Wheat has been a staple of man’s diet from the beginning of time while scientific records show that the very first beer brewed in the Mesopotamian era thousands of years ago had wheat in the grain bill. It would have been a far cry from modern beers, as at the time malting wasn’t part of the brewing process and raw wheat, along with other grains, were fermented from wild yeast. One suspects they weren’t exactly drinking a fresh and crisp hefeweizen!
Records also show that stale bread (made from stone ground wheat and wild yeast) was left in water and wild yeast spontaneously fermented the liquid to produce an intoxicating drink which caught on quickly. As time passed, we became better at all aspects of food and beverage production and therefore the product is ever changing and improving.
Properties of wheat
Wheat is a huskless, high protein grain so husks of other grains such as barley aide the brewing process by adding a physical pathway for the wort to be drained through the grain, allowing residual sugars to be rinsed away and extracted to its full potential – a process called sparging). Perhaps, therefore, barley was adopted globally as the grain of choice for brewers due to its good yield, good filtration properties and versatility. Without a physical means to stop the grain from binding and clinging together, the brewer will experience the dreaded “stuck mash”. This is where the pathways for the recirculating wort or fresh sparge liquor are blocked, resulting in a gluggy mass of grain in the mash tun and therefore stopping the circulating process. In some instances, the wort simply runs down the side of the grain mass, not actually rinsing or extracting any more. This will result in low yield and a lower-than-expected gravity.
The high protein element to wheat translates to a good amount of head on the finished beer, so this is why you will see those large glasses of German hefeweizen with a large rocky head. German wheat beers use approximately 50 per cent of the grain bill as wheat, if not more. Due to its huskless nature, brewers may add rice hulls to the mash to aide the filtration process to avoid a stuck mash as mentioned above. Wheat beers are usually crisp and refreshing, naturally cloudy and have good mouthfeel.
Gladfield Malt’s Doug Michael said demand for wheat malt is steadily increasing as more and more people understand and appreciate the complexities and subtle characteristics of wheat.
“Unfortunately, from a malting perspective, wheat is difficult to malt on a large scale and can be problematic at times,” he said. “The first thing to understand is that over centuries wheat was left for bread making and barley for brewing. As a result wheat varieties have not evolved through selected breeding to make the maltster’s and brewer’s life easy.
“The second thing, and most obvious, is wheat doesn’t have an outer husk like barley. The technical term is that it is a ‘naked caryopsis’. This proves challenging during the malting process for several reasons. Firstly, without the protecting outer aleurone layer, water uptake during steeping can be rapid with over-steeping being a common problem. Without the aleurone layer and rapid swelling, wheat can burst steep tanks and create a solid mass commonly known as a ‘cluster f***!’. After steeping and during germination, turning needs to be very gentle as without the outer husk, the acrospire (the green shoot which emerges from the embryo) is easily damaged and can cause uneven and slow germination. Temperature profiles for germination are also very important for wheat and are different than for barley because of the different enzyme make-up ratio of proteins and higher gluten. This is why it’s very important when selecting a line of wheat for malting that close attention is paid to the type of wheat and its protein level.”
Wheat in modern brewing
As scientific knowledge became more widespread and brewing chemists started looking at wheat’s properties it became apparent there were aspects that made it both good and bad for the brewer. What was clear was wheat had great properties for head retention, so brewers started using it to promote it and its stability. In smaller amounts, it’s now used quite commonly to add proteins to aide head retention and mouthfeel.
Brew day
Gladfield Malt have been so kind as to share a Belgian wit recipe with us. A very distinctive beer, with its orange peel and coriander seeds, it’s a world-famous style and when done right is sensational. Get your water right, give it a bit of extra boil time and be careful with fermentation temperatures and this will be a cracker. The mineral additions were based on standard water reports, but if your local water is not so standard check out what you need to add by using a mineral calculator, or if you’re using RO water you’ll already be all over liquor manipulation for the style. Now, go brew!
Gladfield Belgian Witbier Recipe
All grain (expected figures)
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 13
Volume: 23 litres
Ingredients
2.4kg Gladfield Light Lager malt
1.3kg Flaked Wheat malt
1kg Gladfield Wheat malt
590g Rolled oats
270g Oat or rice hulls
25g Styrian Goldings hop pellets
25g Bitter orange powder
10g Coriander seeds (freshly crushed)
4.00g Calcium chloride
2.00g Calcium sulfate
2.00g Magnesium sulfate
4-5mL 80% lactic acid (for pH adjustment – requires pH meter)
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit (or similar)
Method
1. Prepare mash liquor with minerals if using.
2. Mash in at 67°C for 60 minutes, checking mash pH is 5.2 to 5.5. Add 1ml at a time of lactic acid where necessary.
3. Sparge and transfer to kettle.
4. Bring to a boil for 90 minutes in total to reduce DMS.
5. Boil for 30 minutes then add Styrian Goldings hops
6. With 5 minutes left on the boil, add bitter orange powder and crushed coriander seed.
7. At 90 minutes, flame out and whirlpool.
8. Cool wort to 20°C and run into fermenter.
9. Oxygenate or aerate and pitch yeast.
10. Maintain 20°C for first 48 hours, then allow fermentation temp to increase every 24 hours by 1°C and stop at 23°C.
11. When FG stabilises, keg or bottle as usual. Enjoy fresh.
Extract with specialty grains (expected figures)
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 13
Volume: 23 litres
Ingredients
1.8kg Pilsner extract
1.3kg Flaked wheat malt
750g Wheat Malt Extract
590g Rolled oats
150g Rice or oat hulls
25g Styrian Goldings hop pellets
25g Bitter orange powder
10g Coriander seeds (freshly crushed)
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit (or similar)
Method
1. Heat 6 litres of water in your brew pot.
2. Add half of the Pils extract and half of the wheat extract, stir to mix thoroughly.
3. Bring to the boil and add all the hops for a 30 minute boil.
4. With 5 minutes left on the boil add bitter orange powder and crushed coriander seeds (use hop bag).
5. At 30 minutes, flameout and whirlpool.
6. Place pot in an ice bath and cool wort then add into fermenter leaving behind as much sediment and trub as possible.
7. Add cool fresh filtered water up to 17 litres, checking temp constantly to hit 20°C, stirring in the remainder of extract.
8. Top up last 3 litres with cool or warm water to hit 20°C.
9. Oxygenate or aerate and pitch yeast.
10. Maintain 20°C for first 48 hours, then allow fermentation temp to increase every 24 hours by 1°C and stop at 23°C.
11. When FG stabilises, keg or bottle as usual. Enjoy fresh.
This recipe originally appeared in Beer & Brewer’s Autumn 2023 Issue. For all the other recipes in our continuing weekly series, head here. If you have a recipe you’d like to share with us, email Deb on djackson@intermedia.com.au.