Small amounts of wheat - why?

I see lots of non-wheat beer AG recipes using small amounts of wheat. What is the purpose? Is it for head retention?

Wheat will indeed improve head retention. In some recipes, it can even come through slightly.

zoebisch01 said:

Wheat will indeed improve head retention. In some recipes, it can even come through slightly.

Click to expand...

Is this due to the glutinous endosperm in the wheat berry?

I always have lots of pure wheat gluten around the house. Being that I'm currently an extract brewer, a tsp worth of something I already have present in my house may be cheaper than going and driving to buy a small amount of grain. Also, I imagine the pure gluten powder would not impart any flavor, thus making it useful for head retention in all beers. Am I crazy?

Head retention mostly. Papazian also says it helps "lighten" a beer, although I'm not quite sure what he means. The average wheat beer is "heavier" than the normal Euro lager that I am surrounded with.

Careful what type of wheat you use, it can add to haze problems (if that really bothers you... Personally, I don't care about the clarity, so long as the beer tastes good)

Wheat beer itself is rather yummy though

You got it. Small amounts of wheat malt, flaked wheat and/or dextrine malt are often used to increase head retention.

yes, that's why they are used, along with flaked barley, wheat, corn, etc. not sure it really works. i used to add at least ¼ lb wheat malt to most of my beers. i love the flavor and it never hurt, but i'm not sure it really helped with head retention in comparison to my other beers.

you'd do better to do a protein rest for head retention.

Yes wheat does lighten beer just like rice. If you use 5 to 20 percent it will create less body in the beer. Any of you who have made a Hefeweisen (Wheat beer) know that they are very light bodied beers because they are usually 60% of the grist. If you experiment with various amounts of wheat you will notice the change in the finished beer.