Beer Forum

I want to add about 10% wheat to a pale ale for added body and head retention. Does it matter if I use torrified or malted wheat? The malted wheat will give me a bit of gravity, while the torrified will not, but other than that what are the differences?

Torrified wheat is the same "puffed wheat" that went into Sugar Smacks (aka Honey Smacks) Cereal back when we were kids. It is essentially the same thing as popcorn is to corn kernels, except using wheat kernels instead.

One correction for you. You said that it will not boost gravity, but in fact it contributes a max of about 1.036 pppg at maximum fine grind extraction (ie, you multiply your efficiency by 1.036 in order to calculate your expected gravity). Wheat malt offers a bit higher maximum fine grind at about 1.040 pppg, but 1.036 is plenty. Since terrified wheat is not malted, it will contribute a different wheat flavor than malted wheat. It also has more protein so it helps with head retention. Finally, it must be mashed in the presence of a malted grain because it lacks diastatic enzymes.

HTH-

Using the unmalted wheat will give you more beta glucan (and probably other things that I'm not thinking about). The increased beta glucan content will have the effect of thickening the body of the beer.

That said, pound for pound you will get more of that from unmalted barley. I'm not sure about the proteins for head retention, I think you are better off with wheat for that. I have used this in some of my low abv (<4%) beers to boost the mouth feel and keep it from being watery.

Thanks for the suggestions. I get that they are different, and it sounds like the torrified wheat will have a bigger impact on head retention than the malted wheat. I might try making the same beer twice with the different types and see which I prefer.

I get a slight "toasty" note from the torrified wheat that I do not get with typical malted wheat. If that helps to sway your decision at all.

bklynbrewer wrote:I might try making the same beer twice with the different types and see which I prefer.

This is always a great idea. You want to keep ALL of the variables the same except that 1 thing so you know for sure that the differences are due to that change, not something else.
Take good notes and let us know how this experiment turns out.