Wheat from farm... what to do???

[isukendall]

I have some wheat that was given to me from my grandfather, he says it's the best wheat harvest he's had in 30 years. Since I've started homebrewing, I thought it would be a nice testament to him to use his grain in a homebrew. He's a Miller guy, so something that would be a stepping stone would be nice.

With it being unmalted wheat, what should I do with it? I have about 3 pounds of unmalted wheat. I've just started doing all grain brewing, and it has turned out pretty good so far. I've read a bit about cereal mash, but unsure if that is what I should do. Obviously I'm going to have to add something to the mash to make a full 5g batch. Any recommendations? It's late seasonally to do witbiers, but I'd pull this one out to have it at home for xmas.

 

[beeber]

It's never to late for a witbier. Make a witbier or something along the lines of blue moon. Maybe a weizenbock?

 

[emjay]

Depends on the kind of wheat.

Ie, hard/soft, red/white, winter/spring wheat.

What kind do you have?

 

[isukendall]

It's spring wheat from Nebraska. I would still want to mill it, correct?

 

[orangehero]

Really any raw wheat is fine for brewing, although some are more desirable than others. Yes, you should mill it, and a cereal mash is recommended along with a lauter aid such as rice hulls.

A cereal mash is really simple, you just need a spare pot, or you can use your kettle. Mash in the milled wheat and a small quanitity of malt (about 10% of total base malt) and rest at 122F for 15 minutes; heat to 150F and rest for 15 minutes to help saccharify it. Then boil for another 15 minutes to gelatinize the starch. Then add this to the main mash to get it to whatever saccharification temperature you want. Add the wheat slowly and check temperature often. If there is still wheat left, let it cool to your target main mash temperature and add it then.

Maybe look for an American Wheat recipe to use the wheat in.