Low Wheat Malt Efficiency

[larsmudrak]

I'm been getting pretty low efficiencies with the two Hefe's that I brew. I'm brewing an "Imperial Dunkel" (43% Weyermann Wheat Malt) and getting about 63% and a regular hefe (60% Wheat malt) where I'm getting 60% pretty consistently. I'm brewing the Imperial Hefe today, I tried adding some 5.2 to the mash, but that didn't seem to help with anything. I've tried a finer grind, but that didn't seem to do much. Any advice on what to try next? Protein rest? Thanks a lot!
-Lars

[gitchegumee]

Those numbers sound very low. How are you calculating this? If you're not using rice hulls, then your grind may not be fine enough. Wheat malt almost requires a separate grind to get the smaller kernels crushed properly. What does your spent grain look like?

[larsmudrak]

I've tried a finer grind. I'm brewing on the Brewmagic system by Sabco, with the finer grind (with rice hulls) Ive had the problem of grain getting sucked through the false bottom and clogging up the lines causing the mash to stop re-circulating. Would even more rice hulls solve this problem?

[gitchegumee]

You're crushing the base malt with a less fine setting, no? You should grind the base malt to ASBC/EBC standards and then select a finer setting for the wheat. And again, how are you calculating efficiency? Wheat malt is typically 80% fine grind, dry basis and 4% moisture. Is your malt dry? If your mash pH is low, your malt could be slack. That will throw off efficiencies. More rice hulls could help, but any more than about 7-8% might be overkill.

[larsmudrak]

Ok, I had been crushing the wheat at the same setting as my base. I'll try a finer setting next time. I have the wheat set at about 80% and 5% moisture. Hopefully the finer crush can help me out. Would a protein rest help me out at all, I'm hesitant because I am assuming the wheat malt itself it pretty well modified and I'm pretty certain that my base malt is as well. About the PH, I don't have an accurate way of measuring it right now, but I did try a batch with 2 TBSP 5.2 in the mash (for 10 gal mash, 8.5 gal sparge) and that didn't seem to improve anything.

[szach-Mat]

First of all, check the final running gravity. I was working with weyermann malts for a long time and I know the quality of it is not constant. Thing I noticed while brewing hefeweizen is that malt bed "loves" to go away from the lauter tun walls. Sparging water is running from the side of the bed, taking no extract with it.
Mash pH is pretty low for me (5.2), I brew with slightly alkaline water and my mash pH is 6.0, I acidify it to 5.5 with acidulated malt.
Protein rest won`t help. I tried it, no results. Just the risk of unstable foam. Currently I rise from 45 to 62 with 1 degree per min.
If you need german wheat malts with good quality or any any advices with wheat beer brewing, send me a PM. cheers

[ParishBrewingCo]

Ok, I had been crushing the wheat at the same setting as my base. I'll try a finer setting next time. I have the wheat set at about 80% and 5% moisture. Hopefully the finer crush can help me out. Would a protein rest help me out at all, I'm hesitant because I am assuming the wheat malt itself it pretty well modified and I'm pretty certain that my base malt is as well. About the PH, I don't have an accurate way of measuring it right now, but I did try a batch with 2 TBSP 5.2 in the mash (for 10 gal mash, 8.5 gal sparge) and that didn't seem to improve anything.

If your pH is out of range low, the 5.2 buffer wont do anything. Also, for wheat beers or light beers there is very low buffering power in the mash if your water is very alkaline. 5.2 may not be enough to bring it down in range. For my flagship wheat beer I have to acidify my water AND I use 5.2 for a consistent pH additionally. I would strongly recommend measuring pH before changing anything else. You can buy a cheap handheld meter for less than 50 bucks online. There are also cheap strips that range from 5 to 6 in .2 increments which can give you an idea where you are. These are uber cheap and I always have them around incase my pH meter craps out on me.


Andrew
Parish Brewing Co.