For one thing, wheat offers higher yields. The varying protein level is the most significant difference. Wheat is significantly lower in cellulose and lipids, and higher in protein and starch than barley. Chart 1 illustrates the essential differences in composition. The kernel is also a different shape - more rounded than barley, with a pronounced groove. The most striking physical difference between barley and wheat is that wheat lacks barley’s familiar husk. For the most part brewers work with what they have. The needs of the brewing industry control farm production of barley, but since almost all the wheat grown in the world ends up in bread, cakes, cookies, or some form of noodle, the brewer’s needs are simply not a concern. Most modern soft wheats are winter wheats, which have lower protein levels than spring wheats. Both white and red wheats are grown on the European continent.įinally, wheats are defined by the season in which they are sown (not harvested): Spring wheats are planted in the spring, winter wheats in the late summer or fall. In the UK, with its damp climate, only red wheats are cultivated.
In the US red wheats (usually hard red wheats) are grown throughout the Great Plains states. Wheats are also defined as “red” or “white,” the color of the seed coat. Soft wheats, which mill to a finer particle size, are used for cakes and cookies. Generally speaking, hard wheats have the higher protein content, and their flour is used for bread. Elsewhere, the terms are understood to mark distinctions within T. “Soft” wheats are any cultivars of a common genus, Triticum aestivum. In Western Europe the term “hard” wheat refers to durum wheats, which are grown for pasta production. The flour obtained from a hard wheat kernel has a coarser particle size than does flour from a soft wheat kernel,” notes “Soft Wheat Products,” a publication of the American Association of Cereal Chemists.Ĭlear enough, but things are never so simple: The terms are not used worldwide. “A hard wheat kernel requires greater force to cause it to disintegrate than does a soft wheat kernel. Wheats are defined as “hard” or “soft,” which refers to the kernel’s texture. Wheat, on the other hand, is subject to a bewildering array of terms. Wheat is What?įor most brewers malting barley is simply a choice of two-row or six-row. Something about wheat lends itself to summer-time refreshers, whether they be Bavarian weissbiers, Belgian witbiers, or American wheat beers. Beer drinkers seem to love the “natural” quality of wheat beers, which are often hazy with proteins and offer a distinct contrast to the brightly filtered “industrial” brews. Even British brewers use wheat as a secret ingredient in their ales.īrewers use wheat along with barley because of wheat’s soft, crisp flavor – a special quality that works well as a background for additions of berries and other fruits. Belgian brewers seemed to have a particular affinity to wheat, which lends some of the special quality to lambics and witbiers. The early weissbiers astounded drinkers with their pale color (they were “white” beers while others were “brown”), and many craft brewers offer wheat beers as their palest selection today. While its primary function has been the production of bread and pasta, wheat has also found its way into the creation of distinctive beers.
In many cases these grains have placed their special stamp on brewing, creating distinctive beer styles. Through the centuries, however, other cereals have been used in conjunction with barley, frequently for economic reasons. Although “beer” can be brewed from any malted grain, the structure of barley has always been like a gift from Providence: the perfect grain for malting, mashing, and brewing. The history of brewing is a story of barley.
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