Ways to remove gluten from beer

[Seeker]

Thought I'd start a thread to discuss ways of reducing gluten for those of us that get smashed by the stuff, but still want to drink beer.

I've been using clarity ferm which works pretty well, but must have some limits as I did a FWK black ipa that had wheat in it.

Even with the clarity ferm I cant drink it.

I seem to be ok with non wheat though as long as I use the clarity ferm at the start of fermentation.

I've also just read an article which hints at other methods.
https://blog.csiro.au/looking-for-a-low-gluten-beer-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

In particular this;
"
Some brewers also use sugar syrups or another grain to replace some of the barley, add more enzymes during fermentation to break down gluten faster, or filter using silica to remove more gluten to make low or reduced gluten brews."

So silica filters remove gluten....

Wonder what else they remove.

 

[bird]

Intresting article seeker. kebari barley looks pretty interesting. Hopefully it will be available in the near future. Will have to look into the different filtration methods.

I personally have been using clarity Ferm for about 18 months since finding out I was a cealiac. I find it works very well but some beers still seem to affect me. I haven't looked into the different ingredients in the beers that affect me more. Will start taking more notice. Just brewed a pacific ale with barley rye and oats so will good to compare with the beer I'm drinking now which is pilsner and wheat.

Thanks for starting up this thread seeker. hopefully there's some more knowledge hiding out there to help us drink more beer.

 

[MHB]

The grains that cause problems are (well the mnemonic is BROW as in eyebrow) Barley, Rye, Oats, Wheat, the less of these in the beer the less of the key proteins that cause a reaction in some people.
You can but Rice and Sorghum Malt Syrup from Brises and make some passable beers that are totally gluten free, there are a couple of recipes on the brises web site.
If you are not Allergic but are intolerant to gluten and want to minimise it, you can do several things:-
Clarex - (under a couple of brand names) is very effective if used properly, there is some very good information in the link.
Adjunct - If you are an all grain brewer you can use more gluten free grain (Rice, Corn...). There are lots of options but I find most of them make less flavourful beer (and I don't need to worry about gluten), you can use Dextrose, Sugar or some rice/sorghum syrup to replace some of the problematic grain.
Silica - filtering or treating with Silica (Silica Xerogel), there are several preparations around that contain Silica Xerogel like Biofine Clear and Polyclar 70/30 which is a blend of PVPP and Silica Xerogel (worth doing a bit of research) 70/30 is pretty hard to get in small quantities but my local stocks it. These two can be used as an in fermenter fining as they are totally insoluble and just fall through the beer rather than needing to be filtered although they can be used on a filter to.
Read the instructions and don't cut corners or it wont work. I find the 70/30 more effective than Biofine Clear, even if its a bit of a PITA tp prepare.

Good brewing practice will also reduce the amount of Gluten
Longer Boils - 90-120 minutes will coagulate more protein including problematic ones.
Good Trub Separation - whirlpooling effectively and keeping the trub in the kettle not the cube or fermenter will help to.
Good Mashing Regime - Ok a bit out of my area of expertise, have heard that you can do good things by manipulating the mash pH and temperature to optimise some Protease activity (there are a bunch of different Proteases in malt not just one) some will degrade Gluten under some conditions. Something that you would need to do some more research on.

Sort of one of those better you than me problems, it would suck big time and I would miss beer, so will be happy to help any way I can.
Mark

 

[fdsaasdf]

Have you considered sourcing GF malts? E.g. twobays.beer/collections/malts ?

 

[MHB]

Interesting, I did a heap of research on GF brewing a few years ago, there was a bit of malted Sorghum available (difficult to mash). Back then there was nothing like that range available, good to see.
Mark

 

[Schikitar]

Thought I previously had a thread on this but can't locate it.

Anyway, I'll shortcut my takeaways;
1. If wanting to make a gluten-free beer then I can confidently recommend TwoBays 'malts' as above (and their brew packs) - https://www.twobays.beer/collections/malts - you will need a decent enzyme for conversion, I've had excellent success with Whitelabs UltraFerm. Just note that ALL your brew gear needs to be thoroughly cleaned of gluten - cleaning my mill was not the most fun job!
2. If you want to make a gluten-reduced beer then I'd simply just add Whitelabs ClarityFerm - works a treat and reduces it to US levels of gluten-freeness, not Aus standards though.

Sure, you could find other no-name-brand enzymes etc., but just like I don't use bakers yeast form the supermarket to ferment my beers I trust the Whitelabs stuff to do the job - and it does, consistently.

I have done both types as I have a number of self-described glutards in my life, if you can tolerate low amounts of gluten then go with option 2.

 

[bird]

I was reading up on clarity Ferm today and on their website they have a dosage calculator. One of the factors which affect the dosing rate is if the beer has over 20% wheat. In which case they recommend two vials to treat 23lt for gluten reduction.

I have also just ordered a 1lt bottle of clarity Ferm. If it's the same as what I have seen available in the states it's a concentrated form and you only need about 3 or 4ml to treat 23lt. I know it will treat a lot of beer but am hoping to be able to overdose it a little and possibly reduce more gluten as well as being able to supply all my other mates who brew so I can enjoy their brews as Well. Will let you know when I find out the cost of it.

 

[MHB]

There are lots of names but most (probably all as DSM hold the patent) are the same DSM Brewers Clarex, if you follow the link there is lots of information on the product and a downloadable "Gluten Free Beer Leaflet" mostly blurb.
Here is a brief How to Use, A very interesting product, originally developed as a filter aid but now finding lots of other uses.
Just watch your dilutions. The raw Brewers Clarex dilutes about 400:1 before use, most of the on sold products have been diluted to some extent before you get them so use the dosage recommended on your package.
When it first came out full strength was about $2000/L, probably another why its been diluted.
Mark