How do you make a wheat lighter without lowering OG?

Are we talking color, body, alcohol content, etc?

 

If you add your dme near the end of the boil, you minimize the risk of caramelizing the wort. This doesn't lighten the beer per se, but avoids darkening it.

You may get all the body you need from the wheat, but carapils will add body without color or flavor. This should be mashed vs steeped though.

 

For lighter color you should target lower srm values. I'm sure others cam provide some suggestions there. In the meantime here's a chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standa..._based_on_Standard_Reference_Method_.28SRM.29

As for body, I should first say that steeping wheat alone does nothing. It must be mixed with another grain which has the proper enzymes to convert various starches to fermentable sugars (check out mashing or at least partial mashing on www.howtobrew
com
. During the mashing process, higher temperatures (in this case maybe >155F) will produce a higher proportion of unfermentable sugars which will add the body you're after. Much more info (and more ways to accomplish this) in Palmer's book.

 

Carapils is a caramel malt and does not need to be mashed.

 

One more link for you which summarizes a lot of this info. Not sure if you see this in beersmith (never used it myself) buy I figured I'd post in any case.

http://www.beersmith.com/Grains/Grains/GrainList.htm

 

If you steep your flaked wheat, it will not provide fermentable sugar. It really should be mashed. You can make a good wheat beer just using wheat extract though.

 

I will reference the same site that is recommended daily for nearly all topics.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-1.html

"Dextrin Malt 3 L Also known as American Carapils, this malt is used sparingly and contributes little color but enhances the mouthfeel and perceived body of the beer. A common amount for a five gallon batch is 1/2 lb. Dextrin malt has no diastatic power. It must be mashed; if steeped it will contribute a lot of unconverted starch and cause starch haze."


Will you get the desired effect of head retention/mouthfeel if you steep? Probably, but there are consequences.

 

I know it's blasphemy, but I might actually question that. Caramel malts are converted in the husk while being kilned. Carapils is a caramel malt. The only reason I could think that it wouldn't be like all other caramel malts is that it's so lightly kilned that it may not convert itself.

I will check around to see if I can find other sources on this, including the 3rd Edition of How to Brew when I get home tonight.

Edit: Found this PDF from Briess. On page 3 it says it can be mashed or steeped but also says their version of carapils is created differently than other maltsters and is not a caramel malt: http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Assets/PDFs_BWB/Briess_Newsletter_2009summer.pdf

 

I'd rather go directly to Briess' documentation: http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Assets/PDFs/Briess_PISB_CarapilsMalt.pdf

Carapils® Malt has the full glassiness of a caramel malt without color and flavor. ​

Carapils® Malt is devoid of enzymes and can be steeped in hot water or mashed. ​

 

I just want to repeat/emphasize what good_gracious posted: if you intend to utilize flaked wheat you must conduct a mash using a base malt (this provides the needed enzymes). So, if the OP goes this route he needs to conduct a partial mash. Something like 2 lbs. of Pilsner Malt and 2 lbs. of Flaked Wheat for example.

Amongst the various wheat malt extracts it has been my experience in the past that Alexander’s Wheat Malt extract results in very pale beers. I have also had good experience with Muntons Wheat DME producing pale beers. As has been previously mentioned you can add the malt extract later in the boil (e.g., with 15 minutes of boil left) if you desire to minimize the Maillard reaction (darkening of the wort).

Cheers!

 

You do have to mash the wheat. I'd suggest using Pilsener malt with the lowest lovibond rating you can find. Other tricks to super-white beer...

-Don't boil the extract, just add it at the end and dissolve it well.
-Use bleached cake flour in place of your flaked wheat. I'm not even kidding here. Gelatinize it with a double boiler so as to avoid scorching, then step mash it with your Pilsener malt.
-Use a Bavarian wheat yeast strain, this makes a cloudy beer that will have that nice hazy white look to it.

 

"If you steep your flaked wheat, it will not provide fermentable sugar. "

and add starch...not a good thing (especially if steeping with only caramel/roasted malts)

 

“I'm just not at the mashing stage yet though.” Well, then you can’t use Flaked Wheat in your batch.

Pick the lightest wheat extract (e.g., Alexander’s) and practice the late extract addition method.

Cheers!

 

That is a typo/incorrect...Palmer's printed version has the correct gouge on Carapils on pg 125

 

My first elderberry wheat beer used only wheat extract (liquid) and elderberries, plus obviously hops and yeast (Bavarian wheat yeast). No steeping grains. Came out excellent!

 

You do not need to mash the flaked wheat if you are adding it to get those starches to add body. Normally you add unmalted wheat for the starch and protein content and to a lesser extent, for flavor. For a wheat beer, it doesn't matter if you have starch haze (unless it matters to you and you won't get as much body without it). The more relevant question is whether you want that raw grain/starchy character along with the body. If you are just looking for color and body adjustment, I'd probably look at carapils and/or flaked barley, which will add body without adding too much starchy flavor. However, it should be noted that most extracts do not finish out dry so you may have enough body just from the extract itself. If you are trying to cut the color down, look at blending some extra light extract/pilsner DME.

Getting a particularly light beer is tough with extract because you don't control the lovibond of the grain or the water chemistry (which also affects color) in the mash.