White Wheat - Riverbend

Kilned White Wheat • Honey and Breakfast Cereal • Built for Wheat Beers and Lagers

White Wheat is Riverbend Malt House's kilned wheat malt, made from white wheat that is germinated and kilned on the same schedule as their Vienna. That extra kilning is what separates it from a standard pale wheat malt: instead of a neutral, doughy backbone it brings flavor of its own, which Riverbend describes as breakfast cereal and freshly made pie crust.

At 39 PPG it carries more extract than most base malts, and at 5.5 °Lovibond it adds a light golden depth rather than the near-colorless contribution of unkilned wheat. Its 140 °Lintner diastatic power is high enough to convert its own starch and a meaningful share of unmalted adjuncts alongside it.

Flavor & Aroma Profile

• Honey sweetness
• Toasted breakfast cereal
• Nutty pie crust
• Soft, bready grain
• Fuller mouthfeel and lasting head retention

Used at the low end of its range, White Wheat mostly contributes body and head retention. Pushed toward half the grain bill, the honey and cereal character moves to the front and the beer picks up the soft, fluffy quality associated with wheat-forward styles.

Brewing Applications

White Wheat is a staple ingredient in many wheat-driven and malt-forward styles, including:

• American Wheat
• Hefeweizen
• Witbier
• Helles and other pale lagers
• New England IPA
• Saison

It is also used in wheated whiskey mashes, where its high diastatic power helps convert the unmalted portion of the grain bill.

Usage Recommendations

Riverbend lists White Wheat at 5 to 50% of the grain bill. Around 5 to 15% it works as a body and head-retention addition to a beer built on another base malt. From 25 to 50% it becomes a defining flavor, giving the soft body and honeyed cereal note that wheat beers are built on.

Wheat has no husk, so grain bills above roughly 40% wheat can run slow or stick during lautering. Rice hulls at about a half pound per five gallon batch keep the mash draining freely.

Specifications

• PPG (Points Per Pound Per Gallon): 39
• Color: 5.5 °Lovibond
• Diastatic Power: 140 °Lintner
• Protein: 10.8%
• Flavor Notes: Honey, breakfast cereal, nutty, bready
• Usage Rate: 5–50% of grain bill
• Beer Styles: Wheat beers, pale lagers, hazy IPA, saison

Whether you're brewing a classic hefeweizen, softening the body of a hazy IPA, or building a pale lager with a little more malt character, White Wheat brings the honeyed, cereal-driven backbone that wheat malt is chosen for.