Gluten Free Beer

[durgarth]

Hi guys, first posting for me. I have been an AG brewer brewer from some time. My eldest son is now of a beer drinking age and I don't want him to miss out on all the fun. I have read up on producing a Gluten Free beer, and the base ingredients, however i am having trouble tracking down Pale sorghum malt. Does anyone know where I can obtain some from in Australia (prepared and cracked would be good....one can only hope).

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Hi guys, first posting for me. I have been an AG brewer brewer from some time. My eldest son is now of a beer drinking age and I don't want him to miss out on all the fun. I have read up on producing a Gluten Free beer, and the base ingredients, however i am having trouble tracking down Pale sorghum malt. Does anyone know where I can obtain some from in Australia (prepared and cracked would be good....one can only hope).

Interesting you should bring this up right now.Im looking at getting or trying to find some malted Buck wheat if such a thing exists.Sorry I cant help you out with you sorghum either.Do you have any good sites to check on how to brew gluen free?Im just at the considering stage to see if its viable.
GB

 

[Jye]

Hey durgarth and welcome to AHB :beer:

Check out this thread and send Mothballs a PM, he has brewed a few and they havent been too bad. But from what he has told me they are a nightmare to mash, so I would be going with the extract when he has it in stock.

Fill in your location in your profile and maybe some of the locals will jump in with some help.

Cheers
Jye

 

[durgarth]

Interesting you should bring this up right now.Im looking at getting or trying to find some malted Buck wheat if such a thing exists.Sorry I cant help you out with you sorghum either.Do you have any good sites to check on how to brew gluen free?Im just at the considering stage to see if its viable.
GB

The best pages that I have found which gives sufficient detail is the Sillyyak pages. See Below. Although there are plenty of pages out there you just have to dig a bit deeper. Durgarth


http://www.sillyyak.com.au/beer/beers.html

 

[durgarth]

Hey durgarth and welcome to AHB :beer:

Check out this thread and send Mothballs a PM, he has brewed a few and they havent been too bad. But from what he has told me they are a nightmare to mash, so I would be going with the extract when he has it in stock.

Fill in your location in your profile and maybe some of the locals will jump in with some help.

Cheers
Jye

Thanks your a champ. Profile updated by the way. I had fun doing it too.

 

[Adamt]

I think "Millet Man", from O'Briens brewery would be the best to ask about this. I'm sure theres a few threads about, do a search for "gluten free" with the "s.

 

[durgarth]

Thanks....I dug a bit and found heaps of info and guys willing to share their experience. Its hard to find the malted grains needed, but I suppose that means I just need to expand the shed/brewing room and do it myself.

 

[rich_lamb]

I can get malted sorghum from "Grain and Grape" here in Melbourne - I'm sure they'd post to you.

They won't crush it for you as they want to avoid cross-contamination with other grains. Fair enough. I crushed mine with a coffee grinder as I needed a pretty fine crush anyway. I don't own a mill.

But yeah, if you have the option of kits I'd use them. Mashing with GF grains is a real bitch!

 

[rich_lamb]

Oh yeah - and I bought some puffed Amaranth from them as well. It's not malted though.
Once you've looked into the process for mashing GF you - like myself - may decide to use packaged enzymes anyway so malting becomes a non issue and your grain selection opens up.

I'm by no means an expert at GF: as they say, talk to Millet Man. He's a god at this stuff.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Oh yeah - and I bought some puffed Amaranth from them as well. It's not malted though.
Once you've looked into the process for mashing GF you - like myself - may decide to use packaged enzymes anyway so malting becomes a non issue and your grain selection opens up.

I'm by no means an expert at GF: as they say, talk to Millet Man. He's a god at this stuff.

Hey B&T I am interested on how and way you use enzymes.Does it convert the Gluten or some thing similar?Souds to simple or have I missed some thing?
GB

 

[rich_lamb]

The enzymes don't convert Gluten, as theoretically there is none (or "almost" none) in these grains.

The problem is that the grains themselves aren't great for brewing for a number of reasons, one is they have low diastatic power. Have a look at this GF Brewing which explains it all nicely.

I'm suggesting that rather than muck around carefully saving the thin mash and enzymes (as described) you might just make life easy and use packet enzymes. I haven't tried it yet though - I don't get many GF brews down. So little time, so much beer to make

 

[geoffi]

Friend of mine has a possible gluten intolerance and is a keen beer drinker. I've offered to make him a batch. Grain and grape have the malted sorghum, so I'm planning to use that as the base, with some maize (maybe popped corn) and rice. The enzyme idea sounds like a goer, as the mashing seems to be otherwise a PITA.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Me, I'm planning to remain gluten tolerant...

 

[durgarth]

Geoff,

I too plan to remain on the "Barley & Wheat train", but I have an 18y/o who wants to have some beer and who am I to deny him the opportunity . Besides which I like the brewing and the "art".

 

[Millet Man]

Interesting you should bring this up right now.Im looking at getting or trying to find some malted Buck wheat if such a thing exists.Sorry I cant help you out with you sorghum either.Do you have any good sites to check on how to brew gluen free?Im just at the considering stage to see if its viable.
GB

GB,

Why malted buckwheat? I've used it many times in the past but it has such a strong flavour it needs to be cut with another grain/malt. Great for wheat beer type head and cloudiness but is also prone to scorching and a stuck sparge. You won't find any commercially available in Oz, or anywhere else for that matter.

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[Millet Man]

The enzymes don't convert Gluten, as theoretically there is none (or "almost" none) in these grains.

The problem is that the grains themselves aren't great for brewing for a number of reasons, one is they have low diastatic power. Have a look at this GF Brewing which explains it all nicely.

I'm suggesting that rather than muck around carefully saving the thin mash and enzymes (as described) you might just make life easy and use packet enzymes. I haven't tried it yet though - I don't get many GF brews down. So little time, so much beer to make

B&T,

If the grains are malted then you won't find any flavour difference in using the malt's enzymes or commercial enzymes. You will get a big difference in efficiency though especially with sorghum malt, the commercial enzymes can't breakdown the protein/starch matrix as well as the sorghum malts own enzymes can.

Using raw grains and commercial enzymes will give you a beer of sorts but the flavour will be quite different to using malted grains - equivalent to making a beer from raw barley extract compared to malted barley. The liquid sorghum extract made by Briess (promoted by some outlets as sorghum malt extract...shame, shame, shame) is made from raw grain not malt so while it will be a lot easier to use for brewing it will not be the same as using malted sorghum.

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[geoffi]

OK.

Grain and Grape have malted sorghum for $5.50 / kg.

This is my first-draft recipe for ~ 20 litres of gluten-free lager:

3 kg malted sorghum
1 kg rice
0.5 kg maize (popped corn)
0.3 kg cane sugar

Hallertau to about 22 IBU
Hallertau aroma

S-189

Any comments/criticisms from experienced gluten-free-ers?

Should I add enzymes, or will the enzymes in the malt suffice?

Is whirlfloc advisable?

Should I use a dark sugar? I hear sorghum-based beer is very pale.

 

[turto77]

Hi guys,
it's not AG but I found this the other day

http://www.gfhomebrewing.com.au/

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Hi guys,
it's not AG but I found this the other day

http://www.gfhomebrewing.com.au/

I have one quarter of one of their kits sitting waiting for a friend to taste. It took her several attempts to get them to sell her the kit - if you want to try one, I recommend telephoning them rather than their website.

 

[turto77]

I have one quarter of one of their kits sitting waiting for a friend to taste. It took her several attempts to get them to sell her the kit - if you want to try one, I recommend telephoning them rather than their website.

Spils, I would be interested in finding out if it is any good, i have a mate that wants me to make up a batch for him, but he's a bit hesitant at paying $50 for the kit.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Spils, I would be interested in finding out if it is any good, i have a mate that wants me to make up a batch for him, but he's a bit hesitant at paying $50 for the kit.

I see it as an interesting exercise and as determining a baseline flavour profile, etc, etc. I expect to have to work hard at mashing and being creative with ingredients to get something she and I are happy with. Tasting happens in March.