On the April 15, 2010 podcast by Basic Brewing, James Spencer brewed
a beer using 100% wheat malt. I wondered if anyone had tried it.
Here is a l;ink:
No, I’ve never tried 100% wheat, but it sounds like a great idea to me for an experiment. Go for it.
Yes, I did it. It’s kinda the definition of “flavorless”.
Gratzer or Grodiske is a style which uses 100% oak smoked wheat. can be really good if you like smoked beers, definitely not flavorless because of the smoke, can be fairly hoppy as well.
Wow, I was not even sure that would work for sugar conversion. Does wheat have enough diastatic power to get the job done or do you need to use some form of additive?
Malted wheat has enough diastatic power to easily convert itself.
Ok awesome, I might need to give that a test brew as well. Should be interesting.
Click on the link and see what you think. I was going to try it
until I read Denny’s response. Now I don’t know.
My intuition tells me that a 100% wheat malt would be pretty dang tasty, IF you like the taste of wheat. I’m sure I’ve read places that Denny really doesn’t prefer wheat beers. It wouldn’t stop me. I love wheat.
And yes, wheat malt can easily convert itself.
I am a big fan of wheat beers as well. Not sure it would taste very balanced but I was considering trying a 100% American Wheat style just to see what it would taste like. Maybe toss a little honey in to add some complexity.
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]My intuition tells me that a 100% wheat malt would be pretty dang tasty, IF you like the taste of wheat. I’m sure I’ve read places that Denny really doesn’t prefer wheat beers. It wouldn’t stop me. I love wheat.
And yes, wheat malt can easily convert itself.[/quote]
It wasn’t so much that as there was no taste at all. Might as well have been drinking Coors or something. That’s not to say it can’t be done better, but there just wasn’t much “there” there.
I personally like to use some (or a lot) of flaked wheat in my wheat beers. I personally don’t get a lot of that wheat beer flavor from wheat malt. May just be my tastes, but flaked wheat really helps. Just my 2cents.
[quote=“Denny”][quote=“dmtaylo2”]My intuition tells me that a 100% wheat malt would be pretty dang tasty, IF you like the taste of wheat. I’m sure I’ve read places that Denny really doesn’t prefer wheat beers. It wouldn’t stop me. I love wheat.
And yes, wheat malt can easily convert itself.[/quote]
It wasn’t so much that as there was no taste at all. Might as well have been drinking Coors or something. That’s not to say it can’t be done better, but there just wasn’t much “there” there.[/quote]
There is a reason that fruit is a common additive to American wheat beers - there are no strong malt flavors to clash with the fruit. For Bavarian Wiessbiers, the wheat gives a clean plate for the flavors from the yeast to shine front and center. Same principle for Belgian Wits.
In fact, I’d be willing to bet that if it wasn’t for the shorter shelf-life of wheat beers and the higher cost of wheat malt, big brewery product lines would be dominated by tasteless wheat beers instead of lite lagers.
Full disclosure: I love wheat beers. But I also love experimenting with flavorings, and the wheat works great as a base for that sort of thing.
[quote=“Denny”][quote=“dmtaylo2”]My intuition tells me that a 100% wheat malt would be pretty dang tasty, IF you like the taste of wheat. I’m sure I’ve read places that Denny really doesn’t prefer wheat beers. It wouldn’t stop me. I love wheat.
And yes, wheat malt can easily convert itself.[/quote]
It wasn’t so much that as there was no taste at all. Might as well have been drinking Coors or something. That’s not to say it can’t be done better, but there just wasn’t much “there” there.[/quote]
Denny,
You are the recipe guru, how about designing a 100% wheat recipe that has some “there” there.
[quote=“Rookie L A”]Denny,
You are the recipe guru, how about designing a 100% wheat recipe that has some “there” there.[/quote]
Not my cup o’ beer, I’m afraid. I’m usually not into any recipe that uses a single anything, like SMASH. If I was to design it, it wouldn’t stay 100% wheat. I’d want to add other stuff for flavor.
[quote=“Rookie L A”][quote=“Denny”][quote=“dmtaylo2”]My intuition tells me that a 100% wheat malt would be pretty dang tasty, IF you like the taste of wheat. I’m sure I’ve read places that Denny really doesn’t prefer wheat beers. It wouldn’t stop me. I love wheat.
And yes, wheat malt can easily convert itself.[/quote]
It wasn’t so much that as there was no taste at all. Might as well have been drinking Coors or something. That’s not to say it can’t be done better, but there just wasn’t much “there” there.[/quote]
Denny,
You are the recipe guru, how about designing a 100% wheat recipe that has some “there” there.[/quote]
I’d be happy to tackle this one, if you want to give it a shot. All you really have to do is expand your horizons on what kind of wheat malt to use. There are other malted wheat products to use other than just base malt. There’s wheat Munich malt (or at least I’ve heard there is), caramel wheat malt, chocolate wheat malt, and probably others that I don’t know about, too. You could even take some wheat malt and toast it for a while in the oven for some more depth of flavor. Mix up about 85% wheat malt, 10% caramel wheat malt, and 5% chocolate malt, go for a moderate hopping rate, and use either a weizen yeast or something else if you want a more neutral yeast, and you’d probably get a pretty solid dark beer. There’s an idea for you.
[quote=“deliusism1”[/quote]
I’d be happy to tackle this one, if you want to give it a shot. All you really have to do is expand your horizons on what kind of wheat malt to use. There are other malted wheat products to use other than just base malt. There’s wheat Munich malt (or at least I’ve heard there is), caramel wheat malt, chocolate wheat malt, and probably others that I don’t know about, too. You could even take some wheat malt and toast it for a while in the oven for some more depth of flavor. Mix up about 85% wheat malt, 10% caramel wheat malt, and 5% chocolate malt, go for a moderate hopping rate, and use either a weizen yeast or something else if you want a more neutral yeast, and you’d probably get a pretty solid dark beer. There’s an idea for you.[/quote]
+1 or even toast 15 percent then use the rest white wheat mash at 156 to give some body and hop it like a APA. Make a nice little pale ale. Even add some midnight wheat to give some color. (1-2%)
I’d be happy to tackle this one, if you want to give it a shot. All you really have to do is expand your horizons on what kind of wheat malt to use. There are other malted wheat products to use other than just base malt. There’s wheat Munich malt (or at least I’ve heard there is), caramel wheat malt, chocolate wheat malt, and probably others that I don’t know about, too. You could even take some wheat malt and toast it for a while in the oven for some more depth of flavor. Mix up about 85% wheat malt, 10% caramel wheat malt, and 5% chocolate malt, go for a moderate hopping rate, and use either a weizen yeast or something else if you want a more neutral yeast, and you’d probably get a pretty solid dark beer. There’s an idea for you.[/quote]
+1 or even toast 15 percent then use the rest white wheat mash at 156 to give some body and hop it like a APA. Make a nice little pale ale. Even add some midnight wheat to give some color. (1-2%)[/quote]
Sure. Just experiment. Wheat has a different flavor than barley, but it definitely has flavor, no doubt about it. Personally, I’d like to see more experimentation happening in the commercial brewing world with wheat, instead of with some of the other avant garde nonsense I’ve seen in recent times, like brewing with obscure spices, mixing with wine, aging in 40-year-old whisky barrels, etc. You’d think that a staple grain that’s been around in the brewing world for as long as wheat has, would have seen a lot more experimentation than it has by now, but for whatever reason, this does not seem to have been the case. Go figure.
[quote=“Denny”][quote=“Rookie L A”]Denny,
You are the recipe guru, how about designing a 100% wheat recipe that has some “there” there.[/quote]
Not my cup o’ beer, I’m afraid. I’m usually not into any recipe that uses a single anything, like SMASH. If I was to design it, it wouldn’t stay 100% wheat. I’d want to add other stuff for flavor.[/quote]
My LHBS has U.S. white wheat, German wheat, dark wheat, carawheat, chocolate wheat, and midnight wheat. I’m betting someone could come up with some tasty brew using those along with whatever hops and yeast they like.
Grodz. uses 100% oak smoked wheat malt for about 3% abv, then hop it to 20 IBU with Lublin,Saaz type.
The slight smoke and hop notes makes the wheat beer shine. I just racked my Grodz. to my keg. Serving on 21… Dyngus Day!
