I use raw wheat as opposed to malted wheat in my beers since i can get it free at work. Does raw white wheat (torrified) contribute a significant sweetness to the beer compared to malted wheat? I know it provides body and head retention, but is their any flavor contributions or differences between the two?
Taste them side by side. Malted wheat tastes a more toasty and perhaps a bit more bready bready. If you are only using them in small portions you may not notice much difference. Obviously torrified wheat has no enzymes so you must mash it in presence of malt.
Just for reference, torrified wheat <> raw wheat. Torrifed wheat is pre-gelatinzed (similar to flaked cereals), so you shouldn’t need to do a cereal mash. Unmalted wheat, on the other hand, will benefit from step / cereal mashes IF you’re counting on fermentables from the wheat. If not, single infuse your brewday away – just beware that with higher concentrations of unmalted wheat and no step / cereal mash, you’ll be more prone to stuck sparges.
There’s a really good Brewing Network Podcast with Stan Hieronymus who wrote ‘Brewing with Wheat’. Interesting podcast, but if you’re looking get deeper into the subject, don’t count on the podcast – you’ll have to buy the book!
Edit:
Corrected ‘unmalted wheat’ – proofread is great, eh?!