I have made two widmer clones and both have had a much lower than expected effeciency, less than 50%. Am I doing something wrong or does it take a certain mash temp to get better effeciency?
I too have noted a slightly reduced efficiency with wheat malt. I’m not sure why this occurs, but I just plan for the reduced efficiency.
Add me to that list, although I see more like a 5% reduction on my normal 75% when I use 60% wheat malt in the grist. I think wheat crushes a little different and you might want to crush it separately, maybe twice. That or there may be more variability in the starch content of wheat malts. It does seem to have more protein than your average barley malt.
I’m about 99% sure you just aren’t crushing hard enough. Close the mill gap or double-crush, and watch your efficiency skyrocket. Wheat malt grains are a little smaller than barley malt.
Unfortunately, I’m slave to my LHB store’s grinder as I haven’t found one that I like or can afford right now. I usually go with what they have it set to. I’ll ask the next time I buy grain and see what they say. It sure taste’s good though, even though I haven’t kegged it yet. Just took a gravity reading, higher than expected ABV, nice cloudy yellow, slight hop bitterness, very good citrus flavor, and that’s without a lemon wedge! :cheers:
Or ask them to crush just the wheat malt twice.
I just talked to the HBS on Friday when I bought my grains and they showed me how to make adjustments. They also said that they could crush grain until we get the desired consistency without costing extra, pretty cool of them to make sure it’s right for the customer! They suggested using the setting for rye because it is a bit smaller and would possibly be the best setting. I’ll have to try it next time and see what settings to use to get the best crush.
I ran into the same efficiency issue with several wheat and rye batches. I was pulling my hair out. Then I realized how much smaller the rye and wheat are from normal grains. Seem harder too. IT did work better to crush separately and double crush the smaller grains.
