No rice hauls for wheat beer

I am brewing a small batch of my summer ale (in hops of keeping things warm!) and my LHBS is out of rice hauls. I am using 4lbs wheat malt and 3lbs 2 row. Do I have to worry about stuck sparging? Previously I would add 1lb of rice hauls per advice from Palmer.

Hmm... Good luck. I would certainly want to add rice hulls to that grain bill for piece of mind, but you may still be able to get through it without a stuck sparge. What's your mash tun setup and are you using a false bottom, braided stainless, etc? Some setups will be more prone to a stuck sparge than others.

Second, what's the crush of the grain like? If it's really fine and you see a lot of powder in the bag, you're going to have more trouble than if the crush consists of consistently larger particles.

Finally, the speed in which you're draining out the wort will play a role as well. The slower you can keep the flow, the less likely you'll get stuck.

You might be ok. A few months back I made a weiss that was 55% wheat, 45% two row with a touch of caramunich and had no problem with runoff or sparge runoff.

[edit] and I used no rice hulls.

I brewed a wheat last week I did not use rice hauls I had zero problem.

Infact my LHBS said ( told me) only reason you need rice is if your grain grind is to fine.

You only really need rice hulls if you're using unmalted grains like flaked wheat or oats or if you have a really fine crush. If you're batch sparging in a cooler like a lot of people do or doing BIAB, you'll likely never need them.

Guess I'll play Devil's advocate here. I always put 2 Hand Fulls of Rice Hulls into every Grain Bill. I use a very fine Grind, and I Batch Sparge. Good luck with your Batch and let us know how it turns out after your sparge. :rockin:

If you haven'tmixed the grain together, put the barley in first and place the wheat on top.

Don't disturb it too much when you add the water and sparges. ...just an idea.

Just ran it through no problem I use a cooler and batch sparge and everything turned out A-OK. Much of the reading I see I miss-interpreted. It said rice hauls are needed for ALL wheat. I think the husk from the 2Row provided plenty of a bed that the grains wouldnt get stuck.

Also, my PVC manifold may have too thick of slots but things seemed to have turned out okay. Actually all my beers so far have turned out okay so must be doing something right.

Thanks for advice.

I've never used rice hulls and have done quite a few wheat beers (50% of grist) and many beers with a lot of flaked grains. No issues with a SS braid. I try to have the barley malt in the bottom though.

I never use rice hulls for my wheat beers. I do a 30 minute protein rest at 122 and the sparge is just fine, through a SS braid.