Lower effiency with wheat - why?

[Neddy]

I've been brewing alot lately - gearing up for competitions. Last weekend I brewed a Weizenbock and came up short about 10 OG points, today I brewed an American Wheat and came up short by 6 points. Both recipes had wheat malt as about 45-50% of the grist. I know my system and effiency and can usually hit my OG's within a couple of points. Any ideas on reasons why this might have happened? Maybe the wheat didn't crush as well as the barley when I milled it?

[BDawg]

A lot of times, you get less efficiency when mashing a big beer compared to a smaller beer.
Do you brew a lot of bigger beers? If not, this might be the case.

Otherwise, it is possible that it may be the crush. The wheat kernels were probably smaller than the barley, and didn't crush as well.

HTH-

[speed]

run your wheat through seperately and look at it, if it isn't fine enough run it again.

[Bugeater]

Most wheat kernels are smaller than barley kernels. You need to mill wheat at a little closer roller spacing than you do with barley malt. Running it through the mill a second time also works most of the time.

Insufficient crush will cause lower efficiency.

Wayne

[brewinhard]

Wheat also has a tendency to form a "mash cap" on top of the grainbed with a doughy, wet flour-like consistency. In my setup it can sometimes affect my sparging if I don't use a bit of rice hulls depending on the grain bill and amount of wheat used. Just a thought.

[TastyMcD]

Wheat malt has no husks. Use rice hulls, sparge slower, and expect lower efficiency.

Tasty

[Neddy]

The Weizen bock was a big beer, my OG was 1.071 when I'd wanted it around 1.081. For that one I ran the wheat through the mill once then added it to the remainder of my grist and ran it through again with the rest of the malt. I used rice hulls and didn't have problems with the mash sticking even recircing through a pump the entire mash.

The american wheat should have been 1.054 but ended up 1.048 so not what I'd consider a big beer.

I guess next time I'll try pulverizing the wheat somehow and adding more rice hulls and see how it comes out.