Malt
Wheat malt
Malted wheat, contributing soft body, exceptional head retention and a gentle bready character.
What it does
Base malt. Fully modified, gently kilned malt with enough enzyme activity to convert itself and some adjunct. Forms the bulk of a grist.
Malted wheat has no husk, which contributes protein for body and head retention but makes lautering harder — a large wheat proportion needs rice hulls or a careful mash.
Specification
| Colour | 2–4°L |
|---|---|
| Grain | wheat |
| Enzyme activity | high |
| Fermentability | high |
| Typical share of grist | 5–70% |
| Flavour | soft bread, light tartness, flour |
Substitutes
- Torrified wheat — Unmalted alternative for head retention; contributes no enzymes.
Used in
- New England IPA
Hazy, soft and intensely aromatic: tropical and stone fruit hop character with deliberately low bitterness and a full, juicy body.
- White IPA
A hybrid of witbier and IPA: wheat and Belgian yeast spice underneath American hop aroma.
- Weissbier
Bavarian wheat beer defined by its yeast: pronounced banana and clove over a soft, cloudy, highly carbonated body.
- Kristallweizen
A filtered Weissbier: the same banana-and-clove character in a brilliantly clear beer with a lighter, crisper body.
- Dunkelweizen
A dark Bavarian wheat beer where banana and clove meet bread crust and light caramel from Munich malt.
- Weizenbock
A strong wheat beer combining Weissbier yeast character with bock malt depth — banana and clove over dark fruit and bread.
- American wheat beer
A wheat beer fermented with clean American yeast: soft body and lasting head, without the banana and clove.
- Roggenbier
A German rye beer, spicy and full-bodied, fermented with Weissbier yeast for banana and clove alongside rye’s pepper.
- Saison
Dry, peppery and highly carbonated, with a bracing finish — the most refreshing thing strong beer does.
- Grisette
A low-strength Walloon farmhouse ale, historically brewed for miners — dry, wheaty and gently peppery.
- Berliner Weisse
A very low-strength sour wheat beer: sharply lactic, bone dry, lightly sparkling and enormously refreshing.
- Gose
A lightly sour German wheat beer with added salt and coriander — tart, savoury and unusually thirst-quenching.