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1st wheat brew

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rbowers:
Going to brew up a raspberry wheat for the first time tomorrow- really my first effort at a beer with a good amount of wheat (50% grist).  I have heard these mashes can prove tricky so I was hoping to elicit any advice others may have. 
I plan on using a good amount of rice hulls. 
I've heard wheat beers can foam up pretty good in the carboy- any use for silicone anti-foam agents and if so how do you use these?
Any suggestions on mashing?  I have initial plans for a single infusion mash at 150F x 60 min.  Any role for protein rests or other steps?
Sparge as normal or additional cautions?

I'm all ears.

tygo:
I just brewed up my first all-grain wheat this past weekend and used 40% wheat in the grist.  I ground the wheat malt separately and conditioned the barley malt portion with water.  No rice hulls and zero problems but they couldn't hurt as insurance.  Mash and sparge were handled as I normally would.  I did a single infusion mash at 153F. 

One thing to point out is that the wheat malt doesn't absorb nearly as much water so factor that in.

No experience to tell you whether a protein rest would be a better course.  After this batch I'll have a better idea.

I got a pretty nice blowoff on this one but there was 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon better bottle so that was fairly inevitable. 

gmac:
I've made several wheat beers but I'm by no means an expert.  I use 50/50 blend of 2-row and wheat with a couple good sized hands full of rice hulls.  I grind everything together and mix in the rice hulls as I mash in.  I haven't had any stuck mashes but I have found that there is a substantially larger amount of particulate matter on the top of the mash when you sparge. I want to say protein but I really don't know for sure what it is. I've had to scrape that off a bit once to help it drain but it was only on the top of the grain bed.

As for fermentation, I've not experienced any issues with primary but for one where I added fruit juice after primary was complete, I had a lot of foaming over when the yeast kicked in on the sugars in the secondary.  I'd watch that since you say you're doing a raspberry wheat.  Not sure when you're gonna add your berries but if its in the secondary, I'd have some good headspace or a blowoff planned.

Otherwise, I haven't found any real differences between all barley and barley/wheat blends.  I'm gonna do a 10 gal batch on Friday.  5 gals will get raspberries in the secondary, 5 gals will go straight into my belly (well, 20 oz at a time...)
Good luck. 

Edit:  Sorry, I mash at about 150 for a lighter body and do not do a protein rest. 

majorvices:
I brew a wheat beer regularly with 60% wheat and never use rice hulls and never have any problems (knock on wood, right?). In fact, it's been over 10 years since I messed with rice hulls. That doesn't mean you shouldn't but I feel confident that you won't have any problems with you mash using them.

I also only do a single infusion at this point, though on smaller batches I like to do a step mash starting with a ferulic acid mash and maybe even a couple decoctions. But single infusion works well.

Aside from the potentially gummy mash and the potential that the wheat kernels themselves may be slightly smaller than your two row thus needing a different mill gap on your crush I don't think you will notice much difference from any other brew.

What yeast are you using? Wheat iteself doesn't seem to give up larger krauesen, but it could be strain dependent.

nateo:
Whether or not you need a protein rest depends on your malt. I've seen some very well-modified, low protein wheat malt in the same range as "typical" NA pale malts. I personally own some very undermodified, high protein wheat malt. My efficiency when using that malt is easily 10-15% lower if I don't do any low-temp (protein) rests. Running that malt through my mill at my "standard" barley setting wouldn't even crush the kernels.

I don't use rice hulls, but I'm really, really anal when conditioning and crushing the barley to get intact husks. If you suspect your crush isn't perfect, it's not, and you need rice hulls. As much as I love drinking wheat beers, I hate brewing them. I think when this sack of wheat malt kicks it, and I can buy a more suitable malt, my tune may change.

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