gluten free recipe and general advice

[Nick Masters]

Hi all
I have just started gluten free brewing. I was given the following recipe from the LHBS owner in my town. Let me know what you think. First brew tasted ok but is very cloudy and little to no head retention as quite a lot of sediment. Does taste a little watery and could do with a bit more guts.
1.5kg Briess sorghum extract
1kg dextrose
250g dried corn syrup
Dried cascade hops
0.5 US yeast
Method was to add sorghum, dextrose, corn syrup to fermenter with some boiled water. Boil hops on the stove for 5 mins and the strain though Muslin cloth into ferm. Fill up to 23 litres at about 22-24c and spread yeast over the top without stirring in. Let ferment and the leave in primary ferm for a week after finishing bubbling.
Does this sound right? I think maybe i need to boil hops for longer???? Or add something else to improve end product. Any advice or recipes would be great.
Cheers nick

 

[stewy]

Look into a product called Clarity Ferm by White Labs. It’s is for chill haze & gluten reduction in beers made from barley & wheat.
They claim it reduces gluten to below 20PPM which is the international threshold to label products gluten free.

 

[MHB]

A few questions you need to think through before you decide what to make.
First how Gluten sensitive are you? The answer ranges from Fashion Victim to Fatally, if at the latter end of the scale - BE VERY CAREFUL. If its just a dietary choice or a mild irritant, then there is plenty you can do.

You are right about the Hops in what you have been sold, there simply isn't enough bitterness to balance the beer. Sadly a lot of brewers cant distinguish between Hop Taste and Bitterness. Have a look at some of the online calculators to get a better idea of how much hops and how long you need to boil them for to get the bitterness you want.
From experience, I find there is a big benefit to boiling the Briess Syrup, it tends to throw lots of trub. Boiling the other ingredients isn't necessary.

Be aware that "Corn Syrup" is called Maltodextrin in countries other than the USA, it may be made of Wheat or other grains that aren't GF, if you are highly sensitive make sure the one you have is made from GF grain.

There is a pretty decent recipe on the Briess Website for beer made from their Sorghum Syrup, might be worth a look, I suspect they know a bit more about their product than does your LHBS. A bit of a google will find you plenty of other good GF recipes

Stewy, that 20ppm is only a US standard, in Australia its a strict on/off response to an antigen - any detectable gluten and it isn't GF, sensitivity is in the low PPB range.

Mark

 

[stewy]

I would also add - gluten sensitivity is a myth.

Either one is a celiac or not.

I’m glad I am not, I can’t imagine life without proper beer

 

[bevan]

I made a gf beer using one of the recipes from this site for a friend and she loves it.
http://grantsglutenfreehomebrew.webs.com

 

[Roosterboy]

I would also add - gluten sensitivity is a myth.

Either one is a celiac or not.

I’m glad I am not, I can’t imagine life without proper beer

One thing I have learnt after working in a medical lab for more than 32 years and knowing lots of people with allergies,
things are rarely black and white when it comes to genetics and the immune system . The immune system is so
complex. I don't think you can be 100 % certain .

 

[stewy]

One thing I have learnt after working in a medical lab for more than 32 years and knowing lots of people with allergies,
things are rarely black and white when it comes to genetics and the immune system . The immune system is so
complex. I don't think you can be 100 % certain .

Oh, I agree. Certainty isn’t required for knowledge though. All knowledge is provisional & updates as new evidence comes to light.

I should have said “based on all of the currently available evidence, it appears that gluten sensitivity doesn’t exist”.

That doesn’t help people in their marketing efforts to sell more GF products though.

My coeliac mates couldn’t be happier about this (seemingly) imaginary condition as they have never had so much choice due to companies ramping out GF products to market.