Author: Brian Hall

The grain most commonly associated with beer is barley, which comes in a multitude of varieties that allow brewers to make everything from the palest Pilsner to the inkiest Stout. However, another type of malted grain gained prominence in the 16th century when Bavarian monks began using it to craft unique styles.

Wheat malt is a grain known for having a higher protein content than barley malt, hence its use by many brewers in smaller proportions as a way to enhance a beer’s foam quality. According to some reports, larger doses of wheat malt can contribute a subtle tartness to beer, not necessarily to the point of being sour, but just a hint of something sharp that can add an accentuating touch to beer.

Often referred to as a non-barley base malt, wheat malt has a high enough diastatic power to self convert and thus can be used as the primary or even sole grain in a recipe. However, even for styles noted for being heavy on wheat, brewers tend to include a portion of barley malt, perhaps as a way to reduce the risk of stuck sparge due to wheat being huskless.

My use of wheat in brewing has largely been as an adjunct to barley malt, making up a relatively small percentage of the grist for the purposes of improving head formation and adding a creamy texture to my beer. Having never done a true comparison, I was curious if wheat malt was actually having these effects and decided to test it our for myself!

| PROCESS |

To evaluate the differences between a beer made with a portion of wheat malt and one that was made with no wheat malt.

| METHODS |

Kölsch is a clean, crisp, pale style of beer that’s modeled to some degree after Pilsner, the biggest difference being it is typically fermented at a warmer temperature. Whereas some view wheat malt as having no place in this traditional style, there’s some evidence it was historically used at rates as high as 20% of the grist. For this reason, I made a Kölsch inspired beer for this xBmt.

Huh, Wheat

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 25.7 IBUs 3.9 SRM 1.057 1.015 5.5 % Actuals 1.057 1.012 6.0 % Fermentables Name Amount % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 4.25 lbs 38.64 Pilsner (2 Row) Bel 4.25 lbs 38.64 White Wheat Malt 2.5 lbs 22.73 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Magnum 13 g 60 min Boil Pellet 14.5 Saaz 28 g 10 min Boil Pellet 3.3 Saaz 28 g 0 min Boil Pellet 3.3 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Dieter (G03) Imperial Yeast 75% 60°F - 69°F Notes Water Profile: Ca 58 | Mg 5 | Na 8 | SO4 73 | Cl 68 Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

As the water was being filtered the morning of brew day, I weighed out the grains for each batch, using additional Pilsner malt in the non-wheat batch to achieve the same weight.

Once the full volume of water was in my kettle, I adjusted it to my desired profile then began heating it with my heat stick.

With the water nearing strike temperature about 3 hours later, I milled both sets of grain in preparation for the mash.

After thoroughly incorporating the grains into each set of water, I checked the temperature of both mashes and was pleased to see they were identical.

I took pH readings 15 minutes into each mash that showed the mashes were more similar than different.

The mashes were left to rest for a total of 60 minutes.

Once the mash rests were complete, I removed the grain bags, connected propane tanks, then began heating the worts. Both worts were boiled for 60 minutes with hops added at the times stated in the recipe.

At the end of each boil, I quickly chilled the wort with my immersion chiller.

After racking identical amounts of wort to separate 6.5 gallon/25 liter glass carboys, I used some leftovers to make vitality starters of Imperial Yeast G03 Dieter.

It was at this point that I took refractometer readings of both worts, which revealed a slight difference.

The filled carboys were placed in my chamber controlled to a 56°F/13°C and the yeast was pitched. Activity was noted in both batches the following day and fermentation proceeded similarly. After 2 weeks, there was still some kräusen left atop both beers, though it seemed fermentation had finished.

I took hydrometer measurements at this point showing the beers reached a similar FG.

The beers were left alone another couple days before I confirmed no change in gravity and moved ahead with kegging.

The filled kegs were then placed in my cool keezer and burst carbonated overnight before I reduced the gas to serving pressure. Given the variable, I skipped fining these beers with gelatin and instead let them condition for a few weeks before collecting data. The difference in appearance went so against my expectations that I quadruple checked to make sure I was pouring the correct beers.

| RESULTS |

A total of 29 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the beer made with wheat malt and 1 sample of the beer made with no wheat malt in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the unique sample. At this sample size, 15 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, though only 11 (p=0.36) made the accurate selection, indicating participants in this xBmt were unable to reliably distinguish a Kölsch-style beer made with 23% wheat malt from one made with an equal amount of additional Pilsner malt in its place.

My Impressions: When sampling the beers at kegging, I thought the one made with wheat malt had a sharper finish with that classic Kölsch fruitiness while the version made without wheat reminded me more of a standard Pilsner with a crisp, clean finish. However, all of that could be a wad of clams because I only picked the odd-beer-out in 1 out of 3 triangle test attempts.

| DISCUSSION |

Wheat has an important place in brewing and has been used for eons in the production of styles like Bavarian Hefeweizen and Belgian Witbier. More recently, brewers have been adding small to moderate doses of wheat malt to their recipes under the belief it contributes something of substance to their beer, whether that’s improved foam, a doughy flavor, or even haziness in NEIPA. As someone who never really questioned these claims, I was surprised with the fact neither tasters nor I could reliably distinguish a Kölsch made with 23% wheat malt from one made with an all Pilsner malt grist.

As I thought about what might be at play here, other than the obvious “it just doesn’t matter that much,” I wondered if maybe wheat presents itself differently in certain styles, namely those fermented with classic “wheat beer” yeast strains. A common characteristic in these styles is a clove-like phenol called 4-vinylguaiacol (4VG), which is formed by the thermal or enzymatic decarboxylation of ferulic acid. While both barley and wheat contain ferulic acid, one study found that beers made with a larger proportion of wheat resulted in higher 4VG levels compared to all barley malt beers that were otherwise treated identically. Seemingly supporting my suspicion, the researchers observed that upwards of 90% of ferulic acid in wheat beers was hydrolyzed during fermentation, whereas for all barley malt beers it was primarily released during the brewing process, suggesting some interplay between wheat and yeast.

And what the hell is with the beer made with wheat malt being clearer than the all barley malt version? Since I intentionally forwent fining these beers, and wheat beers are generally known for their haze, I completely expected the opposite to be true.

Putting this all together, it’d be foolish to conclude that wheat malt is qualitatively no different than barley malt just because tasters were unable to tell apart the beers in this xBmt. It’s totally possible doing the same thing with a Hefeweizen would lead to more profound differences. However, these results do call into question claims about wheat’s impact on foam and haze contribution. While I may reconsider using wheat for such purposes in the future, I look forward to exploring its impact on different styles of beer.

If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!

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