Wheat Malt - For Flavour? Or Just Body/head?

[slash22000]

Alright so, if there's one beer I hear raved about these parts, it's DrSmurto's Golden Ale. Having finally got my hands on a freezer and an STC-1000 coming in the mail , I might actually be able to do it justice.

I can't make the all-grain version but I have all the ingredients required for the extract version ... aside from the wheat malt. I don't really have a cheap/easy way of getting my hands on any either.

Looking at the original AG recipe it seems like wheat malt is only about 18% of the total grains. What I'm wondering is if the wheat malt really adds an important flavour to this brew or if it's just a convenient way of adding head/body?

I have about 500g of Carapils I can use to add body/head, would it be possible to use standard light dry malt extract with 100-200g of Carapils as a substitute for the can of wheat malt? Or is it an essential contributing flavour?

Cheers.

 

[NewtownClown]

Make it with what you have. It just won't be Dr Smurto's, it will then be Slash's Golden Ale (Shower?)

The wheat at 18% is part of the flavour profile but not a huge part.

My first AG was to be the JSGA clone and I found, too, that I didn't have all the Wheat that the recipe called for, I increased the other grains and added cara-pils to get it to the OG in the recipe.
The results were great and I never felt anything was "missing".

 

[ploto]

I've found dry wheat malt extract gives a little tartness to the beer. I'm sure your brew will be fine without it.

 

[earle]

Yep, the tartness of the wheat balances really nicely with the fruitiness of the hops. Would be nicer with it but I'm sure you can make a fine beer without.

 

[Rod]

Alright so, if there's one beer I hear raved about these parts, it's DrSmurto's Golden Ale. Having finally got my hands on a freezer and an STC-1000 coming in the mail , I might actually be able to do it justice.

I can't make the all-grain version but I have all the ingredients required for the extract version ... aside from the wheat malt. I don't really have a cheap/easy way of getting my hands on any either.

Looking at the original AG recipe it seems like wheat malt is only about 18% of the total grains. What I'm wondering is if the wheat malt really adds an important flavour to this brew or if it's just a convenient way of adding head/body?

I have about 500g of Carapils I can use to add body/head, would it be possible to use standard light dry malt extract with 100-200g of Carapils as a substitute for the can of wheat malt? Or is it an essential contributing flavour?

Cheers.

most LHBS shops carry dried wheat malt extract

where do you live

Rod

 

[slash22000]

most LHBS shops carry dried wheat malt extract

where do you live

Rod

Darwin. <_<

We do have a brewshop up here (that is, one, singular) but they're always out of whatever I want. Also famous for statements like "Grains? Nobody bothers using grains anymore, waste of time".

They do (technically) sell wheat malt but whether they have any in stock (rarely) is the problem. I could get some shipped in from Craftbrewer etc but buying kilograms of ***** tends to rack up postage prices.

 

[drsmurto]

Darwin. <_<

We do have a brewshop up here (that is, one, singular) but they're always out of whatever I want. Also famous for statements like "Grains? Nobody bothers using grains anymore, waste of time".

They do (technically) sell wheat malt but whether they have any in stock (rarely) is the problem. I could get some shipped in from Craftbrewer etc but buying kilograms of ***** tends to rack up postage prices.

Your HB shop doesn't have tins of Coopers liquid wheat malt extract?

Buy up a number of recipes worth of extract/spec grains/hops and yeast from your preferred online HB shop and postage per brew goes down.

Part of the flavour of the golden ale comes from the wheat so without it the beer wont be the same. Not bad by any stretch, just different.

As for carapils - I can't stand the stuff, seems like such a pointless malt to me, the grain equivalent of maltodextrin. I'd feed it to the chooks/birds/mice.

 

[slash22000]

Your HB shop doesn't have tins of Coopers liquid wheat malt extract?

Buy up a number of recipes worth of extract/spec grains/hops and yeast from your preferred online HB shop and postage per brew goes down.

Part of the flavour of the golden ale comes from the wheat so without it the beer wont be the same. Not bad by any stretch, just different.

As for carapils - I can't stand the stuff, seems like such a pointless malt to me, the grain equivalent of maltodextrin. I'd feed it to the chooks/birds/mice.

The main man himself.

No, they don't stock Coopers extract tins. They do sell liquid extract in their own little pouches (dunno if they make it themselves or just rebrand it) but no wheat and it's quite expensive (like $15 a kilo compared to $10 for 1.5kg from Coopers). They've only recently started stocking the Thomas Coopers range at all.

I might try and get some of their dry wheat extract, if they have any in stock. Should be able to get a kilo at least which isn't quite as much as the recipe calls for, but better than nothing. I'll make up the rest with some light malt or something.

As for Carapils, yeah it's a bit of an odd one, but I figure it doesn't really hurt anything and for kits/extract it helps with lacking body/head retention. If/when I go all-grain I doubt I'll need to use it anymore.