Wheat bier mash help needed, TODAY!

Hey I'm laying things out for my brew session this afternoon after picking up the kids from school so I have a little time, but not much. I'm about to brew my first wheat bier and wanted to know how to proceed. The grain bill will be approx. 40% wheat malt.

Do I need to do a protein rest?
I'm guessing I do as I've done a blonde with 20something % rye in it that turned out very viscous. I figured that at that percentage I could get away with a single step mash, guess not!

What temp is best for a protein rest?
My guess is 126-130.

I looked at the brew wiki and got some information but couldn't find an exact mashing process for wheat/weissbier. Please share yours with me.

Schlante,
Phillip

Why did you need a protein mash with 20% rye? Why do you think you need a protein mash at all?

I often mash with 60-70% wheat...some rice hulls come in handy, but I usually don't even bother with that.

Step mashing is not usually necessary at all (it's fun sometimes, tho.)

To be clear I didn't protein mash on the rye blonde, yet at 20+% rye malt it was VERY viscous. Thus my question, how should I modify my mash procedure to avoid this in a wheat bier that'll be approx. 40% wheat? I'm not sure it would happen again since it's wheat, but better safe than sorry. So is it a protein rest I need to do, or something else?

Phillip

Rye is much worse in this regard than wheat. MUCH worse.

My Roggenbier (which is about 50% rye) has had this problem a few times...but I have never used a protein rest. It was actually next on my list to attempt perfecting this beer.

I think I've only used a protein rest maybe half a dozen times in the dozens (probably at least 50) of wheat beers that I have made and have never had the same problem that I had with rye. Again, I generally use 60-70% wheat...I don't think it's necessary.

However, if you want to go for it, you can do a protein rest at around 130°F, then step it up (I use decoction or infusion, direct heat is ok too) to ~150°F for your saccharification rest.

I didn't even consider doing a protein rest for the rye blonde because it was such a small percentage of rye malt. So I figured I'd be better off safe than sorry with what looks like it'll be 42% wheat malt bier. Thanks for the input Death.

For the record I'm attempting a 'rough' clone of Blue Heron a discontinued brew from Lazy Magnolia Brewery here in MS. Me and many others thought it was their best bier, apparently ratebeer concurs! It's a truely great krystalweizen fermented at high temps with T-58 yeast. This'll be interesting at the very least. I'm gonna toss in a couple of whirlflock tablets also to help with the 'krystal' part of the equation

Schlante,
Phillip

Yeah, at 20%, I'm surprised you had a problem...but rye can be a real PITA. My friend did a 100% rye mash once...that was a LOOOONNGGG day

Whirfloc is more for post-boil (cold break) than it is for the yeast in suspension after fermentation. I would suggest cold-crashing after fermentation. Some people use gelatin, but I haven't yet tried it.

Hope it goes well!