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I’m going to take a shot at a raspberry wheat this weekend to get bottled up for summer. A chocolate stout too if I’m really efficient (sneaky).

I haven’t brewed much with wheat before, so I was wondering folks experience with high wheat % in the grain bill. Mostly concerned about stuck sparge. I was thinking 30-35% wheat and the remaining 2-row.

Anyone ever have issues at that proportion of wheat?

Thanks!


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Yup, a stuck mash is definitely a possibility depending on your setup. Always good to have some rice hulls on hand just in case. I've never had any issues after using them.

We haven't run into a stuck sparge yet, but we tend to get terrible efficiency when we brew with a high percentage of wheat, for whatever reason.

Use rice hills and you should be fine. I've done a few wheat beers and never had tooany problems. Did a 50% rye beer once and that was a nightmare

Just did a wheat beer on the weekend. Wheat was 47% of the grain bill. Rice hulls all the way!

mckay75 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:09 am

Just did a wheat beer on the weekend. Wheat was 47% of the grain bill. Rice hulls all the way!

OK...sounds like rice hulls it is. Any recommendations on how much??

wheat is smaller than barley so you want to mill on a tighter setting or use more to account for lower efficiency. You can adjust your water volumes in beersmith if you want or you can pre-soak the rice hulls and add them at the end of your mash. For amount briess recommends 2-5% percent of grist so for a normal beer a half pound is the upper end of the range.

http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Assets ... eHulls.pdf

sgrhyno wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:50 am

mckay75 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:09 am

Just did a wheat beer on the weekend. Wheat was 47% of the grain bill. Rice hulls all the way!

OK...sounds like rice hulls it is. Any recommendations on how much??

I brewed an 11 gal batch...I think I tossed in 3-4 handfuls to the empty cooler before I added my strike water.

If you throw rice hulls in dry do they absorb about the same amount of your strike water lb for lb as malt? I guess I could just throw some in a pitcher with water and then strain them out to see how much they absorb rather than try to solve this via research and math.

Took the rice hull advice, either it worked like a charm, or I didn't need them at all.

2.5 kg 2-row
2.5 kg wheat
0.225 kg crystal 40
0.225 kg flaked oats

Nice slow fly sparge @ ~1 liter/min, about 25min in total. No stuck sparge, and after getting the grain bed to set it was running nice and clear in about 10 min, then I started ti to the kettle.

Just tossed 4 handfuls of hulls into the mash tun as it was filling with water.

Thanks!

MitchK wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 2:32 pm

If you throw rice hulls in dry do they absorb about the same amount of your strike water lb for lb as malt? I guess I could just throw some in a pitcher with water and then strain them out to see how much they absorb rather than try to solve this via research and math.

I've never bothered to even worry about it.

darciandjenn wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:57 am

We haven't run into a stuck sparge yet, but we tend to get terrible efficiency when we brew with a high percentage of wheat, for whatever reason.

I feel your pain there...not sure why, and I dont have my system quite dialed in, but I think i ended up with something close to 54.5% brewhouse efficiency. brutal.

do rice halls have any ""scientific"" additive to the brew or is it just a place holder with respects to the mash? aids in avoiding stuck mashes ?

MatthewRichard wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 24, 2018 11:18 pm

do rice halls have any ""scientific"" additive to the brew or is it just a place holder with respects to the mash? aids in avoiding stuck mashes ?

From what I've gathered, they just help take the place of the hull that regular barley malt has. The hulls help create a filter as your grain best sets while you are lautering. The wheat has no hull and it sticks together pretty good when you mash in...as I learned this past weekend. So the rice hulls really just help make that filer so the wheat doesn't clog things up on ya.

I'm sure someone else could offer a more clear explanation.

nah, that makes perfect sense ! Thank you