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I've got a Muntons Wheat beer sitting at home and want to get brewing. The only thing is that I don't have any wheat extract and was just going to use a kilo of light malt.

Anyone got any advice/comments on this as I've never brewed a wheat beer before.

Hoth

Try your local HBS - you should be able to get wheat malt to put with it.

Greg

No beer will contain 100% wheat malt, as you can't mash wheat without barley (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

So I don't see any problem just using a kilo of regular light malt with the kit. You might want to do 500g dextrose and 500g malt so you end up with a nice light wheat beer.

Oliver

Oliver wrote:No beer will contain 100% wheat malt, as you can't mash wheat without barley (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

Malted wheat can be mashed alone. It is a myth that wheat malt lacks enough diastatic power to convert itself. The myth arose from mashing of UNmalted wheat used in beers being like Belgian Wit. Unmalted grain lacks the enzymes needed for convert starch to sugar.

Having said this, you are correct that liquid wheat malt extract is generally 50% barley and 50% wheat, because that is the way most people are using it for recipes.

I stand corrected.

Thanks, Mr Bakshi.

Cheers,

Oliver

Does anybody know what the wheat malt percentage is in Cooper's Wheat extract? I'm trying to put together a recipe for an English Summer Ale (max 25% wheat malt).

Thanks,

Tony

Also, can't talk up enough the importance of a wheat yeast. Get some safwheat or a liquid variety and you'll taste a REAL wheat beer taste.

I was told that safale K-97 is the Saf brand yeast recommended for wheat beers. Am trying it this weekend.

May help,
Jay.

K-97 is a great yeast but it is not a wheat yeast. It is marketed in Australia as such, but it is a clean fermenting German ale yeast. Wheat yeasts are known for phenolics and esters that taste like cloves and banana.

Yeah I suppose that's marketing for yah.

I've even seen it referred to as "Safwheat".

Know any good wheat yeasts?

Cheers,
Jay

I recall that the yeast that comes with the Coopers Wheat Beer kit is a wheat yeast of some description: it is signified on the yeast packet by a "W" after the "best before" date.
I have also seen somewhere that wheat beer kits ususallly contain either 40% or 50% malted wheat.
As to fermentables to use, I have used various additives with wheat beer kits from various manufacturers: malt (light, barley), dextrose, maltodextrin, honey, brown sugar, raw sugar, ... . Another I have seen in recipes (but not used) is Belgian Candy Sugar. I have also seen recipes that add malted wheat (which is available from HBS), unmalted wheat and oats.
Get the picture? Add what takes your fancy (within reason of course, no fancy fruit concoctions please ).

peterd

Thanks for all the info so far. In relation to the yeast that I'm using, I don't have a clue as to what it is. It's the little pack that comes with the Muntons Wheat kit...

So what would the benifits/drawbacks of using wheat malt vs light malt it terms of flavour in the kit ? I've never used wheat malt before so I don't really know...

The yeast supplied with the Coopers Wheat beer is a wheat beer yeast. Hence the 'W".

The following is cut an pasted from the Coopers board in response to the question about said yeast (it was by the brewery moderator fellow):

The yeast supplied with the Brewmaster Wheat Beer will give subtle wheat characteristics. However, if you are after more overt phenolic, clove, spicy, tart characters you may want to grab a WYEAST pack from your home brew specialist store - 3056, 3068, 3333, 3463, 3522 are just some of the many wheat beer yeast strains available.

Greg.

Hoth,

Wheat malt gives a distinctive taste to beer; it's almost a tartness, but is hard to describe. Go out and grab yourself a Matilda Bay Redback and you'll taste what I mean.

Some people (such as my wife) don't like this taste.

My advice to you if you've never made a wheat beer before would be to not use any additional wheat malt; just rely on what's in the kit and add some dextrose and/or regular malt made from barley.

If you find you like the taste, you can always add some extra wheat malt next time.

Cheers,

Oliver

I thought it was the yeast that gave wheat beer that tartness. I've made wheat beer with ale yeast a few times (before I discovered wheat yeast), and I thought it lacked the tartness.

Could be wrong.

Could be right, too

Oliver

Well I've fermented it and it's now sitting in the secondary now. I grabbed some wheat yeast from the local HBS and mixed it all up with half a kilo maltodextrin and light malt. Tried a bit while I was transferring it from the fermentor and it didn't taste to bad, better than most of my other attempts so far Hopefully in a month or two it'll be one of my finest

Thanks for the feedback guys!