How realistic is a non-barley lager?

Question

I am just beginning to experiment with malting wheat (raised on my families farm here in KS), and I'd like to use that wheat to brew a lager.

Here is my self-concocted first recipe that I'm basing this experiment off of:

(For a 5gal batch)

8lbs of my own home malted wheat 
5lbs rice syrup solids
American Lager Yeast
1.5oz Hallertau hops. (1oz bittering, .5oz aroma)

Should I brew this without adding barley?

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated, as I am entering into "new brewing territory"...

Answer 1

If you don't add barley you should definitely add some rice hulls to help with lautering, since a 100% wheat mash will be very sticky and will easily give you a stuck mash. Normally 1/2lb is plenty, but with a 100% wheat, you probably will want to push this to 1.5lbs of rice hulls - but this really depends upon your equipment. (E.g. for BIAB rice hulls are not needed at all.)

Also, you should add a protein rest at 122F to the mash to help reduce haziness - 45min to an hour. This also reduces gumminess and helps with lautering.

Also, think about how dry you want to be. I imagine it will be very dry given given you have 38% rice extract. With the recipe as is, the main control over body is with mash temperature. To avoid a beer that's too watery, you may want to add some carapils, or crystal wheat (if you want to stay 100% wheat) to ensure there is still a little residual sweetness and include a rest the high side - e.g. 160F, to help promote dextrins.

Even after a protein rest, the beer will be naturally hazy from the high protein content in wheat. If that's an issue, you'll want to add plenty of kettle finings, such as irish moss/whirlfloc, and consider using finings in secondary after the lager period too, to help clear the beer further.

Answer 2

You can certainly brew a lager without barley. But if you do that, you want to be pretty certain of the quality of your homemade wheat malt. Has it achieved enough modification to be used alone? Unless you get it tested, you'll just have to make a guess and hope for the best. FWIW, I've brewed all wheat malt beers before and found them to be very bland, almost to the point of being insipid. Just something else to consider.