Alternative Grain Usage

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Wheat, Rye, Spelt, Corn, Rice, Oats, Buckwheat, Sorghum…etc.

Anyone using any of these grains, malted or otherwise, consistently in your brewhouse? By that, I mean are you using them in anything other than “one off” beers such as a Hefe or a Rye IPA or an Oatmeal Stout? And if so, why?

I hear a lot about some providing a boost to head and foam retention, some add mouthfeel, some add spice or maybe a sweetness. Hmm. :thinking:

I don’t know. At the percentages they are normally used at, I find it hard to believe some unique quality can be parsed from them.

That said, I believe I do get something from Spelt that I can’t get otherwise: that is, a particular soft pallet and a genuine boost to foam. This comes at the expense of some clarity, but hey, it’s there. Because of this, I feel I can benefit from the use of Spelt in a variety of beers, not just Saisons. What I get from Spelt can certainly play in a Stout, or an IPA, or wheat beers, and many others.

I’m also very intrigued by Buckwheat Malt, though I’ve only used it twice and I can’t say for sure exactly what the Buckwheat is bringing to the table. To be continued there…

Thoughts? I know Denny has had recent success with Fonio, though that grain might not yet be practical for homebrewers. Kernza as well.

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I use a lot of wheat, both malted and raw, simply because a high percentage of wheat is traditional for the lambic-inspired recipes I tend to brew. I haven’t done blind tests but I feel like the wheat adds to the flavor of the beer.

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I used to use a bit of oatmeal in all my beers. I got away from it, for no particular reason. I remember enjoying the beers when I brewed with it. It added extra body to my low OG beers.

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At what percentage were you using Oatmeal, and how did you add it? I ask because I have had little to no success with flaked oats or Oat Malt. The “body” I get from using them is what I would describe as a slickness, almost oily. I hear a lot of people also claim that oats aid in foam and head retention, but I found the opposite to be true. I can only assume I’m not using oats correctly.

With wheat, I can pick up a breadiness from it, maybe a little body, but that’s about all I get. And I can only pick that up when I’m making a simple American Wheat, where I usually use ≈50% wheat and there are little competing flavors. If I were to use it at 5-10%, I can’t imagine it would offer me anything.

I’m not trying to talk any of these alternative grains down. I’m just looking for how people use them and how they have had success or failures with them.

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Looking back at my recipes it seems I mainly used oatmeal (old fashion oats) at 6%-12% of the grain bill (mode at 6%) or between 1/2 lb to 1lb in a 8.5 to 9lb grain bill. OG’s were on the order of 1.038-1.040

I did not note any oatmeal characteristics in my tasting notes.

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I will brew another batch with oatmeal again and try to compare. I guess it must not have been that noticeable as I have forgotten about it.

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I use golden naked oats a lot more for the flavor than any mouthfeel impact. When used in my Oaty McOatface IPA (3%) it joins oat malt (8%) and flaked oats (8%) in the grist. I do get what I think is a small impact to mouthfeel there; my head retention is usually very good on all of my beers regardless of grist. I brew that beer with a variety of yeasts so that likely affects moutthfeel too.

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I love malted spelt in saison, it adds something i really enjoy, hard to put my finger on it. I have never thought of adding it to any other beer. I plan on doing a low ABV am wheat soon. I might ad some to that.

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I have used malted rye in an IPA and have even toasted some for use in a rye porter before I could get chocolate rye from Wyermann. I usually used about 18% in the total grain bill and also used rice hulls in the mash as rye is pretty sticky so I didn’t have a stuck runoff. It adds a nice peppery note to the beer.

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I too used to put a tiny bit of instant oatmeal (1%-2%) in most of my brews because I had heard that it helps with yeast health, and I almost always either pitch dry yeast or re-use slurry that originated from dry. I got away from using oatmeal, and never noticed a difference.

In my hoppy beers, I really enjoy some rye malt in there so I often try to put at least 8%-10% rye in those, it really makes it ‘pop’ or ‘zing’, whatever. But the thing is, that was largely Mecca Grade rye malt (Rimrock Malt; their Kaskela rye hadn’t been as awesome) and other rye malts just can’t match it. Sad to say, I’m almost out of Rimrock. RIP, Mecca Grade. :sad_but_relieved_face:

In the first couple of years of my brewing, I noticed that the beers I made with Weyermann’s Dark Wheat malt (it’s kind of like a Munich Wheat?) were always special, and I began adding sizable amounts to many or most beers. It might be my favorite ‘specialty’ malt, just DELICIOUS.

It can be used as a base malt for wheat-heavy beers, like a dunkelweisbier but I don’t make those much, not my preferred styles. But in a porter or stout, Weyermann Dark Wheat is magnificent, IMO.

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Duly noted on that Weyermann Dark Wheat. I just checked it out on Weyermann’s site - “Bread, nut, pastry, honey, toffee and caramel notes”. It sounds like the missing ingredient to my never-ending quest to perfect an English Porter.

I’ll be brewing an APA this weekend where I will add ≈10% Buckwheat Malt, a percentage that bumps right to the max of the maltsters recommended usage. The maltster describes it like this:
Sweet and earthy with notes of wildflower and peanut shell. A great addition for foam retention and mouth-feel to pale ale and farmhouse recipes, reacting well to brettanomyces.

Well…I’ve used this malt twice before, once in a prior APA and once in a Brown ale, and both times my glass was rewarded with a beautiful head of foam and nice clingy lacing. Was it the Buckwheat? I have no idea, but possibly. Notes of wildflower and peanut shell remain undetected, though neither of my previous beers really allowed for such subtleties.

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I brew with wheat and rye a fair amount–mostly because I also brew a lot of sour and farmhouse styles where the higher protein content preserves some body.

Malted versions will give you more intense flavor of what you expect at the expense of the raw grain flavor sometimes you want in more rustic styles. You still usually need a fairly hefty volume to get clear flavor contributions.

Wheat comes in two varieties–white and red. White is more neutral (think wonder bread) and it’s good at adding body and smooths out barley flavor due to its more neutral flavor. Red wheat is more flavorful and adds a little color. It’s harder to find in malted form. I prefer it for sour beers. You have to use a lot of white wheat to get a clear white bread flavor from it (think hefeweizen).

Rye adds flavor at lower volumes than wheat but there’s a big difference between malted and unmalted. Unmalted is not what most people think of the flavor of rye. It’s more fruit forward and less intense. Malted rye has more punch and it’s more of the spicy flavor people expect. Around 10% malted rye will start to give notable flavor but 30-40% will give you big rye flavor. If you drink whiskey, a wheated bourbon versus a bourbon with rye showcases the difference. Bourbon with rye is usually 10-20% rye and those bourbons have more spice flavor than most wheated bourbons like Weller. Weller is smoother.

Buckwheat is kind of like rye. Malted buckwheat is more intense but the flavor isn’t much different. Buckwheat adds body but you need a heavy hand to get notable flavor. It’s closer to unmalted rye but earthier. Same rule generally applies with other alternative grains like sorghum.

For body contribution alone, white wheat in smaller quantities (10% or less) is a good choice. The others shine as flavor contributions too, but I wouldn’t bother with less than 20% personally.

You can get good head retention without any of these grains in a lot of beers with good brewing techniques. Look at many lagers that hold up well without any alternative grains or Duvel which is also all pils malt but well known for its lasting fluffy head.

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Well then, that answers that. I’ll definitely keep the Buckwheat around.
:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Coming back to this, after about 3/4 of my keg complete I can say I really enjoy adding oatmeal (old fashion flaked oats) to my dark beers. The way I serve them on my engine with a sparkler the oatmeal gives a nice creamy texture at almost 10% (1/12) in my last batch. I think you need that much to really notice a real difference Contrast that with my oatmeal stouts where I typically use 25% oatmeal in the grain bill.

Edited for clarity

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I am drinking my AM wheat with spelt right now. Trying hard to save it for the weekend to share it. I did 25%spelt 25% wheat the rest pale. Im really happy with it. Super clean but i can taste a little spice from the spelt at the finish. Subtle, but there. Dry 001 worked great with it too.

I bottled a stout with spelt also, hope to taste this weekend. Not sure i’ll taste it though.

I’ll look at buying a whole bag of malted spelt. Mostly due to the spelt saison i do yearly ( now 3 x a year, my all time fave beer ) but i’d keep the Amwheatspelt combo too.

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Can’t really taste any spelt in my stout. Great lacing though haha. I wouldn’t use it in a darker beer again. It’s better in much more basic beers. I would use it in the Am wheat, and love it in saison, but that’s probably the only beers i’d continue to use it in.

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APA with Buckwheat malt. Maybe it’s the buckwheat, maybe not. But the beer kept a cap of foam to the end and laced the glass all the way. Sure, if I was some great brewer I wouldn’t need a crutch to boost foam retention. Fair enough. But I’m not. And the end result is all that matters to me. Besides, all brewers have crutches whether they want to admit it or not. :wink:

As for the beer, it’s quite tasty. Maybe a touch too bitter for an APA. But this was old-school hopped with Cascade and Centennial and I’m reminded why it was such a successful combination.

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By the looks of it you are a great brewer and the way you describe reads like you are.

I say congratulations on a wonderful looking and tasting beer and for being a great brewer

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I appreciate that. Thank you.

However, technically I’m not up to speed when it comes to all the accepted current homebrewing practices. Not that I don’t understand them, just that I have no desire to incorporate them. I’ll happily remain small batch, stovetop BIAB, ice baths, no temp control, and #opentransfersforever. :grinning_face:

I accept these limitations as requirements for my brewing enjoyment. But…understanding these limitations allows me to look outside the box for other means to an end. And the end is all that matters to me. That’s what I was getting at with the Buckwheat malt and the possibility that it can be a boost to foam retention. I’ve always heard that Wheat malt does the same and maybe that’s true. But my limited experience with Buckwheat tells me that it does a better job. Spelt too.

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