Mashing with wheat

[sictransit701]

Relatively new to all grain brewing. I have not done a wheat beer before, and have a wit recipe I’d like to try. I have only done single infusion mashes with my 10 gallon cooler. I have a few questions.

1. Will single infusion mash work, or should I do a step mash? I have not done any research in this. I have only browsed over a few recipes in which some people recommend doing a step mash.

2. What are the differences in wheat? Flaked wheat, white wheat, raw wheat, fortified wheat, malted wheat, unmalted wheat?

3. How does this recipe look?
5 gallon recipe
4 lbs Pilsen
4 lbs white wheat
8 oz flaked oats
8 oz caravienne
1 oz East Kent Goldings (60 min)
0.5 oz bitter orange peel (5 min)
0.5 cracked coriander (5 min)
wlp 400

Thanks a lot!

 

[jcaggiano]

I just used White wheat for the first time this week. I did a single infusion and included the wheat with the rest of my non-oat grains. Judging from the resulting wort I sampled, I think you are good to do single infusion. I got all of the feel and taste I was looking for from the White Wheat (not quite as "spicy"; a little more rounded)

When I have done Witbier, I did a singe infusion at 154 and it turned out really well, maybe a little more clear than I anticipated. I had used malted wheat in this so a cereal mash (<130*f) wasn't necessary.

I can't speak to the nuances that differ in the various wheats available to us in brewing more than a general understanding of which I could be sadly mistaken (but someone will jump to correct me! )


Flaked- moistened with hot water and run through a smooth roller. These are rolled instead of malted to release the starches
White- I believe this to be a very lightly kilned wheat that has been malted
Raw/unmalted wheat are one in the same. No process has been done the the grains
Malted wheat has been processed the same as Barley malt would be
Fortified Wheat: not sure on this one it would almost sound like wheat specific for use in breakfast foods as it has been fortified with minerals for increased nutrition.
There is also Torrified Wheat. This has been "puffed". I have used this and cereal mashed it with oats. I got lots of nice protiens from it that really added to the look and feel of the beer (only 8oz in a 12# grainbill) for a wit.

As for your recipe, it looks really spot on for a Belgian Wit. If you haven't already, there are tons of threads about wlp400 on here and flavors vs temperatures. If you have the capacity, you can really choose what you want to get out of this yeast!

Have fun!

 

[bleme]

JC covered it pretty well. The only thing I would add is that white wheat is grown in the summer and red is grown in the winter. White has more protein and gluten. Red has more flavor. In beer, they are pretty hard to tell apart.

 

[leonardoreges]

Everyone lose above hit it just spot on, so I just have a tip to you. The grain bill you posted is gonna be great for a witbier. But to easy your process I say use malted wheat, so you won't need a protein rest.
If you use some other wheat single infusion mash won't work that well.

 

[bleme]

Just to clarify, when a beer recipe says White Wheat, that is a malted wheat. It can be a little stickier than barley but I BIAB so that isn't an issue for me. Probably half my recipes use 30% to 50% white wheat and I treat it just like the 2-row.

If you use a traditional mash tun, you might want to use rice hulls to loosen the mash up some.

 

[ESBrewer]

Single step could be used, but there are many reasons why multiple temperatures may be useful. Initial beta glucan/protease rest will break down these compounds that are abundant in wheat and can cause mash/lautering difficulties. Also chill haze could be reduced and beer stability may increase. You can also control banana and clove flavors typical for Bavarian wheats by introducing some initial rests and more complicated schedules that aim to control glucose/maltose ratio.

https://byo.com/article/brewing-with-wheat/

https://braumagazin.de/article/brewing-bavarian-weissbier-all-you-ever-wanted-to-know/

 

[homebrewer_99]

When I brew Hefe Weizens I do a 30 minute rest at 122F then a 60 minute rest at 151F.

Also, you need to add 8 oz of rice hulls to keep from getting a stuck Sparge.

Other than that you're golden.