Wheat to improve head retention

[johnybravo]

I went on a brewery tour at the black sheep brewery at the weekend (hmmm, very nice) where they said at they include wheat in their recipes to help the beer keep a good head. Does anyone use this method in their recipes and how does it work?

 

[oconnorshomebrew]

A lot of people do this. Other common grains to use for head retention are Carapils and flaked barley.

 

[Yooper]

A lot of people do this. Other common grains to use for head retention are Carapils and flaked barley.

Yes, it's very common.

Wheat is used often but as oconnorshomebrew said, there are other grains that are commonly used also. Flaked barley is awesome, but it can really create a haze so it's used more often in darker beers like a stout. Even my IPAs get a pound or so of wheat in them, for head retention. I don't use carapils, at least not very often.

 

[Hayseed]

Yes, it's very common.

Wheat is used often but as oconnorshomebrew said, there are other grains that are commonly used also. Flaked barley is awesome, but it can really create a haze so it's used more often in darker beers like a stout. Even my IPAs get a pound or so of wheat in them, for head retention. I don't use carapils, at least not very often.

Is the pound or so for 10 gal batches ?

 

[Yooper]

Is the pound or so for 10 gal batches ?

No, I'll use a whole pound in a lot of 5 gallon batches as well!

 

[johnybravo]

Thanks for the replies, apparently the wheat doesn't add any flavour, do you just add it to a recipe in addition to other ingredients in the mash? Also, should I use flaked wheat?

 

[mblanks2]

1lb of flaked wheat per 5 gallons should do the trick nicely.

 

[irishrover32]

It's usually 3-5% of the grain bill as far as I know. I'm gonna try it on my next brew mysrlf

 

[Bob]

I prefer wheat malt, and no more than 5% of the grist. Although this is a last resort. If you can step your mash, you can solve foam problems on a particular recipe by fiddling with temperatures. If you have a consistent foam problem in all your recipes, there's something else wrong you should figure out before you start adding wheat.

Cheers,

Bob