I saw a posting on Agri-ville regarding selling wheat for malt. Seems to me post was related to selling malt wheat to Robin Hood in Saskatoon. That got my curiosity up.
Here's what I was able to find out:
There are three malsters in western Canada that produce wheat malt. They are Prairie Malt in Bigger, Canada Malt in Calgary and Gambrinus in Armstrong, B.C. Rahr Malting at Alex doesn't produce it because the demand is so small. Some wheat malt is brought in from the U.S. in bags.
Soft White and CPS White wheats are most commonly used for malting. Soft white is preferred, likely because of the higher starch and lower protein content.
I talked to one of the brewers at Big Rock in Calgary. That person told me that in order to qualify as "wheat" beer, the malt must contain slightly more that 50% malted wheat with the remainder being barley malt. Turns out there are basically two types of wheat beer. The "German" kinds, called Hefeweizen, are cloudy beers because the yeast and wheat proteins are not filtered out. The "Canadian" wheat beers are a clear beer because they are filtered to remove the yeast and proteins.
Wheat malt is very hard to make because wheat doesn't have barley's outer hull to protect the sprout. For that reason, it is a premium priced product because of the care that has to be taken to make it.
Here's what I was able to find out:
There are three malsters in western Canada that produce wheat malt. They are Prairie Malt in Bigger, Canada Malt in Calgary and Gambrinus in Armstrong, B.C. Rahr Malting at Alex doesn't produce it because the demand is so small. Some wheat malt is brought in from the U.S. in bags.
Soft White and CPS White wheats are most commonly used for malting. Soft white is preferred, likely because of the higher starch and lower protein content.
I talked to one of the brewers at Big Rock in Calgary. That person told me that in order to qualify as "wheat" beer, the malt must contain slightly more that 50% malted wheat with the remainder being barley malt. Turns out there are basically two types of wheat beer. The "German" kinds, called Hefeweizen, are cloudy beers because the yeast and wheat proteins are not filtered out. The "Canadian" wheat beers are a clear beer because they are filtered to remove the yeast and proteins.
Wheat malt is very hard to make because wheat doesn't have barley's outer hull to protect the sprout. For that reason, it is a premium priced product because of the care that has to be taken to make it.
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