A better way to brew with raw wheat berries

Grinding wheat berries is a PITA. I’ve found that if you boil the wheat berries for 15 minutes before grinding, you can keep the pericarp intact, while pulverizing the endosperm to flour. The intact pericarp acts like a husk, making rice hulls unnecessary; it will lauter faster and the wort will be clearer.

I used a Corona mill with no problems. I didn’t try it on my two-roller mill, but it might get gunked up, so use a malt mill at your own risk.

The wheat will be much fluffier. Here is a picture. Both bags contain 800g of wheat berries. The left one was boiled first, the right wasn’t.

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I have some more info on my blog, if you’re interested: Nate O.'s Brew Log: A better way to brew with raw wheat berries

What effects on efficiency did you observe?

Efficiency on my last batch was 77%, with mix of 40% pils, 20% wheat malt, and 40% wheat berries. With a dry grind on the wheat berries, I would typically get in the 65-67% range, though once as low as 60. So conservatively, I’d say 10% efficiency increase.