I have Turkey Red wheat, need recipe suggestions

Beer Recipe Design
1

Hi all,
I have a supplier for Turkey Red wheat which used to be grown in abundance here in Wisconsin. Its now considered to be a Heritage grain because it was nearly lost(or so I was told). Anyway, i can get as much as I want and I would love to brew something with it. I have a few brews under my belt and a local ‘mentor’ to coach me with the hands-on stuff, so I was looking for recipe suggestions. Im not picky about style, I just want to do something different.

Roland

2

I’m assuming this is unmalted grain, correct? If yes, you’ll be limited as to how much of this you can put in the grist since it has no diastatic power of its own. Flaked unmalted wheat will add body and head retention. Unmalted milled wheat might do the same. It is used in Wits and Lambics. I’m wondering if you could get away with more of this unmalted wheat if you used a 6-row barley malt which I believe has higher diastatic power. If you’re going to malt it, that would open all sorts of additional opportunities.

 While we're on the subject of what to do with available grains, has anyone ever made a beer with triticale grain in the grist?  Some of the local farmers grow a lot of it around here.  I often wondered what that would taste like.
3

I planned to malt the wheat myself as it really doesn’t seem to be that big a deal. I figured if dry it in my dehydrator. Im sure this won’t be perfect the first few times but what’s the point of being a mad scientist if you aren’t willing to take chances?:slight_smile:

Roland

4

Awesome! I love wheat beers. I make a cherry wheat every year. My grist is:

8.5# wheat malt
4.5# 2 row barley malt
0.5# Crystal 20
0.75oz Halletaur 60min
0.5oz Tettnang 15min
0.5oz Tettnang FO

The first 2 malts are close to the ratio of what’s in wheat malt extracts you’d find on NB which is why I went with that ratio.

I made a Blue Moon Clone this year that was a very tasty summer brew:

5# 2 row
4# wheat malt
1# flaked oats
1oz German Tradition 60min

The commercial wheat malt has plenty of diastatic power to convert itself, but I’m not brave enough to mash it straight. The theory of stuck mashes has been heavily challenged on this list over the past year, so maybe it’s possible. Not sure what a straight wheat beer would taste like though. I’d have no idea what you’re diastatic power is going to be, so I’d start with a small mash to get a ballpark. Good luck experimenting, and let us know how it comes out.