Sorghum Saison

[Droopy Brew]

I have a mate coming up to visit shortly who has a mild reaction to gluten and has eased right up on the beers lately.
Now I cant abide that so I have decided to make a Gluten free (well almost- a little bit wont hurt!) beer.

So from my readings I know that Sorghum beers are very thin and have an unusual taste as it is not barley malt.

So to combat the taste I decided on a Saison which should mask the difference. Unfortunately Saisons also attenuate lighly which will make it a bit thinner. To counter this I have dropped a shit load of corn syrum in there to give it some boddy. It may not dry out to proper Saison levels but that doesnt bother me- I am not looking for style but rather function ( ie. a tasty beer with good body).

So on Saturday I put on the following:

1.5kg Bries White Sorghum extract
500g Dex
500g Corn Syrup
50g carapils (Not GF)
50g Wheat grain (Not GF)
1/2tsp Yeast nutrient
15g Cascade flowers@ 60min
10g Cascade Flowers @ 5min

Belle Saison Yeast 1pkt

Volume 14 L
IBU 23
Alc 6.1%


Should be interesting. I couldn't find many GF recipes on here and none for Saisons so will let you all know if it is worth repeating.

 

[tiprya]

Corn syrup drys a beer out, rather than adding body...

Beer should be fine though, saison yeast provides body even though the beers end up very dry.

 

[GalBrew]

I probably wouldn't be adding wheat to a GF beer. To add body, you can add maltodextrin but you will still have a weird taste coming from the sorghum extract. If your friend only reacts mildly to gluten you might want to just brew a normal beer and add White Labs Clarity Ferm which apparently can significantly reduce the amount of gluten in a beer.

 

[pcmfisher]

Corn syrup drys a beer out, rather than adding body...

Beer should be fine though, saison yeast provides body even though the beers end up very dry.

It does?

 

[Droopy Brew]

Thanks GB- too late now but might try that for future. I only added 50g of the wheat for some colour and taste but think being such a small amount it should be ok.
Tiprya I have not found that to be the case. The dried corn syrup ( which I think may be maltadextrin) is a low attenuating sugar which raises FG and adds body and head retention. The dextrose on the other hand will further dry the beer due to being highly attenutive however I wanted to add some more av.

 

[Not For Horses]

You could try adding some rolled oats. I have never brewed an extract beer so I don't know if you get the benefit of oats without mashing. Happy to be educated on that.

 

[Lecterfan]

Best of luck Droopy Brew…I haven't tipped out too many kegs, but a recipe I made that is strikingly similar to yours (but with MJ Belgian yeast) ended up on the lawn. That, of course, is based on my flavour preferences etc. I just buy O'Briens for my gf friends/tastes….admittedly, that's probably easier for me living in the town where they make it than it is in Townsville. Cheers.

 

[GalBrew]

I must say, last night I tipped my previous sorghum extract brew. It was not great, wasted a bunch of centennial, citra and cascade on it too. Fermented down to 1.006 and still tasted oddly sweet. I think if my gluten intolerant friend can't handle a brew with Clarity Ferm then it's off to Dan's to get some O'Briens.

 

[Mardoo]

For most people's purposes oats pass the GF test, - but NOT folks fully allergic to gluten - and are stamped as OK by many coeliac organizations in Europe. I'm slowly working on a 100% oat beer for a coeliac friend. You could try some oat malt, which would need to be mashed. There are also Golden Naked Oats from Simpson's, which are a crystal oat malt. You can also toast some oat malt for varying degrees of toasty flavors.

 

[mr_wibble]

Best of luck Droopy Brew…I haven't tipped out too many kegs, but a recipe I made that is strikingly similar to yours (but with MJ Belgian yeast) ended up on the lawn. That, of course, is based on my flavour preferences etc. I just buy O'Briens for my gf friends/tastes….admittedly, that's probably easier for me living in the town where they make it than it is in Townsville. Cheers.

I concur! O'Briens' is pretty good considering it's GF.
It's sold in our local BWS (woolworths) who don't stock much at all.

I always keep a 6-pack on hand for one of the inlaws.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Ahh well we will see how it pans out. As I mentioned it is already in the fermenter so now we wait.
Lecterfan Im thinking the belgian yeast would not eat through as many sugars as the Saison so I am hoping the Saison yeast will dry it out more and will introduce a spicy flavour- the yeast selection could make a big difference. Guess we will see in a couple of weeks.

If all else fails Ill check out the Obriens.

 

[Lecterfan]

The MJ Belgian yeast is essentially a saison yeast - it went to 1.002 in the presence of all the simple liquid sugars!

 

[grantsglutenfreehomebrew]

Hi guys. I've made a saison due miel with sorghum and it came up really nice. Maltodextrin works well for body (I use about 300g in a 23l batch and its tapioca based). The right use of hops can help get around the sorghum flavours but I also use roasted Buck wheat and my own malted millet.
And I'm not preaching here just helping out 'a little bit won't hurt' can be like a red rag to a bull. If someone has coeliac it internally damages their intestines and although they look and feel OK it can take months to repair. As for the oats its
A protein called avenin

 

[grantsglutenfreehomebrew]

Sorry. Replying from my phone.
Avenin only effects 20% of coeliacs so he might be OK with it.
To get abit of color and extra flavour out of the use of sorghum, I caramelize it. Works well.
I hope this has helped

 

[grantsglutenfreehomebrew]

Sorry. Replying from my phone.
Avenin only effects 20% of coeliacs so he might be OK with it.
To get abit of color and extra flavour out of the use of sorghum, I caramelize it. Works well.
I hope this has helped

 

[Droopy Brew]

Shit I just realised I made a big blue. I had a look at a few recipes where they have used 500g of Corn Syrum/ maltodextrin. I thought it was high but bunged it in anyway. Just realised i have done a half batch. DOH!
Grant, he is not a coeliac- well not as far as the doctors have said but he has seen the benefits to his health of cutting out gluten, But perhaps like many coeliacs, the affects arent as bad until you go off gluten completely then get a dose of it.

This one may be chalked up as a learning experience for both of us!