Belgian Wit grains

[kshuler]

Just want to confirm that I screwed up. Went to LHBS and looked through all of their stuff trying to make a belgian wit. It called for "white wheat." I asked them this, and the helper person told me that it is the same as Wheat Malt. I wasn't sure so I went with what she said, measured, milled, done. Now that i am here with the computer, it would seem that I was supposed to get UNMALTED wheat? Is that right?

So, Being that everything is already milled together, how can I expect the final product to be different from expected?

Klaus

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I use some malted and some unmalted. White wheat is the same as Wheat malt, it's just a little lighter so you'll end up with a lighter SRM.

My recipe is 4.5 lbs Belgian Pils, 2.5lbs White wheat, and 2lbs flaked wheat. Works nicely.

 

[weirdboy]

You'll be fine with wheat malt.

You really do need the Pilsner malt too IMO...I like about 50/50 wheat and pils.

 

[passedpawn]

The unmalted leaves a bunch of starch in the beer. This leads to a nice haze that leaves it cloudy and white. You can get the same if you just add a teaspoon of flour to the end of the boil (per 5g). I've done this on a wit and it was quite fine (scored 39 average at NHC).

So, no problem. You didn't screw up. It will be beer.

 

[kshuler]

Thanks guys!!!

I thought I was screwed. Mine is 4.5 lb of Belgian Pils, 3lb of Wheat malt, 2.5 lb of flaked wheat. I was trying to copy OhioBrutus' recipe. Maybe I will just toss in a tsp of flour for the cloudiness... thanks for the suggestion!

Klaus

 

[EBloom97]

Thanks guys!!!

I thought I was screwed. Mine is 4.5 lb of Belgian Pils, 3lb of Wheat malt, 2.5 lb of flaked wheat. I was trying to copy OhioBrutus' recipe. Maybe I will just toss in a tsp of flour for the cloudiness... thanks for the suggestion!

Klaus

Flaked wheat is unmalted. You're square. Looks like a strong recipe.

 

[renevdb]

I use besides the pilsner and flaked wheat a little oats and munich, but the key is getting good fresh oranges.

 

[bmckee56]

I have done 4 Belgian Wit brews in the past several months and your grain bill looks ok to me. I use bitter and sweet orange peel and kick it up with fresh orange zest.

You wit will be fine.

Salute!

 

[kshuler]

Thanks guys. Seemed to go pretty well, overall. Was my very first all grain adventure. I Calculated the recipe for 70% efficiency,but actually calculated it to be 77.3%. Not bad for a first timer, eh? Even though that sounds great, it didn't exactly go smooth. My mash tun needs about 2.5 gallons of water before it hits the false bottom (that's what i get for buying a 15 gallon mash tun intending to use it for 5 gallon batches), so after adding the 14 qts of water calculated for the grain at 1.25 qts per lb, I had essentially one and a quarter inches above the false bottom in which to hold the grain. THis was fine, except I had about 2 inches worth of grain- enough to make the grain slightly damp, but not to let it float. And I had to work HARD to get any of the grain even damp. As a result, I added another 2 gallons of water to this, and also ended up sparging with way too much water as well. I collected about 8 gallons pre boil for a 5 gallon batch! I spent HOURS boiling this down.

But all in all I am pretty happy with the efficiency and how well it went.

Klaus

 

[ghpeel]

If you've got a 15 gal mash tun, I suggest you look around here for threads on "No Sparge" brewing. I know some guys who've done it with good success. Basically you just use all your water at once and skip the sparge.