Using wheat grain as an addition to a kit beer.

[bigmuzb]

Hey guys,

Recently we travelled to Dirranbandi, about 500 kays inland on the QLD Border, to do some hunting of pigs. The harvest was on and it seemed a good idea to make a beer from a small bag of the 100 billion tonnes of grain lying around

I have read up on this site and others, and the closest I can find was what Oliver posted in another thread here,

From the Cooper's website:

Wheat
Wheat Malt Extract is produced by mashing finely ground malted barley and wheat ...

Wheat malt extract is made with barley in it because wheat doesn't contain the enzymes needed to convert the starches in the grain into sugars that the yeast can consume and turn into alcohol. The wheat malt "borrows" the enzyme from the barley, allowing it to be mashed and produce sugars. You can mash wheat and make extract without barley, but you have to add the enzyme artificially.

Cheers,

Oliver

This is fine, but what is the enzyme I need and where would I find it? I am not really needing to generate a full batch of wheat malt from the grain that we have, more to add a distinctive and authentic flavour to a wheat beer or possibly a lager kit. I don't have a mash setup, so a simple way of extracting some sugars/ flavour from my grain would be great.

Thanks in advance

Muz

[Tyberious Funk]

This is fine, but what is the enzyme I need and where would I find it? I am not really needing to generate a full batch of wheat malt from the grain that we have, more to add a distinctive and authentic flavour to a wheat beer or possibly a lager kit. I don't have a mash setup, so a simple way of extracting some sugars/ flavour from my grain would be great.

Thanks in advance

Muz

There is a difference between wheat grain and MALTED wheat grain. If you want to mash wheat grain, generally it will need to be malted first. Although I have read about some homebrewers doing their own malting of grain, it seems like a bit too much effort to me

Having said that, some recipes do call for the use of UNmalted grains as a flavour adjuct. But if the grain is unmalted, it wont add any fermentables to your brew.

Maybe consider steeping your unmalted wheat and just adding it to an existing "standard" wheat beer kit (along with enough additional malt extract/dextrose to beef it up).

[gregb]

Malting is (in theroy...) relativley simple. Wet the grain and allow to germinate. When the rootlet is the lenght of the seed hit it with enough heat to kill off the germination then knock the rootlet off.

Best place to get the enzymes for mashing would be some malted barley. Get a bag of barley and do the same thing. Ratios of 60/40 or 50/50 or 40/60 barley/wheat are the figures I have most seen in books etc.

Never attempted home malting. I think it would be one of those things that you would only do because you wanted to. Wheat malt is a couple of dollars a kilo in most HBShops.

Have a bash anyway, you've got nothing to lose.

Cheers,
Greg.

[Dogger Dan]

Wet in a pillow case, allow to germinate then throw it in the clothes fyer

Dogger

[SniperBob]

Wet in a pillow case, allow to germinate then throw it in the clothes fyer

Dogger

Are you being serious? Will this give a pale malt if using barley?
---
SniperBob

[stevem]

SniperBob,
Dogger has done this before
You might want him to tell you what happened!

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... thes+dryer

[Tyberious Funk]

Wet in a pillow case, allow to germinate then throw it in the clothes fyer

Dogger

I've seen some instructions on the net that recommend using an oven. I don't think I'd try with a dryer. Actually, I don't think I'd even bother with the oven... malted grain is pretty cheap at the HBS. At least, domestic malted grain is.

[Dogger Dan]

That was a bad week wasn't it?

I still don't think it was the malts fault the dryer caught on fire

Dogger

[bigmuzb]

Thanks guys.

It looks like I will use it as a flavour additive only, to try and extract the sugars is hard work

My plan is to brew a wheat beer kit, a kilo and a half of pale malt, and chuck some malted barley grain in a pot with some of my wheat grain, and let it soak and simmer for a while. Strain that lot into the fermentor, add water and a good yeast.

I know it is probably a waste of time, but a good story to tell the boys out there is worth it - if it works we can do a batch a month or two before our next trip and get them all pissed!

Cheers for your help

Muz

[peterd]

Another way to convert complex starches to fermentable sugars is through the judicious application of heat (I mention judicious to exclude Dogger's methods involving the clothes dryer).
e.g. many of the specialty barley grains have had this done to them. They then only require steeping (they cannot be directly mashed as their enzymes are, sadly, no more).
So, roast your wheat to various levels, crack it, steep it, brew with it, report results back here.
Of course, reproducibility is something of an issue. Personally, I would simply buy the grains I wanted, leaving all of the 100 billion tons or so to the poor beleagured farmers to do with as they will.

[Dogger Dan]

I'd really like to try the dryer again, I am pretty sure it would work


Dogger