60% Wheat = burned heating element?

jesseb

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Good afternoon,

Today I have brewed a hefe with 60% wheat and it turned out to be a total disaster. I've used a multi step mashing schedule, so heating between steps. I use a false-bottom-ish type system, where the electric heating element is below the mash. The wort flows down over the element and get pumped back up into the mash.

During mashing I already noticed the color getting out of proportional dark, and after I've drained the mash into the boil kettle (after an hour of stuck mashes) I saw that there was a thick black burned layer around the element. No turning back at this point so I've continued with the boil. I must add, the wort didn't taste burned or anything out of the ordinary.

During the boil, the wort got even darker. After the boil and transferring, I saw that also the element in the boil kettle had a tick layer of black junk around it.

My setup has a large resume with successful brews, but never something like this. I've brewed hefe's before, but always with 50% wheat. Does the 10% difference really have so much impact, that wort get burned? Anybody with similar experiences brewing with wheat? Will the burning impact flavor?

To end this post positive, my brewhouse efficiency got up to 85% (usually ~75-80). On top of that, there was more boil off than calculated. This resulted in a OG of 1.063. Perhaps this will turn out to be a great campfire-taste-weizenbock.
 
Add a protein rest ? helps break down the gums found in wheat and rye to help avoid this .
It was reported as harming the same proteins that help with head formation and body but i have not seen it do so with my ( limited ) experience
I used 20 mins at 48 C and came out with a great beer , solid body and head

Oh , your pump doesn't create a whirlpool effect does it ? that would encourage any heavier matter to form a cone in centre of kettle right where my element is
 
What can happen is like a stuck mash, all the water is on top and the element runs dry, even for a minute it can burn
 
Add a protein rest ? helps break down the gums found in wheat and rye to help avoid this .

I used the following mash schedule, including a protein rest:

10 min @ 44C (111F)
20 min @ 62C (144F)
20 min @72C (162F)
5 min @ 78C (172F)

What can happen is like a stuck mash, all the water is on top and the element runs dry, even for a minute it can burn

I don't think this happened, the element is only turned on between the mashing steps, when raising the temp to the next step. When the element is turned on, the pump is on as well. To avoid draining the bottom part and spreading the heat more even, I steer the mash.

Schematic of the setup, red the element and green the pump.

overview.png
 
get a site glass, its the only way to tell the actual level of the wort, it happens more than you think, Ive burned many elements over the years, also that area can run 7 degrees wormer that the mash because its just a small space and insulated but the grain so it could have scorched the grain but I doubt it
 

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