Wheat for winemaking?

[Barb]

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

[Paul Arthur]

On 2009-08-08, Barb <blac...@non.com> wrote:

> 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,

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.

> and wonder whether someone could suggest a good alternative? What
> about the malted wheat stuff used for beer?

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.

--
Under the superhero, under the samurai, under the assassin and even
the savage, feral beast, deep in his heart of hearts, Wolverine is a
pretty, pretty princess. His clones cannot help but follow suit.
--Curt on RPGnet

[Barb]

"Paul Arthur" <flower...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:slrnh7rhok.tka...@shasta.marwnad.com...

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

[Strongarm]

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