Gluten Free Brewing With Enzymes

[r055c0]

Thanks for the tips Mark, I'll certainly be making sure anyone who participates is fully informed.

 

[r055c0]

Tested a couple of bottles of "maybe gluten free" kolsch on my coeliac mate last night, he reported no ill effects. He tells me if he drinks a stubbie of normal beer he usually can make it all the way through before he gets pains in his stomach. I sent him home with 24 bottles for further testing (to be carried out in front of the telly) and he was pretty excited at the prospect of being able to get back into all grain brewing.

Spiesy I've passed on your details to him, I'm sure he'll be ordering soon.

I've got about 12 bottles left which I'll be handing over to a couple of coeliacs I know, if they like it I'll get them involved in home brewing

 

[MHB]

So apparently amylase is naturally occuring in the human body so if its got gluten in it and your intolerant your in the crapper so it would be safe to assume its GF

Meh - not quite, Amylase is a family of enzymes that chop up starch, we have an Amylase in our saliva it does a very similar job to that found in malt but is in fact a very different enzyme, for one it’s very active at around 37oC (body heat).
Most of the commercial enzymes are cropped from bacteria and are different again.
That 20ppm is the American standard, in Australia to be classed as gluten free there must be no detectable response to an allergen test, it’s a much harder test and the answer is a yes/no not a quantity.
Mark

 

[Spiesy]

Tested a couple of bottles of "maybe gluten free" kolsch on my coeliac mate last night, he reported no ill effects. He tells me if he drinks a stubbie of normal beer he usually can make it all the way through before he gets pains in his stomach. I sent him home with 24 bottles for further testing (to be carried out in front of the telly) and he was pretty excited at the prospect of being able to get back into all grain brewing.

Spiesy I've passed on your details to him, I'm sure he'll be ordering soon.

I've got about 12 bottles left which I'll be handing over to a couple of coeliacs I know, if they like it I'll get them involved in home brewing

Awesome! Thanks for the update.

 

[rehabs_for_quitters]

Meh - not quite, Amylase is a family of enzymes that chop up starch, we have an Amylase in our saliva it does a very similar job to that found in malt but is in fact a very different enzyme, for one it’s very active at around 37oC (body heat).
Most of the commercial enzymes are cropped from bacteria and are different again.
That 20ppm is the American standard, in Australia to be classed as gluten free there must be no detectable response to an allergen test, it’s a much harder test and the answer is a yes/no not a quantity.
Mark

Thanks for that info Mark.
is that why the Peruvians chew corn to make chicha then?
I was talking to a scientisty chap and he mentioned that most commercial amylase is actually synthetic do you know if thats correct at all?

 

[damoninja]

Thanks for that info Mark.
is that why the Peruvians chew corn to make chicha then?
I was talking to a scientisty chap and he mentioned that most commercial amylase is actually synthetic do you know if thats correct at all?

Bingo - however the corn can be germinated and malted to produce the enzymes...

 

[wynnum1]

What about the malt flavor when the barley is put in the kiln enzymes can convert but is more needed.

 

[MHB]

As far as I know all enzymes used in brewing (and the rest of the food industry) are cropped from bacteria or extracted from food products, there are lots of enzymes used in stuff like laundry powder and where they come from I have no idea, but then they don't have to be food grade or approved for use in food so anything is possible

Corn is an interesting one, I'm sure it has Amylase in some form, the problem from what I have read is that the gelatinisation temperature is higher than the temperature at which the enzymes get denatured - in barley its lower so that makes mashing easy - It isn't a subject I have payed much attention to as my interest in putting corn in beer approaches zero and I loath Bourbon. So my knowledge on malting maze is pretty sketchy.

Mind you if the best way to make beer was by chewing the corn, I reckon home brewing would be pretty strong, someone else's spitting in my beer isn't usually regarded as a complement.

I thought I remembered an article in BYO that talked about malting maize a quick Google found it, not specifically on malting maze but that gets a mention
Mark

 

[r055c0]

Had some more positive feedback on the "maybe gluten free" kolsch from another coeliac last night, he had 4 375ml stubbies and no ill effects (and was very complimentary about the taste ), looks like he'll be an easy convert to the home brewing world.

I've got 2 more testers lined up, will post[SIZE=10.5pt] their [/SIZE]feedback once they've had a go, but it looks really good so far, I'd say it's definetly worth a try for coeliacs who want to get back into beer (but maybe do a small batch first...)

A note on the clarity, after all that is the main function of Clarity Ferm, the kolsch came out crystal clear, I thought I had brewed clear beers in the past but this almost put the water coming out of my tap to shame. If you're after clear beers then this is absolutley worth a go.