Testing Wheat

[John Sand]

I have a ziploc bag of grain labeled "wheat". I got it from a brewer who moved away. I believe it is wheat malt, but I'm not sure. I'd like to know before I use it. My plan is to grind and mash a very little, say a cupful. If it becomes sweet, it has diastatic power, it's malt. If not, it's just wheat. Make sense?

[bpgreen]

You could probably tell by looking at it, if you know the size of unmalted wheat kernels. Malted wheat is significantly bigger.

You could also just mash it with two row. Raw wheat doesn't need to be gelatinized before mashing.

[Jon]

You could also smell it--malted wheat has a distinctly different smell than raw wheat.

It smells, well, maltier.