Mashing temp for wheat malt

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jason541
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:35 pm

Mashing temp for wheat malt

Post by jason541 »

10+ year homebrewer, first time poster. I am planning to brew a Belgian Wit in which the grain bill consists of a 55/45 mix of German wheat malt and German 2 row Pils respectively. My question has to do with the mash temp. Does the wheat malt require a slightly lower temp, lets say 150 deg F, than that of 2 row pale malt? I am so used to brewing American pales where I mash at 154 deg F. I am also consistantly around 75-80% with my efficiency. However, I would think that a wit, or any wheat, should be more attenuated than that of an American Pale, right? And do wheat malts require a lower temp for conversion? Just looking for some input...Thanks
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slothrob
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Wheat Malt

Post by slothrob »

I don't brew many Weizens, and I've never brewed a Wit, but I mash my Weizens at 119°F for 20 minutes and 150°F for an hour and been happy with the results. On my last one, that took me from 1.048 to 1.012 (75% attenuation), which is smack in the middle of the BJCP guidelines.

The target for Wits is around 1.048 to 1.010 (78% attenuation), so you could probably mash at 148°F, if you wanted to try and hit that. One of my friends made a very nice Wit last fall, though, and he mashed at 151°F. I don't know what it's FG was, and it wasn't particularly crisp, but it wasn't very sweet either. That's probably because it is an all base malt beer and doesn't have the Crystal Malt that might make another beer sweeter at that mash temperature.
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