Terrified Wheat Won’t Crush?

[MickDundee]

I’ve just gone to prepare my grain for tomorrow evening’s brew day. I crushed my pilsner malt no problem but the torrified wheat just won’t crush. Drill started smoking and everything (well, not quite but you know what I mean)

Is this normal? I have a Bulldog grain mill. When I take the wheat out the mill turns no problem, but when I put it in, nothing! Help!

Edit - autocorrect is a *******! If the wheat was terrified I would just make it feel relaxed about being crushed!

 

[MrRook]

I’ve just gone to prepare my grain for tomorrow evening’s brew day. I crushed my pilsner malt no problem but the torrified wheat just won’t crush. Drill started smoking and everything (well, not quite but you know what I mean)

Is this normal? I have a Bulldog grain mill. When I take the wheat out the mill turns no problem, but when I put it in, nothing! Help!

Edit - autocorrect is a *******! If the wheat was terrified I would just make it feel relaxed about being crushed!

You don't need to run torrified wheat through your mill.

 

[DavidDetroit]

The auto correct was good for a laugh. Of course it wouldn't crush--it was too tense.

 

[Clint]

Threaten it with a jolly good kicking...

 

[MickDundee]

You don't need to run torrified wheat through your mill.

Google has given mixed opinions on it. This is the first entry that comes up when you google “does fortified wheat need to be milled?”
https://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/torrified-wheat/flaked-grains-adjuncts

“Torrified wheat needs to be mashed with other malted grains that have extra diastatic power for conversion, and must be milled.”


There are a few forums etc that say it doesn’t though so I’ll risk it. I hope I haven’t broken my grain mill trying to crush grains that don’t need to be crushed!

 

[foxy]

Google has given mixed opinions on it. This is the first entry that comes up when you google “does fortified wheat need to be milled?”
https://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/torrified-wheat/flaked-grains-adjuncts

“Torrified wheat needs to be mashed with other malted grains that have extra diastatic power for conversion, and must be milled.”


There are a few forums etc that say it doesn’t though so I’ll risk it. I hope I haven’t broken my grain mill trying to crush grains that don’t need to be crushed!

The first time I used it I thought I was trying to mill pebbles, I have always used flaked wheat since, though I have wondered if some conditioning may have helped with the milling.

 

[The Baron]

Mick just buy it crushed from now on - let somebody else terrify it

 

[foxbat]

If it's not supplied in flaked form then I'm pretty sure it needs milling - I mill mine. Wheat is fairly tough, you do need to put your back into it.

 

[MickDundee]

If it's not supplied in flaked form then I'm pretty sure it needs milling - I mill mine. Wheat is fairly tough, you do need to put your back into it.

If my drill can’t handle it, I can’t imagine my hand crank will!

 

[MickDundee]

If I want to brew my witbier tonight I have 3 options:

1. I can get toasted wheat flakes at my local health food shop after work but not untoasted so not sure if it’s a viable substitute
2. I risk using unmilled TW and hope for the best (maybe up the oats in an attempt to compensate)
3. Cheap wheat puffs or shredded wheat from Sainsbury after work, but might be pricey and fiddly for the amount I need.

Help!

 

[MickDundee]

If I want to brew my witbier tonight I have 3 options:

1. I can get toasted wheat flakes at my local health food shop after work but not untoasted so not sure if it’s a viable substitute
2. I risk using unmilled TW and hope for the best (maybe up the oats in an attempt to compensate)
3. Cheap wheat puffs or shredded wheat from Sainsbury after work, but might be pricey and fiddly for the amount I need.

Help!

Went for a little of 2 and a little of 3. Upped the oats, bought 750g of Shredded Wheat bitesize and have the sugar on standby in case it falls short of 4% ABV.

I think I’ll make it a short and shoddy, no sparge (I’m expecting a stuck mash/sparge), no chill brew day. My expectations are low.

 

[MrRook]

Google has given mixed opinions on it. This is the first entry that comes up when you google “does fortified wheat need to be milled?”
https://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/torrified-wheat/flaked-grains-adjuncts

“Torrified wheat needs to be mashed with other malted grains that have extra diastatic power for conversion, and must be milled.”


There are a few forums etc that say it doesn’t though so I’ll risk it. I hope I haven’t broken my grain mill trying to crush grains that don’t need to be crushed!

If the wheat is actually torrified/popped that would be enough to expose the starch to the enzymes needed to convert it to sugar. I've never seen anyone using popcorn run that through a mill.
I clicked on the link and to my eye the product pictured didn't look torrified/popped.

 

[MickDundee]

If the wheat is actually torrified/popped that would be enough to expose the starch to the enzymes needed to convert it to sugar. I've never seen anyone using popcorn run that through a mill.
I clicked on the link and to my eye the product pictured didn't look torrified/popped.

That’s exactly what the terrified wheat I received from GEB looked like (and all of the photos on google).

 

[Slid]

Having used my Bulldog Mill for almost exactly 2kg of malt earlier today, I would guess that the terrified wheat just lay on top of the milling rollers and tried hard not to put so much as a finger between them.

The picture in the link is just grains of wheat, not the product, surely? Torrified wheat would look a bit like torrified barley, only a bit smaller?

Surely no need to mill it, just bung it in the mash?

And no way will it have damaged the grain mill.

 

[MickDundee]

Having used my Bulldog Mill for almost exactly 2kg of malt earlier today, I would guess that the terrified wheat just lay on top of the milling rollers and tried hard not to put so much as a finger between them.

The picture in the link is just grains of wheat, not the product, surely? Torrified wheat would look a bit like torrified barley, only a bit smaller?

Surely no need to mill it, just bung it in the mash?

And no way will it have damaged the grain mill.

My torrified wheat looks exactly like the picture.

It wasn’t so much that they sat on top of the rollers as they stopped the rollers from moving

 

[Slid]

My torrified wheat looks exactly like the picture.

It wasn’t so much that they sat on top of the rollers as they stopped the rollers from moving

OK, my apologies! Wheat grains are a bit smaller than barley and perhaps a slightly tighter gap might despatch them?

 

[MickDundee]

I’ve finished the brew.

2.5kg pilsner malt
2kg uncrushed torrified wheat
750g Shredded Wheat Bitesize
500g porridge oats

15g Hallertau Tradition for 60mins

25g orange peel and 10g coriander for 5 mins

Pros:
Hit 1.040 so won’t need to bother adding any sugar
Looks good - pale and cloudy
Managed a dunk sparge (but didn’t have much choice as it seemed like a stuck mash - see below)
Because I’m no-chilling this one I was all done in 3 hours, including cleaning up.

Cons
Stuck mash (squeezed the bag and it was like glue coming out)
Only got about 15L and was planning for 19L

I’ll pitch the yeast in the morning (I hope) and ferment at 23C