Preparing "raw" wheat

[PCL]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site and have really enjoyed it and learned so much from everyone's experiences. I had a question regarding preparing raw wheat for brewing. A friend of mine has a big farm, and for he and his wife's 25th anniversary I was going to make a Heffeweissbier with some of his own wheat. I have 10 lbs of the wheat but can't find much on what I need to do to prepare if for brewing. I know how to mill it but am not sure if I can just use it "raw" or if I need to dry it more by toasting it etc. any ideas?

 

[NTexBrewer]

I have used raw wheat from my friends farm on many brews with great results.

I shift through the wheat to make sure there are not any stones, seeds, crickets, etc.

I have also found that the raw wheat from my friends farm is harder and smaller than raw wheat from LHBS. I use the grinder at the LHBS and have found that you have to either mix the raw wheat well with the other grains before crushing or start with your barley and then add the wheat. I do BIAB and usually double crush my grains anyway but it may be advisable to double crush the raw wheat anyway.

Raw wheat has all of the starches but non of the enzymes to convert the starches. You will have to use enough barley to provide the enzymes to convert the wheat.

http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/01/04/diastatic-power-and-mashing-your-beer/

Here is a good article about diastatic power and calculating if you have enough barley to help convert the wheat.

 

[PCL]

Thanks for your help! I have a good ratio of 2-row to wheat (2:1) which will be more than adequate.

Your experience with the milling is really appreciated, I need to do a better job on that. May use a blender gently vs heavy rolling pin.

- PCL

 

[NTexBrewer]

Your welcome. I have not done a Heffe but have done a few Belgian Wits with my friends wheat. The last wit I made without the home grown wheat and to me it did not taste as good. Either it was a freshness thing or the fact it was a different type of wheat. I have also used it in recipes that call for malted wheat.

I'm not sure about your brew setup but if you use a Mash Tun you may want to read up on brewing with wheat and the use of rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge.

My Friends father grows Billings Hard Red Winter Wheat in Oklahoma.

This is the picture my friend sent last year when he was collecting the wheat for me. It is a good thing you boil the wort for an hour!

 

[IslandLizard]

I mill wheat, rye, and other small grains at .024" gap (MM2), separately from barley (.034").

For wheat beers I prefer to do the double wheat decoction mash schedule, but it takes 3.5 hours, before lautering, so you need to do at least a 10 gallon batch to make that worth your time.

 

[PCL]

I haven't gotten into all-grain yet, just doing a partial mash. Time constraints at this juncture don't allow for anything else. It's a Weihenstephaner clone (I'm sure it won't be dead on being only partial mash but hopefully close enough). I did a dunkel Heffeweissbier based on Weihenstephaner and it came relatively close and very tasty.

I really appreciate all the input!

- PCL

 

[Dmanshane]

don't you have to malt the wheat so you can get starch conversion during the mash? I have a 5 gallon bucket of white wheat I got from my dads farm back in june and I promised him some beers out of it and I have no took the time to do anything with it yet

 

[NTexBrewer]

don't you have to malt the wheat so you can get starch conversion during the mash? I have a 5 gallon bucket of white wheat I got from my dads farm back in june and I promised him some beers out of it and I have no took the time to do anything with it yet

Check out the link in the second post. If you have enough diastatic power from other grains then you will have enough enzymes to convert the starches in raw wheat.

I just brewed a Wheat Wine that had 32% Raw Wheat.