Pilsner for Wheat Malt substitute?

[xpops]

Good morning great HBT peeps!

So we ordered some grains to make some brews tomorrow, and one of the LB grain bags got mixed up for my buddies DunkelWeizen.

Recipe called for 6 lbs of Pale Wheat malt (amongst others) but received 5 lbs of wheat malt, and 1 lb of Pilsner malt(?!?).

There is no time for a return/exchange, and clearly these two types of malts are different....but would 1 lb of Pilsner in exchange for 1 lb of wheat malt in a 12 lb grain bill really make that noticeable of a difference?

Let me know if you've had experience with these two types of malts, and what you'd think we could expect?

thanks!!

 

[dmtaylor]

It's unlikely you'll taste any difference at all whatsoever. Both of those types of malt are very mild in character. Wheat tastes more like, well, wheat, and pilsner tastes more like graham crackers, which of course are made of, well, wheat. It's all good. Enjoy.

 

[xpops]

It's unlikely you'll taste any difference at all whatsoever. Both of those types of malt are very mild in character. Wheat tastes more like, well, wheat, and pilsner tastes more like graham crackers, which of course are made of, well, wheat. It's all good. Enjoy.

haha, i like how wored around full circle to wheat there...

i assumed as much, just wanted some qualification!

thanks!

 

[balrog]

Bumping old thread as I am sitting in similar situation where I have simple wheat recipe that my daughter used to love but she is now somewhat allergic to wheat (not gluten, but wheat itself), and I wanted to know if simply subbing pilsner would be prolly fine.

• 6.25lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
• 4lbs White Wheat Malt -------sub with Dingeman's Pilsner?
• 1lb Vienna Malt
• ****Mash 158 for 45 minutes****
• 0.25 Motueka Hops at 60 Minutes
• 0.25 Sorachi Ace 20 minutes
• 0.25 Motueka Hops 20 minutes
• 0.25 Sorachi Ace 7 Minutes
• 0.50 Lime Zest 5 Minutes

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

You should be fine in making this exchange. Wheat is a bit more fermentable than barley so perhaps consider adding 4.1 lbs. of Pilsner malt in place of the 4.0 lbs. of wheat malt. But in the end this would hardly be necessary or noticeable.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I think it'll make quite a big difference, at 1/3 of the grain bill with that small amount of hops. It will probably still make good beer, but different. You could also try substituting with rye. Again, it'll be different though.

 

[Beernik]

I think you’ll notice the difference but that doesn’t mean it would be a bad beer.

As an aside, you might want to look into dampbiers. They are all barley beers that use hefeweizen yeast.

 

[November]

So, I hate traditional wheat beers,but years ago I stumbled my way into a couple hundred pounds of wheat. I malted it and since I don't like wheat beers, I subbed it for pilsner in a lot of lagers and wouldn't have known the difference if I hadn't known. So, I imagine you can go then other way and get the desired effect especially if you use an appropriate yeast.

Good luck!

 

[balrog]

with that small amount of hops

THe hops are very potent lemony (Sorachi Ace) and slightly limey (Motueka). The first time I made it, it was like I'd made a 1/2&1/2 beer/lemonade, sorta kinda, more pithy lemon than sweet lemon.

 

[Soulshine2]

Bumping old thread as I am sitting in similar situation where I have simple wheat recipe that my daughter used to love but she is now somewhat allergic to wheat (not gluten, but wheat itself), and I wanted to know if simply subbing pilsner would be prolly fine.

• 6.25lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
• 4lbs White Wheat Malt -------sub with Dingeman's Pilsner?
• 1lb Vienna Malt
• ****Mash 158 for 45 minutes****
• 0.25 Motueka Hops at 60 Minutes
• 0.25 Sorachi Ace 20 minutes
• 0.25 Motueka Hops 20 minutes
• 0.25 Sorachi Ace 7 Minutes
• 0.50 Lime Zest 5 Minutes

I have no idea what those hops are like but the grain bill looks simple enough. what does it taste like and what do you call it (style-wise) .

 

[balrog]

I have no idea what those hops are like but the grain bill looks simple enough. what does it taste like and what do you call it (style-wise) .

I call it lemon lime hefeweizen. It is very much lemon/beer shandy-esque-ish. It is a somewhat polarizing recipe -- some find it the most wonderful summer libation ever and when am I making it again, while those who despise fruit in beer despise it. I was trying to make Corona with lime. It's more like a lemony hefe, not much phenol/clove, crisp and refreshing. I deviate only slightly from the recipe (hats off to @SD-SLIM for the original) by using WB06 instead of the called-for WLP380, which threw sulfur the two times I used it and took a while to disipate.

 

[Soulshine2]

I call it lemon lime hefeweizen. It is very much lemon/beer shandy-esque-ish. It is a somewhat polarizing recipe -- some find it the most wonderful summer libation ever and when am I making it again, while those who despise fruit in beer despise it. I was trying to make Corona with lime. It's more like a lemony hefe, not much phenol/clove, crisp and refreshing. I deviate only slightly from the recipe (hats off to @SD-SLIM for the original) by using WB06 instead of the called-for WLP380, which threw sulfur the two times I used it and took a while to disipate.

ok, see now thats how my "moon over miami" got started. my first hef grain bill plus coriander and citrus zest ,I'm sure I added a little dextrose too. Apollo hops and used US-05 . Youre right it wasnt heffy at all, but mine wasnt shandy-ish at all. more like a belgian in taste.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I clearly should have added that if you replace the wheat malt with barley malt it will no longer have the taste of the wheat malt. But I presume that you knew that from the start.

 

[balrog]

I clearly should have added that if you replace the wheat malt with barley malt it will no longer have the taste of the wheat malt. But I presume that you knew that from the start.

Help an old man understand what barley taste vs wheat taste means. If I crunch kernels of them, avoiding broken teeth hopefully, will that explain it?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Help an old man understand what barley taste vs wheat taste means. If I crunch kernels of them, avoiding broken teeth hopefully, will that explain it?

Best would be to drink a pale wheat (or wheat dominant at 40-60%) beer and a similarly (to identically as much as is possible) brewed pale barley beer side by side and judge the difference(s) by yourself. All I can say is that personally in my distant past, back when my taste buds were in far better order than they are in today, I found wheat dominant beers to be dull and muted tasting, such that I have not drank one in multiple decades. But of what value are my now quite distant and feebly aged memories of my once youthful taste buds to you? We are both old men.

 

[balrog]

I found wheat dominant beers to be dull and muted tasting

That is most interesting. Thanks. Next Lemon Lime Hefe I'm making with Pilsner malt so my daughter can enjoy again, and we'll just have to see what happens.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

You may want to experiment by replacing Wheat Malt with Weyermann or Bestmalz "Spelt Malt". Spelt is a distant relative of wheat, and many who are allergic to wheat claim that they can tolerate Spelt. No guarantees.

https://bestmalz.de/en/malts/best-spelt-malt/
https://www.williamsbrewing.com/1-Lb-2-L-German-Spelt-Malt-Crushed-P2838.aspx
https://www.weyermann.de/eng/gelbe_Seiten_en.asp?snr=1&idkat=1540&umenue=yes&idmenue=37&sprache=2

Alternately you can purchase sprouted spelt berries and kiln them yourself in your oven. I would initially try kilning only a few lbs. for 10 minutes at a pre-heated 250 degrees. Spread them out well on a cookie sheet. Convection would be a plus. You don't want to kiln them too much and kill off the enzymes, plus drive up the Lovibond color too much. Mainly you just want to get them down to a proper moisture level. You must assure that they are sprouted.

Spelt differs from wheat in that it has a barley like husk, but it has wheat flavor, and is genetically related to wheat. Bestmalz advises that it can be used at up to 60% of the grain bill. I think this is your best bet with regard to retaining wheat flavor.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

An interesting article on brewing with Spelt.

https://www.feastmagazine.com/drink/on-trend/article_9ba8efc0-502a-11e9-9c1b-3f8bee5c9ce6.html