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ahbrown32 · 07-06-2011, 06:50 PM

I went to a new home brew store today and I asked them what they knew about brewing gluten free beer. I was very surprised with the response I received. They told me that the Univ of Colorado Boulder did a study and found that home brew (and very small commercial breweries) under FDA standards were essentially gluten free. I am a recently diagnosed Celiac so I am new to the terminology. But they told me that something to do with the process removed the glutenins and unless I was very very sensitive that I should be able to drink normal home brew without any issues. I tried searching on google and couldn't find any published research on the subject. I also browsed the form and didn't see anything; so I wanted to see if anyone else had heard this or knew anything about this study?

Thanks!

Gengis · 07-06-2011, 09:07 PM

Not all homebrews are gluten-free! It depends if you use gluten-free grains (such as millet, quinoa, amaranth, sorghum, buckwheat, rice, and certified oats) and if you use gluten-free yeast. Removing glutenins in wheat- or barley-based beers is very hard to do and that does not necessarily remove 100% of gluten, unless the method used has been tried and tested (by ELISA or other detection methods); some patients may react to very small quantities of gluten, so beware!

NoGbrewer · 07-06-2011, 10:50 PM

I have severe reactions to regular beer. Homebrews would have just as much if not more gluten than a commercial beer brewed with adjuncts such as bud light. Tread lightly studies are helpfull but it comes down to personal reactions.

Edit: This of course exlcudes homebrews made with gluten free ingredients.

KevinM · 07-07-2011, 12:26 AM

See thread http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/lazy-mans-gf-beer-187412/ will edit or post more wjen not from phone.

jimmystewart · 07-07-2011, 12:37 AM

If I recall correctly, I think I saw a thread on here somewhere about some home gluten test that indicated regular barley beer was gluten free, then someone replied that many home gluten tests are not reliable when testing beer. Perhaps this could be part of the reason behind the information you got from your LHBS?

As Gengis and NoGbrewer said above, personal reaction should be your most reliable test. Some people might be able to sneak in a regular barley beer here and there, but my celiac girlfriend has had a reaction from sharing a cigarette with me after I was drinking barley beer...

In the end, it's your body and your health. There are plenty of cool GF recipies on here, and some decent commercial GF beers, so you have options.

<- there's GF beer in those mugs

KevinM · 07-07-2011, 01:58 AM

Theres some things floating around out there on the net and research that hasn't been fully and throughly tested.
1) People's gluten intolerances vary. The maximum amount considered by some is a 20 parts per million (ppm) gluten content in a sample. This is often the amount to be considered "gluten free". However, some of us can't stand amounts even that high, and have to make sure that we stay away from products containing any amount of gluten.

2) Many items that are marked as gluten free, aren't made with any gluten sourced ingredients. It makes it easier and the only gluten content will be cross-contamination.

Barley based beer does appear to pass tests that mark it as below 20ppm of gluten, but this can be from interactions in the beer itself. There is an enzyme that is said that it removes some proteins, and this may include gluten proteins, but this doesn't seem to be scientifically proven that I could find.

While this enzyme may reduce gluten protein, it does not eliminate it and people can still have a gluten reaction, thus it's generally safer to completely avoid gluten sourced ingredients. See: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/lazy-mans-gf-beer-187412/ Where some of us had tested beer made with the enzyme.

Because of this, you may be able to make a barley beer that you can withstand, but other gluten free people may not be able to. So consider your audience too.