# Cracked Wheat



## schubidubi (21/4/07)

Hi,
I am just starting to experiment with some more advanced brewing methods and am going to try to use cracked wheat in a Hefeweizen recipe I found on the net.

Anyway, I just bought some wheat from my home brew shop. But on one shopping trip to my fruit marked I found cracked wheat as well. 
I was wondering if I could use this for brewing. Saves me ordering it as well as a longish drive.

The wheat from the fruit marked looks a bit different than the one I just bought from the brew shop. Looks more chopped than cracked to me.

The home brew shop didnt know the difference. Apparently I am the first one they sold cracked wheat to, so they said.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## bconnery (21/4/07)

schubidubi said:


> Hi,
> I am just starting to experiment with some more advanced brewing methods and am going to try to use cracked wheat in a Hefeweizen recipe I found on the net.
> 
> Anyway, I just bought some wheat from my home brew shop. But on one shopping trip to my fruit marked I found cracked wheat as well.
> ...



Without knowing the particlar wheat your fruit shop has this could be wrong but normally what you have is cracked malted wheat from your homebrew store, cracked so that you don't have to, all ready for mashing and excellent in a hefeweizen or any wheat beer. 

Cracked wheat from your fruit store / health shop is usually cracked raw, or unmalted, wheat, usually, and is excellent for a belgian wit, hoegaarden type beer.


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## schubidubi (21/4/07)

bconnery said:


> Without knowing the particlar wheat your fruit shop has this could be wrong but normally what you have is cracked malted wheat from your homebrew store, cracked so that you don't have to, all ready for mashing and excellent in a hefeweizen or any wheat beer.
> 
> Cracked wheat from your fruit store / health shop is usually cracked raw, or unmalted, wheat, usually, and is excellent for a belgian wit, hoegaarden type beer.




Sounds good, when I am ready making one of those beers I'll give it a go.

Thanks for your help. How good is some more help in making good beer.

I am from Germany and because Beer is sooooo cheap and good there no one ever makes his own. But I never thought how much fun it could be to home brew.
Did it once and am adicted.


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## MHB (21/4/07)

Brewing Grain is selected for properties that suit it to brewing, generally lower protein and high enzyme activity as well as controlled moisture content etc.

You are better off using brewing grade grain/malt for brewing and bread making wheat for making bread. Tho if there are beers where it matters least, it's in cloudy German and Belgian wheats.

MHB


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## Tony (21/4/07)

mate, the HBS you are going to sounds hopeless.

The brewing wheat will have been malted, meaning it has enzymes to convert the starches to sugars for the yeast to eat when you mash it.

the wheat from the fruit market will not be malted but could be used where un-malted wheat is used like belgians and such.

mate.... give MHB above a PM or a ring and buy from him. He knows what he is talking about and will crack anything you want for you.

cheers


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## Whistlingjack (21/4/07)

schubidubi said:


> I am from Germany and because Beer is sooooo cheap and good there no one ever makes his own.



Sorry for the hijack, but I couldn't let this one go.

There is a thriving homebrew culture in Germany, and some brewers are active members of AHB. Athough the commercial beers are cheap enough, the Reinheitsgebot ensures that the varieties are limited. 

Also, try and buy anything over 25 IBU here.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

WJ


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## Online Brewing Supplies (21/4/07)

As mentioned previously you probably have "chicken "grade wheat.Malted wheat is a whole lot different as in enzymes and diastatic power to convert starch to sugars.The best malted wheats are winter wheats ,usually from Uk or Germany(Red) these are lower in protiens (Glutens ((which contains mainly Glutelin and Gliadin)thus they give less problems lautering/filtering and produce more haze stable beers.Raw wheat unless torrified or hot rolled would need to gelatinized at high temps to break down the protien matrix to allow protaize to convert the starch. I usually boil raw wheat (cracked)with some high diastatic power malt such as Galaxy and then on process into the mash to achieve my next(conversion) temp rest.Wheat beers in general should be mashed at a Higher Ph about 5.6 to achieve the Wheat beer profile particuley if brewing Heffes.I have found at lower pH levels you will not achieve the wheat beer phenolics that you are after. Hope this helps.Smack it boil it and wack it in your beer!
BTW is there a spell check on this forum?
Neville
Gryphon Brewing
Perth


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## Weizguy (21/4/07)

Gryphon Brewing said:


> BTW is there a spell check on this forum?
> Neville
> Gryphon Brewing
> Perth


Neville,

You really should see some of Tony's post b4 U ask that. Serious! :excl: 

U get a built-in spellcheck in Firefox, if U enable it. You just get stuck with a Yank dictionary.

Seth


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## goatherder (22/4/07)

Les the Weizguy said:


> U get a built-in spellcheck in Firefox, if U enable it. You just get stuck with a Yank dictionary.



Except when you install the Australian English dictionary...

http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/mozill....0.fx+zm+tb.xpi


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## Zwickel (22/4/07)

schubidubi said:


> I am from Germany and because Beer is sooooo cheap and good there no one ever makes his own. But I never thought how much fun it could be to home brew...



Hi schubidubi,

is that really true?

hmmm...what about http://www.hobbybrauer.de/ or just www.bier.de ?

Du siehst den Wald vor lauter Bumen nicht 

Viele Grsse

edit spelling


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## blackbock (22/4/07)

I agree with the part about German beer on the whole being good. There is certainly a lot of variety out there, even with purity laws. 

And I agree with Tony too: Your HBS sounds like a dump. Ditch it and find somewhere decent!
Anywhere that doesn't know what cracked wheat is, and won't crack grain is not a HBS IMHO!


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## schubidubi (22/4/07)

> There is a thriving homebrew culture in Germany, and some brewers are active members of AHB. Athough the commercial beers are cheap enough, the Reinheitsgebot ensures that the varieties are limited.
> 
> Also, try and buy anything over 25 IBU here.
> 
> Oh, and welcome to the forum.



None of the ppl I know in Germany ever tried to make beer. And I never heard of someone home brewing.
But maybe thats different in other regions there. 

And since the European Community in 1987, there is no Reinhaltsgebot anymore. But the brewing companies still stay to this law.

What is IBU?

Thanks for all the help.


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## blackbock (22/4/07)

schubidubi said:


> And since the European Community in 1987, there is no Reinhaltsgebot anymore. But the brewing companies still stay to this law.
> 
> What is IBU?



From Wikipedia:

*IBU*: The International Bitterness Units scale, or simply IBU scale, provides a measure of the bitterness of beer, which is provided by the hops used during brewing. An IBU is one part per million of isohumulone the higher number, the greater the bitterness.

See Wikipedia Entry for IBU


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## Zwickel (22/4/07)

schubidubi said:


> And since the European Community in 1987, there is no Reinhaltsgebot anymore. But the brewing companies still stay to this law.


The Reinheitsgebot is still in power here in Germany, the European Community just opened the German Market for foreign beers.


> What is IBU?


IBU = International Bittering Unit; 1 IBU=1 mg iso alpha acid in 1 litre of wort

Cheers :beer:


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## Whistlingjack (22/4/07)

schubidubi said:


> And since the European Community in 1987, there is no Reinhaltsgebot anymore. But the brewing companies still stay to this law.



The *Reinheitsgebot* is still very much in force in Germany, coveted by most brewers and it is celebrated with a brewer's feast on April 23 each year. We have one party organised tomorrow :beer: 

Only two breweries that I know of have an exemption. They are both from the "old" east Germany and claim local tradition. One adds coriander and salt (Gose) and the other uses sugar syrup. 

There are many arguments for and against this law, but the fact remains, it limits the variety of beers made here.

On the homebrew front, this is not a "regional" thing, as the two sites linked by Zwickel will show you.

WJ


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## Munut (9/6/10)

Old thread I know but its on the topic I want to ask about.

I have a extract recipe for a wit that's asking me to steep cracked unmalted wheat at 70 deg for 30 minutes.

Does this sound right or will it not acheive anything?

thanks


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## Munut (10/6/10)

Bump

Chasing a answer probably going to HBS tomorrow thanks.


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## dkaos (10/6/10)

Munut said:


> Bump
> 
> Chasing a answer probably going to HBS tomorrow thanks.


I thought you should be steeping at about 65.5? Anyway, ask the home brew shop guy if you don't get an answer here. He should be able to give you an idea.

Cheers

Clint


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## Pennywise (10/6/10)

Sounds fine to me, how else would you get the goodies out of it. 70 degrees is fine for steeping


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## hazard (10/6/10)

Munut said:


> Old thread I know but its on the topic I want to ask about.
> 
> I have a extract recipe for a wit that's asking me to steep cracked unmalted wheat at 70 deg for 30 minutes.
> 
> ...



I wouldn't think that you would get anything out of UNmalted wheat (or barley) merely by steeping, unl;ess you include something else in there that has some enzymes. Malted wheat has plenty of enzymes (so if you steep it you are really mashing it) but by my understanding, you can't steep unamalted grain by itself.


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## Pennywise (10/6/10)

If it's an extract recipe, I'd say it's just in the recipoe for some flavour, not for any actual fermentables. I'ts unmalted anyway, so is there even anything to convert?


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## hazard (10/6/10)

Homebrewer79 said:


> If it's an extract recipe, I'd say it's just in the recipoe for some flavour, not for any actual fermentables. I'ts unmalted anyway, so is there even anything to convert?


Sure, there's plenty to convert - all those complex carbohydrates are still waiting there, ready to be broken down into smaller carbohyrdate chains (ie sugars). But since its unmalted there are no enzymes. Thats why grains are malted - it releases the enzymes, which are required for conversion. That's what I understand anyway.


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## brendanos (10/6/10)

I'd boil it.


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## Munut (10/6/10)

That what I thought also. But would this add any flavour or perhapes add to the cloudy apperance of this style.

I guess it can't hurt to throw it in.


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## katzke (11/6/10)

Been in big arguments about doing the same with oats in a stout. The technical answer is raw grains need to be mashed. Some need to be boiled first. The practical answer is there are lots of extract recipes with only steeped raw grain. Maybe even award winning recipes.

So if you know the source of the recipe and trust it then follow the recipe.

I find it odd that raw wheat would be used in an extract Hefeweizen recipe. The only place I know to use raw wheat is in a Wit. It is mashed with malted barley.

What is the recipe?


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## Munut (11/6/10)

1.5 kg. Light liquid malt extract 
1 kg. Dry wheat malt extract 
250 g. Cracked unmalted wheat 
250 g. Rolled (flaked) oats 

HOPS (pellet) 
15g Saaz (60 minutes in boil) 
20g E.K. Goldings (60 minutes in boil) 
15g Saaz (15 minutes in boil) 

OTHER 
10g Coriander seeds (15 mminutes in boil) 
20g Dried BITTER Orange (15 minutes in boil) 

Steep whole grains in 2L water @ 70 deg for 30 minutes. Rinse with 1L 70 deg water. Remove grains, add 7.5L water & extract, start 60 minute boil. Add hops and other ingredients as specified. 

White Labs Belgian Wit Ale Yeast (WLP400) 

Notes: Adding 60g of lactic acid may give an even more authentic *Hoegaarden* taste.


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## katzke (12/6/10)

Munut said:


> 1.5 kg. Light liquid malt extract
> 1 kg. Dry wheat malt extract
> 250 g. Cracked unmalted wheat
> 250 g. Rolled (flaked) oats
> ...



Odd recipe. Not saying it is bad just odd. It is odd because Wheat Extract is half wheat and half barley. So doing the conversion of liquid and dry in my head they only have about 20% wheat malt.

I think they put the oats and raw wheat in for the traditional haze.

If you trust the recipe brew it. It will make beer for sure and I do not see any reason not to brew it.


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## Munut (14/6/10)

I found the recipe in another thread on here but I think it might oringinate from the US cause I had to convert it from pounds and ounces to grams and kilos.

I don't know if that makes any differance? Maybe the wheat malt extract they get is 100% wheat?

Just an idea, if anyone knows I can correct the ratio.


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## gap (14/6/10)

The recipe you have provided is not for a German Hefeweizen but is actually a 
Belgian Wit. They are entirely different styles of Wheat Beer. It is not normal to 
have raw wheat in a Hefeweizen but is in a Belgian Wit.

Some of the earlier posters may have been confused by you using the term 
Hefeweizen and wanting to use raw wheat in it.


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## Munut (14/6/10)

gap said:


> The recipe you have provided is not for a German Hefeweizen but is actually a
> Belgian Wit. They are entirely different styles of Wheat Beer. It is not normal to
> have raw wheat in a Hefeweizen but is in a Belgian Wit.
> 
> ...



The recipe is a hoegaarden clone, I thought Hoegaarden was a belgian wit?
A belgian wit is what I'm trying to make because I have come into posession of a bitter orange tree.


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## katzke (15/6/10)

Munut said:


> The recipe is a hoegaarden clone, I thought Hoegaarden was a belgian wit?
> A belgian wit is what I'm trying to make because I have come into posession of a bitter orange tree.



In that case I would modify it a bit. Reduce the malt extract leave the wheat extract and toss in base malt with the raw wheat and oats. Use the same amount of base malt as the raw wheat and oats combined. Then reduce the temperature of the steep to about 65C for at least 30 minutes to an hour. You will then be doing a mini-mash and convert the raw wheat to sugar. You will have to run the numbers through brewing software or have someone do it for you. I would except that my numbers would be in pounds.

A mini mash is not much different then steeping grains. The only difference is the temperature and keeping that temperature as constant as possible. Some people use the oven once the kettle is up to temperature.

Or just brew it the way it is. I think the mini mash has advantages.


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