Using bread to make beer? (not kvass)

[z-bob]

I've got this idea stuck in my head to try brewing a witbier using cheap white bread for the unmalted wheat. I know it contains a little salt; I don't think I care about that because it's not that much and my water is very low in sodium. Seems easy enough; the starch is already cooked so I don't have to do a cereal mash, just dump sliced bread into the mash. Good idea, or terrible idea?

Where I'm getting stuck is figuring out the adjustment for the moisture content. White bread is typically just over 35% moisture. Briess flaked wheat is about 7% moisture. (I just looked that up) So would the conversion, where B is bread and W is flaked wheat, be
B = W * (1-.07) / (1-.36)?

In other words, to replace 3 pounds of flaked wheat in the recipe, I would use about 70 ounces of sliced bread?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

There's been a bit of a movement for using waste bread (and similar) in "regular", non-"wheat" beers, see eg this recipe from Toast : https://www.toastale.com/toast-ale-recipe/

They seem to think that drying it helps avoid stuck mashes.

 

[z-bob]

There's been a bit of a movement for using waste bread (and similar) in "regular", non-"wheat" beers, see eg this recipe from Toast : https://www.toastale.com/toast-ale-recipe/

They seem to think that drying it helps avoid stuck mashes.

Thanks! I think I've heard of that before...
Your link doesn't work in the USA; as soon as the page loads it redirects to toastale.com/us -- even if I open it in incognito mode. But this version works: https://web.archive.org/web/20170428000752/www.toastale.com/toast-ale-recipe/ They say 1.5 kg of dry croutons is equivalent to 2.5 kg of fresh bread.

 

[bracconiere]

if you're worried about the water weight...what about the crust messing with the flavor? i'd say experiment and just throw a loaf in the mash tun....i've brewed 10 gal batches with 5lb's of white flour, so, it'll work.....and you wouldn't need a cereal mash for wheat, it gel's at the same temp as barley....

 

[z-bob]

if you're worried about the water weight...what about the crust messing with the flavor? i'd say experiment and just throw a loaf in the mash tun....i've brewed 10 gal batches with 5lb's of white flour, so, it'll work.....and you wouldn't need a cereal mash for wheat, it gel's at the same temp as barley....

I tried adding flour directly to the mash once and I got terrible efficiency. Maybe I needed to mash a little hotter (like 154 instead of 150) I've also done a cereal mash with flour, and that works surprisingly well as long as you add a little malt to keep it from turning into wallpaper paste.

I thought bread would be a lot cheaper than flaked wheat. And it is, until I take into account the water weight; then I'm not so sure. But I still need to try it once

 

[bracconiere]

i've brewed with 12lb's malt, and 5 lb's white flour...fine efficiency, but a PITA sparge.....(10 gal batches) just mashed at 150 something......you could use oats too, they gel at the same temp as barley too.....i've done 100% oat beer mashed at 150....couldn't crush them fine enough, but they did convert.....

 

[bracconiere]

But I still need to try it once

do it! if it wasn't for that i would have never tried malting whole oats, and making a 100% oat beer....