Hi folks. I remember years ago making some wine and adding wheat as per the recipe, and it had good taste and body. Now I've taken up the hobby again, I would like to try a carrot wine recipe I have, and it includes "1lb wheat".
I can't seem to find any wheat, as such, and wonder whether someone could suggest a good alternative? What about the malted wheat stuff used for beer?
Thanks.
Barb UK
Look harder. Unmalted wheat is much easier to find than malted. Most supermarkets around here carry it, and any health food store should. You should be able to find it in the form of wheat berries or flaked wheat.
Malted wheat has been allowed to germinate, then kiln-dried. This means it contains the enzymes necessary to convert the starch into simple sugars that the yeast can eat.
Unmalted wheat is also used in beer, but must be used as an adjunct in conjunction with malted grain (usually barley) as it does not have the necessary enzymes.
Personally, I'd probably use malted wheat and mash it, since I don't see any utility in putting unconverted starch into a wine. However, without seeing the exact recipe you are using and how they incorporate the wheat it's difficult to be sure what advice to give you.
Thanks Paul! From the recipe, I understand you just put the stuff in the primary fermentation tub, so it gets mashed and mixed well for a week, and then you take the wine off the sediment and carboy it.
I suppose the flaked or malted kind would do - I'll have to look again!
Barb
Barb;
I can think of several sources for you. Whole wheat can be obtained through bird feeder suppliers, graineries and bird racing suppliers. Now that is going to be wheat straight from the field. A cleaner source would be organic grocery stores and a third would be your major grocery stores sells different forms of wheat, ie like wheat germ and organic wheat flour.
I personally use malted flour. The beer making supplies carry it. Although malt is usually barley, they may also have wheat. Malt occurs when the seed temperature is raised to 165 degrees for 45 miniutes converting all the starch to sugar. Malt comes in many different flavors designated light, medium and heavy. Then you can also look at the seed name for the variety of malt.
I like to keep light malt on hand, usually sold in 3 lb bags for around $10. It is extremely fine powder and becomes sticky when exposed to humidity. I measure it off in cup quantities into sandwhich bags and use it in fruit wine when I want to either give the yeast something to ferment against, like carrot wine, or when I need something to help balance out an existing wine, like banana. Malted barley wine is also very good by itself.
Tom
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