Wheat varieties

Ingredients
1

Anyone know what kind of raw wheat is preferred for brewing? Homebrew shops usually have wheat berries labeled white and red. But my local baking shop has red and white, winter and spring, hard and soft. For baking, hard spring has the highest protein (gluten) and usually becomes bread flour. Hard winter has lower protein, usually becomes all purpose flour. Soft wheat is cake and pastry flour. Red vs white affects flavor and color more than protein I believe.

Anyone know which is preferred for brewing?

2

This is from memory, a long time ago, but I think Celis used soft red winter wheat. Do you have Brewing With Wheat by Heironymus?

Google found this.
http://byo.com/belgian-and-french-ale/item/328-brewing-with-wheat

3

No, I should get that one. The bookshelf’s getting crowded!

The club used hard red wheat in a beer several years ago. It was a pain to mill!

4

Of course …

5

The Brewing With Wheat book was a good read and highly recommended. Stan is a great beer writer.

6

I am probably wrong but I thought winter wheat was always red and spring is white?

I prefer using red wheat in beer because I think it has better flavor than white wheat. It’s cheaper at the local specialty grocer than the LHBS. What I get sure isn’t soft going through the mill but I’m not sure if it’s actually labeled soft or hard.

7

It is just when it is planted, either can be red or white, hard or soft.

8

I use soft white low protein winter wheat that I source from a buddy of mine who is an eastern Montana wheat farmer.  It is easy to mill, and the low protein content results in a crystal clear beer.

I occasionally make an all-Montana summer blonde that is 65% Malt Europ 2-row, 35% said winter wheat, and homegrown Cascade hops that is tough to beat for a lawnmower beer.  I do a two-step cereal mash and the beer is brilliantly clear.

9

That low vs high protein point makes sense. So high protein wheat might be better for a hazy beer like hefe or wit.