The potential extract percentage of wheat malt is the same as two row and it can be slightly higher depending on the malt house and variety. There should be no reduction in gravity when wheat malt is used.
Alpha I denatures above 162F and it takes a long time for it to denature. The rest temperature that was used was at the high side of Alpha II and an hour rest at 157F will not denature the enzyme, unless pH was totally out of whack, the malt was almost dead, the mash temperature was very high for more than 10 minute before being lowered to 157F or the grain was improperly crushed.
If none of those things are a culprit, Alpha would have produced a range of non fermenting types of sugar and highly fermentable glucose and with the grain bill that was used would have added up to 1050 grav at the desired volume. The reason the gravity stayed on the high side 1020 might not be out of line coming out of the primary. How long did the beer rest on all of the gunk in the primary? Were you going to use a secondary fermentation vessel? Next time use a secondary and follow this procedure when making the same wheat beer that you have attempted, if you are not a decoction method brewer. Dough in .75 to 1 qt/lb at 95 to 98F and rest mash for 20 minutes. After the low temp rest is over check mash pH and reduce it to 5.5 if necessary by using sauer malz. Raise mash temp to 122F with boiling water and rest mash for 20 minutes. Increase mash temp to 145F with boiling water and rest for 35 minutes, this is the maltose rest. Beta will kick in gear. When the mash stabilizes at 145F add sauer malz and reduce pH to 5.2, going no lower than 5. Alpha is also in gear at the same time but by reducing the pH it will be slowed down. During the maltose rest Beta will convert the glucose formed when Alpha liquefies the simple starch chain known as amylose, at a 1-4 link. The non reducing end which is formed when the starch chain is liquefied is glucose. Beta will convert the glucose into maltose and maltriose, complex sugar. Use iodine to determine if starch is present after the 35 minute Beta rest is over. Increase the heat to 154F and rest mash for 5 minutes. Slight dextrinization will occur adding some body, it is the random part that nature decides on. Beta will denature. Increase heat to 162F and rest the mash for 20 minutes. Then, mash out at 170F. By adding hot water throughout the process viscosity will be reduced. A secondary fermentation vessel will be needed. A type of conversion takes place during that time. The maltose and maltriose formed during the 145F rest will still be there because the yeast would have already ripped through the glucose during primary and yeast enjoys glucose more than it likes complex sugar. After 7 to 10 days in the primary, transfer the beer into a secondary fermentation vessel, purging the vessel with CO2. Do not slop the beer into the secondary, air is a no-no from then on. The only oxygen yeast will require is bound up in the sugar molecule. Yeast will absorb the maltose and maltotriose into itself and expel glucose through the wall of the cell during secondary fermentation. The glucose becomes fuel for the yeast and fermentation continues. When the gravity in the secondary drops to 1020 no lower than 1015, keg the beer. The residual maltotriose will continue to be converted and the glucose formed will ferment and naturally carbonate the beer. There will be no need to prime nor artificially carbonate the final product. Double or tri-decoction is a more suitable method to use when producing wheat beer because protein gum is reduced when the decoctions are boiled and amylo-pectin bursts. Single infusion makes it difficult to produce true hefe. Do not batch sparge, too much work went into producing clean wort and it makes no sense to stir up the goop caught in the bed and run it into the boiler. Fly sparge slowly without compacting the bed.
Topic: Hefeweisen seems wrong (Read 2624 times)
