Conversion problems with wheat and Belgian pale malt

[fflunkchief]

Has anyone experienced problems with conversion efficiency with wheat malt and/or Belgian pale malt? I have good conversion/efficiency (relative to my system and skills) with a Maris Otter based bill, but the wheels come off the cart using Belgian pale malt as a base and also if wheat malt is a significant component. This is a problem as I love saisons. Grains crushed by the store. I have a Don Osborn inspired rectangular cooler for the mash tun. But for the occasional protein rest for wheat heavy recipes, the process is generally the same. I tend to mash at the lower end of the spectrum (</=150F). Pale malt is well modified, and I understand wheat malt is high in diastatic power (right?). Thoughts? Tips? What am I screwing up? Thanks.

 

[billl]

Well, wheat is smaller than MO, so it needs a finer setting to crush it to the same levels. If your store doesn't adjust, that certainly explains it.

If you can't get the store to change the crush, you could do a traditional decoction to further break the wheat down and liberate the starches.

 

[LouBrew13]

My wheat beers are mashed for 90 minutes from the guidance of my lhbs. Longer mash should help with your conversion.

 

[BrewWorm]

I've been advised to mash for 90 minutes for temps of 150 or below, but I thought it was to get a drier character from shorter sugar chains, and not necessarily to complete conversion.

 

[RM-MN]

To get good conversion you have to get the water to the center of the grain particles and then get the sugars back out. The longer mash helps with that but it still won't get the most from the larger particles. To get the best efficiency you need the particle size smaller. If you are doing a lot of batches with wheat, you need your own mill. You can use a roller mill and decrease the roller gap or you can wet the wheat kernels to soften them and make them swell a bit before you mill them. Problems you might run into with your wheat milled finer is difficulty in draining the mash tun. Rice hulls will help some with that.

You might be well ahead of the game to get a Corona style mill (much cheaper than a roller mill) and learn to do the wheat beers BIAB as you can set the mill as tight as possible so the particles are like coarse corn meal and still get the wort out because of the huge filter size of the nylon bag and the fact that you can squeeze it to make the wort come out.

 

[fflunkchief]

Problem solved I believe. This past weekend I brewed the same Belgian strong/golden/trippel/whatever that gave me problems the first time around and begat my initial post. OG made me smile...came in approx. 1.084 vs the iBrewmaster calc of 1.081. I've never managed to get any batch above 1.054 (though I don't brew a lot of high gravity stuff). Saving grace has always been I seem to get good attenuation (knock on wood). I do now have my own mill (a MM2) and, though I certainly didn't make flour, put it at a finer crush than pre-crushed from LHBS. No stuck sparge at all. I was, frankly, pumped. Best batch of beer I've brewed. Plan on putting both 5G batches in my oak barrel down the road for a quick (hopefully non-sour (this time!)) nap and enjoy this little experiment come winter.

Thanks to all of you (90 min mash, mill importance (duh!), and adjusting mill for different size of grain wheat vs barley). Love this site.