100% wheat brew?

[shawn]

Hi,

I not really a pro homebrewer, been homebrewing quite some time, just found out recently I left only pale wheat malt with a little unmalted wheat.

I'm wondering can I brew a beer without malt barley?or it is the must to homebrew with malt barley?

Thanks for any information from you guy..

 

[simon12]

You can but its virtually impossible to sparge so you would need to BIAB or another no sparge technique. Note I have never tried it just what I have read/heard.

 

[foxbat]

The highest I've gone is 70/30 wheat/barley in a Citra+Amarillo american wheat and the result was one of my best beers yet but for some reason my efficiency suffered a few points even though I double-crushed (wheat is huskless so your crush is different). I'd definitely do a 100% wheat but would need to plan it a bit better next time. Like @simon12 says if you're not a BIAB guy then you'll probably need to add something to stop your grain bed gumming up.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I've used nothing but muntons dried wheat extract for my wheat beers.

 

[Zephyr259]

The guys on Basic Brewing Radio have done a few beer with no barley, they use varying percentages of wheat and rye, I know they did 100% rye, not sure about wheat. have a look at their videos on youtube for and idea of what to expect. BIAB is more or less essential and it'll end up as a hazy yellow beer which doesn't really taste like beer but is very refreshing apparently. Good luck, it'll be an interesting brew for sure.

 

[peebee]

Funny, I've only just been reading that beer made from (just) wheat was quite common in the UK until that foreigner William III (William of Orange) taxed barley malt (1697) and made it illegal to use any other (untaxed) fermentable in beer (or unhopped ale as much of it still was back then). Where upon British wheat beers all but died out.

But ancient wheat had husk, and it is the lack of husk that would make 100% wheat malt mashes pretty sticky now days. And the descriptions of those old UK wheat beers (ales) don't encourage experimentation.


(EDIT: Which starts me on the hunt for old British wheat beer recipes … I remembered there was something called "Mum" - didn't realise it is actually a German recipe - http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2009/05/mum-or-mumme.html. Beans? Yeah, I remember that too.)
(EDIT-2: Bit more reading and it appears "Mum" was the "Porter" of its day - "Mum Houses", or Pubs that seem to have only sold "Mum". And despite containing wheat and beans was actually exempt from the draconian laws allowing only malted barley. Sounded disgusting though, high in alcohol at 9-10%, no hops, the insect-eating sundew plant, eggs, … and more, but I think that's enough).

 

[BeerCat]

I've used nothing but muntons dried wheat extract for my wheat beers.

That is not pure wheat, it also contains barley. "This malt extract is made from a blend of 55% wheat malt, 45% barley malt providing the ideal base for a wide range of wheat beers"

 

[shawn]

Thank you so much guys, thanks ya.. In such a case, I'll definitely try to brew with 100% wheat..