I’m wondering whether there is any good reason to continue to keep torrified wheat on hand when it costs a good bit more than wheat malt. I’ve never done a side by side comparison of 2 beers that were identical except that one use a sizeable % of Torrified Wheat and the other Wheat malt to find out exactly what the end result differences - if any - there are between the 2 grains. Has anyone else done a comparison? Is there anything to be gained by using gelatinized wheat instead of malted wheat, or is it just another way to achieve essentially the same end? Thanx.
Wheat malt has the enzymes required to convert it’s own starches where torrified wheat doesn’t.
If you want to have a small addition between 5 – 10% to aid head retention, either is suitable.
Wheat malt tastes, well, malty. Unmalted wheat has a much more neutral flavor, like other adjuncts. Really there’s no reason to use torrefied wheat as opposed to, say, flaked wheat. Both are just unmalted, pre gelatinized wheat, but the price can be very different. If you’re using large amounts the flavor difference is important, and different styles favor one or the other. German Weizen uses malted wheat, Belgian Wit uses unmalted. If you just want a little for head retention, like BrewBama said, doesn’t really matter.