# Gluten Free Beer



## ninja beer (16/11/10)

A beer loving friend has just been diagnosed as very gluten intolerant. Anyone know how to make a gluten free beer? what can i use as a substitute in normal recipes?


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## Thirsty Boy (16/11/10)

short answer Yes. You can make gluten free beer.

Its harder than normal beer, and because its made from different stuff, its an uphill battle to get it to taste "the same" as normal beer.

How do you brew? Kits, Extracts, Grain??

And include in your profile where you are located.... someone might be able to point you at a reasonable local resource.

I see its your first post - have a bit of a look around the site, get a feel for how it works, do a few searches (the Google option under search seems to be the best) for "Gluten Free" there is quite a bit of stuff here about it. Its a little daunting at first though if you aren't already a reasonably advanced brewer.

Cheers and welcome to AHB

Thirsty


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## Tanga (16/11/10)

I can't see this working. Beer is made pretty much entirely from gluten containing grains. I'm afraid your friend might have to switch to cider.


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## ninja beer (16/11/10)

sorry guys. should have put more detail.

i mostly use extract, but have been using grain as well lately. i've been home-brewing for about a year and they've all turned out good, so I'm fairly confident. i know you can buy gluten free beers, so i though i'd give it a shot (seeing as i now know 3 celiacs). i've found some recipes using buckwheat and rice syrup. I was just interested to know if anyone had any experience with gluten free brewing.


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## Thirsty Boy (16/11/10)

Tanga said:


> I can't see this working. Beer is made pretty much entirely from gluten containing grains. I'm afraid your friend might have to switch to cider.



Except... that I can see from where I am sitting - A fermenter full of 22L of beer that was brewed entirely without a single gluten containing component. Beer can be made from basically any cereal.. the trick is not making gluten free beer, the trick is making gluten free beer that tastes like normal beer.

You just have to be determined enough.


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## Lecterfan (16/11/10)

Just to add to TB's second last point...for those of us who do have restricted diets for one reason or another some things are never quite the same, but thats not the end of the world. I would contend that the challenge in making gluten free beer is the same as any other brewing process: to make it well balanced and YUM. I am not sure that gluten free will ever taste like "normal" beer, but having said that, there is some pretty awful "normal" beer and some pretty refreshing gluten free beer (O'Briens dark ale is my fave of the gluten free). I think it is mostly a matter of preconception, you don't buy brandy and expect it to taste like bourbon, same thing applies here in my not-so-humble opinion.

Good brewing to all :icon_cheers:


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## mikem108 (16/11/10)

Other issues I've come across are beer yeast like to eat maltose when presented with a wort made from alternate grains they may struggle. If you find the holy grail on this quest let us know, this is a tough call


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## Thirsty Boy (16/11/10)

ninja beer said:


> sorry guys. should have put more detail.
> 
> i mostly use extract, but have been using grain as well lately. i've been home-brewing for about a year and they've all turned out good, so I'm fairly confident. i know you can buy gluten free beers, so i though i'd give it a shot (seeing as i now know 3 celiacs). i've found some recipes using buckwheat and rice syrup. I was just interested to know if anyone had any experience with gluten free brewing.



Your best shot as an extract brewer, is probably going to be a beer based around Sorghum extract, which you can buy from the better HB stores. You would use that as the bulk of your fermentables, then tweak flavours with syrups, sugars, other (GF) grains and hopping regimes etc. I hope your friends like hoppy beers... hopping it up can hide many a sin in the "not quite the same" game you have to play.

What you are going to need to do is translate for your friends.... you can taste some of the gluten bearing ingredients, and then go looking for ingredients that will give the same sort of flavours, but not contain gluten. Looking at the various sugars is a good place to start. Brown, white, raw, candy, golden syrup, honey, molasses, palm sugars, rice syrups - there are dozens and dozens. A lot of which can help build up the flavour profile of a beer. and then its trial and error till you find something they like.

For grain - you can buy malted sorghum. And thats about it. Everything else is going to be unmalted and will need malted grains to convert its starch. So if you go with grains, you are either going to be using sorghum, or going to have to malt your own grain - and that's a big arsed commitment in time, equipment, space etc.

Go with the extract first and do some experimenting. Also - I believe but am not sure, that MHB (Mark) from Mark's Homebrew in Newcastle was doing a bunch of experimenting to try and create palatable recipes from the Sorghum extract. Contacting him might be worth your while. The other better homebrew shops have all probably had a bit of a go too.. so give em a call.

Cheers

TB


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## Newbiebrewer (16/11/10)

wasn't there a poster on here who was into it? milletman was his name I think he was right into it, pm him about it.


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## Millet Man (16/11/10)

Hughezy said:


> wasn't there a poster on here who was into it? milletman was his name I think he was right into it, pm him about it.


Somebody called?  

I'd follow TB's advice and start with the sorghum extract and sugar - first off I'd try a bit of treacle, say 50g in a 20-23 litre batch for a bit a caramel flavour and maybe 200g of honey or golden syrup to help with fermentability as the sorghum extract only gave about 70% attenuation when I played with it on a home brew scale (never used it in the production brewery). Load it up with APA style hops and see how it comes out, then tweek it from there.

Using malted gluten free grains, - as I do - or raw grains and enzymes is much more time consuming and difficult but does give a much better result flavourwise. If you feel game then head down that track later.

Hope it turns out well for you (or your mate).

Cheers, Andrew.


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## MitchDudarko (16/11/10)

Pretty Sure Billabong brewing makes a gluten free beer. Maybe quiz them?


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## scott_penno (16/11/10)

I've made a beer (actually two) from malted sorghum with a small amount of golden syrup and a fair amount of assistance from milletman. It's fairly time consuming but my neighbour who is gluten free was appreciative. I split the wort into two and pitched half with a lager yeast and the other half with a (gf) wheat yeast. Hopped with Halletaur. I prefered the beer made with wheat yeast - he preferred the one made with lager yeast.
If you're making beer using extract, there is sorghum extract and if you're in VIC, G&G had some last time I was there.
Might also be worth trying some of the O'Briens beers which are gf to get an idea of what is possible.
YMMV.

sap.


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## Tanga (16/11/10)

Thirsty Boy said:


> Except... that I can see from where I am sitting - A fermenter full of 22L of beer that was brewed entirely without a single gluten containing component. Beer can be made from basically any cereal.. the trick is not making gluten free beer, the trick is making gluten free beer that tastes like normal beer.
> 
> You just have to be determined enough.



My bad. It sounds interesting actually.


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## speedie (16/11/10)

it is only beer in the name sense a fermented alcoholic beverage
billabongs australian pale ale is a bad drop though


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## speedie (16/11/10)

that should have read isint a bad drop though


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## bum (16/11/10)

speedie said:


> it is only beer in the name sense a fermented alcoholic beverage
> billabongs australian pale ale is a bad drop though


Why? It has grain, hops and is fermented with ale or lager yeast. Why isn't it beer? At what percentage of adjuncts does a beer stop being beer?


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## jyo (16/11/10)

Gluten Free Kits

A mate of mine made one of these for his Father in Law, who is gluten intolerant.
He has saved me a longneck, which I will try to grab off him soon to sample.

TWOC in Perth sells the kits from the above link, but I cannot comment on the quality of them.

Cheers, John.


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## Millet Man (17/11/10)

speedie said:


> it is only beer in the name sense a fermented alcoholic beverage
> billabongs australian pale ale is a bad drop though


 :huh: 

According to FSANZ beer is made from hops, yeast, water and malted or unmalted cereals so why does gluten free beer not fit in here since sorghum, millet, rice and corn are all cereal grains just like barley, wheat, rye and oats?

Is it just your humble opinion?

Cheers, Andrew.


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## J Grimmer (17/11/10)

Their was an article in the last eddition of the Aust Beer and Brewer Magazine about using alternate grains, altneratly i have heard of spelt being called an ancient formof wheat and some people with a gluten intol can eat it with out any probs, my 2c.


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## wabster (17/11/10)

Recommend you try the O'Briens Gluten Free beer range available at Dan Murphy's. They have a Pale Ale which is great but their other beers are good too. The purpose of this is to see what can be done with Sorghum malt. I buy this beer occasionally for a neighbour who is very gluten intolerant.

Then follow what Milletman suggests, he IS O'Brien's brewing.

Cheerz Wabster


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