thing on rests. For the amount of torrified wheat I'm using, he recommends a beta-glucan rest at 98-113, then a protein rest at 120-131. So I'm thinking shoot for 105 for about 30 minutes, then 120ish for about 20 minutes, then infuse up to around 154 for the mash proper.

I'm about to brew this up in +/- an hour. If anyone has any final thoughts, by all means...

If you're using a high proportion of unmalted grains and worry about lautering, you have two options: a beta-glucan rest, which is a hassle, or rice hulls.

I <3 Rice hulls.

I've brewed dozens of batches of traditional Witbier - read "lots and lots of sticky stuff in the mash" - as single infusions and never had a lautering problem. Rice hulls were the key.

Bob