Purpose of rice hulls in my wit?

What exactly is the purpose of the rice hulls in my wit and can I leave them out? I've never had a stuck mash, and I find it hard to believe that this simple wit recipe is going to cause bad things to happen... 7lb German wheat, 4lb German pils, .5lb rice hulls... that's it.

Think I can delete the rice hulls without problem?
-J

I'd keep them personally. The 7lbs of wheat is considerable and losing the rice hulls doesn't make things easier or much cheaper. Just for peace of mind I'd keep them...

I would keep them in there just in case, they aren't going to add anything to the beer and won't take anything away if you leave them out.

Cheers

If you've previously brewed recipes with that high percentage of grist being wheat, and haven't gotten a stuck mash, then I'd say you're fine to leave the rice hulls out.

Wheat kernels don't have a husk, so milling wheat can cause more 'flour' than other grains. Thus the addition of rice hulls to aid flow in many wheat recipes. All subject to your own equipment and mashing/sparging technique of course.

I'd leave 'em in with such a high percentage of wheat. There's no husk on wheat, so there's less filter bed in the mashtun. By adding a couple pounds of rice hulls to the tun, I've been able to brew beers as high as 67% wheat with no issues. For five gallons, half a pound might not be enough - I might even up it to a full pound.

Remember that you have to account for the mass of the hulls in your mash temperature calculations, but that you can leave them out for your extraction and efficiency calculations.

Remember to wash the rice hulls a bunch before adding them. I've heard they can add a funny taste to your mash if you don't wash them first.

I've done up to 55% wheat with no problem in sparging.

My wit used 1-1/2 pounds of wheat flour and had no problems (and used no rice hulls)

Also just did an oatmeal stout w 1# of quick oats and no probs.

A step mash seems to be real important in such cases....hold at 120-130 for 30 min, then go up to 152-156 for an hour.

I'm using the 5 gal. bucket (Zapap) lautering apparatus.

good luck..

JBFord

If you do a protein rest will all that wheat, you should be fine w/o the hulls. If you aren't going to do a protein rest, add the amount that Jo3sh suggests. With that much wheat, I would do a protein rest at 122 for about 30 minutes, then crank it up to normal conversion temp.