[hankus]

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?

[a10t2]

I don't think you'll get much, if any, extract out of it unmilled. Why not mill it?

[hankus]

just wondering whether the boiling+stepmashing would be sufficient to gelatinize it

[a10t2]

You could definitely get it hot enough to gelatinize. But without opening up the husk you won't extract any of the starches.

[Beertracker]

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?  

[roffenburger]

Isn't wheat huskless?

[euge]

If the wheat is well toasted first in a dry pan it should split the husk when the wheat is boiled.

[a10t2]

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.

[MDixon]

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.

[roffenburger]

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!

[onthekeg]

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. 

[chumley]

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.