Toasting Wheat

[Zuljin]

Do you agree with any of these statements?

Toasting wheat may smooth out the crispness of a wheat beer.

Toasting wheat may give a wheat beer a sweeter flavor than non toasted.

Toasting wheat may give a wheat beer a more caramel flavor than non toasted.

I'm thinking American and buckwheat.

This is yeast choice aside. I'll probably use Safale US-05 for it's neutrality and general ease.

From what I've read, toasting wheat does create a caramel flavor, so long as it's not toasted too much. On my tongue, caramel flavor is smooth and sweet.

My aim is to make a smooth, sweet cherry wheat. The idea is to make a plain Jane wheat to start. I'll be adding real cherries sometime in secondary. They'll be a mix of sweet and sour, with the bulk being sweet.

Thing is, wheat beers are crisp. I want to smooth that out.

 

[November]

I've toasted wheat and added it to a fairly simple, though kind of hoppy wheat beer. As far as adding caramel and sweetness, I would be inclined to agree. It also adds a distinct toasted wheat sweetness, which I think is reminiscent of oatmeal cookies. The smoothing out part, I'm not so sure of. I think of wheat as already fairly neutral and smooth. The toasting generally contrasts this though it does so in a pleasant way. If you want to avoid the toasted notes and focus just on the caramel sweetness, try starting your toasting with wet wheat. Hope this helps.

 

[Zuljin]

Thanks.

I only briefly read about toasting wet wheat. The guy was talking about spritzing it.

The oatmeal cookie flavor is appealing.

 

[November]

I've done both. If you want it lighter caramel, like 40L or maybe 60L, spritzing works well. Wet toasting will get you to 100L or higher. Make sure you let it sit in a brown paper bag for a bit before using it. It definitely gets some harshness out.

Hmm, toss in some Special B for oatmeal raisin cookies... I might have to try that.

 

[Rake_Rocko]

I personally don't have any experience home roasting any types of malts, but through my ventures, I came across this website:http://barleypopmaker.info/2009/12/08/home-roasting-your-malts/. It has a ton of awesome info about roasting your own malts.

It doesn't have anything on there about wheat, but I figured it may be a starting point....

 

[kingwood-kid]

I personally don't have any experience home roasting any types of malts, but through my ventures, I came across this website:http://barleypopmaker.info/2009/12/08/home-roasting-your-malts/. .

Assuming we're talking malted wheat, you could make cara-wheat the same way he makes caramel barley. Wheat (and rye) is huskless, so you could cook it a lot darker than barley without the same harshness in the final product. Barley is much bigger than wheat & rye, which would change the cooktime.