Does caramel wheat produce sweetness like a crystal malt or just color? I’ve only seen it used in dunkelweizen recipes. I was given a 10lb bag of it and would like to use it as part of the base malt grain bill as long as it only contributes color and gravity.
Yes my limited experience with it is that the flavor is very similar to a barley crystal malt. I like it because I can get some sweetness/caramel flavor and good head retention properties at the same time.
There are a lot of newer hops and malt products that aren’t going to be found in conventional recipes. You just have to have a little vision and find uses for them based on what they’re similar to.
I used about a half pound of it in the northern brewer “ryebock” recipe a couple months ago. Just tried my first glass last night, and although it needs to lager for a while yet, it seems like it is going to be excellent. Definitely a sweet/malty beer - the other grains were base of pils, 3lbs of rye, a little choc. rye, and a little carapils. So, I think some of that sweetness/caramel was coming from the wheat.
