Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat  (Read 8052 times)

Offline hankus

  • Cellarman
  • **
  • Posts: 48
brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« on: April 04, 2010, 01:23:20 pm »
I have a large quantity of unmalted wheat.Has anyone ever brewed with such using it unmilled-perhaps boiped on the side with some milled malted pale?

Offline a10t2

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4696
  • Ask me why I don't like Chico!
    • SeanTerrill.com
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2010, 01:36:37 pm »
I don't think you'll get much, if any, extract out of it unmilled. Why not mill it?
Sent from my Microsoft Bob

Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
Refractometer Calculator | Batch Sparging Calculator | Two Mile Brewing Co.

Offline hankus

  • Cellarman
  • **
  • Posts: 48
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2010, 03:50:29 pm »
just wondering whether the boiling+stepmashing would be sufficient to gelatinize it

Offline a10t2

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4696
  • Ask me why I don't like Chico!
    • SeanTerrill.com
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2010, 07:10:57 pm »
You could definitely get it hot enough to gelatinize. But without opening up the husk you won't extract any of the starches.
Sent from my Microsoft Bob

Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
Refractometer Calculator | Batch Sparging Calculator | Two Mile Brewing Co.

Offline Beertracker

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 294
  • ExperiFermenting since 1994!
    • Fellowship of Oklahoma Ale Makers (FOAM)
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2010, 09:01:23 am »
You could definitely get it hot enough to gelatinize. But without opening up the husk you won't extract any of the starches.

+1 That's like spending all day shelling peanuts and then not eating any of them! Why would you want to do that?  ::)
CHEERS! Jeff
"A homebrewed beer is truly a superior beer." ~ "Buffalo" Bill Owens - American Brewer

Jeffrey Swearengin
Fellowship of Oklahoma Ale Makers (FOAM)
Tulsa, OK USA

Offline roffenburger

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 179
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2010, 10:53:04 am »
Isn't wheat huskless?
Travis R.

Offline euge

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 8017
  • Ego ceruisam ad bibere cervisiam
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2010, 11:06:33 am »
If the wheat is well toasted first in a dry pan it should split the husk when the wheat is boiled.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline a10t2

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4696
  • Ask me why I don't like Chico!
    • SeanTerrill.com
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2010, 11:12:23 am »
Isn't wheat huskless?
I guess there's a terminology thing going on - barley has a husk and wheat has bran: http://wbc.agr.mt.gov/Consumers/diagram_kernel.html

I think the wheat bran is more permeable, but I doubt you'd get substantial extraction through it.
Sent from my Microsoft Bob

Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
Refractometer Calculator | Batch Sparging Calculator | Two Mile Brewing Co.

Offline MDixon

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2311
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2010, 07:48:43 am »
Mill it and IMO gelatinize it. Certain wheats gelatinize at mash temps while others are a bit higher than a standard mash temp so IMO err on the side of caution and heat it up above 170F for about 10-15 min.
It's not a popularity contest, it's beer!

Offline roffenburger

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 179
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2010, 10:51:22 am »
Isn't wheat huskless?
I guess there's a terminology thing going on - barley has a husk and wheat has bran: http://wbc.agr.mt.gov/Consumers/diagram_kernel.html

I think the wheat bran is more permeable, but I doubt you'd get substantial extraction through it.

Thanks for the clarification!
Travis R.

Offline onthekeg

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 125
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2010, 08:31:33 am »
My wit and wheat beers all use unmalted wheat.  I grind it in a corona and cereal mash it, then add to the malt in the cooler sitting at 111 degrees to bring me to sacc temp.  Easy and I get 80%+ efficiency every time.  I only purchased malted wheat once, did a side by side double brew that day with everything else being equal.  I see no reason to purchase malted wheat. 

Offline chumley

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1205
Re: brewing with unmilled unmalted wheat
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2010, 10:28:08 am »
A friend of mine is an eastern Montana wheat farmer who grows soft white spring wheat that is extremely low in protien....terrible for pasta, but for brewing.  I like to add it at about a 20-30% rate to the grist.  I grind it to flour in my Vita-Mix dry container.  Although it slows the lautering/sparging process some, I have never had a stuck mash.

The resultant beer seems to be clearer than those without wheat....the wheat lends a light crispness to the beer.....and the head, oh my.  Fabulous rocky head.