Interesting Sorghum Beer

Byrdbrewer · 03-02-2010, 07:10 PM

Cheers all, I just brewed a small batch of sorghum beer (first batch ever) and had a few questions for some of you more experienced brewers out there. My recipe is as follows, for a 2.5 gal test batch.

3.3 lb Sorghum syrup
.5 lb Rice syrup solids
1 oz cascade hops 5 min into boil
1 oz cascade hops 15 min into boil
1 oz cascade hops 2 min before the end of the 60 min boil.

OG = 1.064
FG = 1.012

A nice 8% delightful brew

I fermented for 13 days, and now I'm bottle conditioning ( so fare 2 days in). I carbed some with tabs and some with maple syrup.

I tried one last night just to see what it tasted like, and it was surprisingly pleasant tasting for being so young - The only thing is (and this may not be a bad thing) it tasted more like wine than beer. It had a very distict dry wine taste. This is the first time I have ever used rice syrup solids, and my question is - is that why it tastes like wine, did I make a sorghum saki on accident? Thanks in advance for your responses

on a side note - it was surprisingly clear and crisp.

**david_42** · 03-02-2010, 08:18 PM

The ABV works out around 6.7%. I don't think the rice solids were enough of the total fermentables to be a problem. Give it a couple more weeks and report back.

I think you've solved one of the main problems with GF beers: not enough hops. I used 2.75 oz in a similar sized batch, but the bittering hop was Columbus.

Byrdbrewer · 03-02-2010, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david_42

The ABV works out around 6.7%. I don't think the rice solids were enough of the total fermentables to be a problem. Give it a couple more weeks and report back.

I think you've solved one of the main problems with GF beers: not enough hops. I used 2.75 oz in a similar sized batch, but the bittering hop was Columbus.

are you plugging the ingredients into a calculator or going by the gravity reading. I could have read the hydrometer wrong, I jus tstarted using it, but I could swear that 1.064 on the gravity side of the hydrometer was equivelant to 8% on the abv side of the hydrometer. But like I said I could be wrong I'll have to recheck -

Byrdbrewer · 03-02-2010, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david_42

The ABV works out around 6.7%. I don't think the rice solids were enough of the total fermentables to be a problem. Give it a couple more weeks and report back.

I think you've solved one of the main problems with GF beers: not enough hops. I used 2.75 oz in a similar sized batch, but the bittering hop was Columbus.

yes it does have a noticible hppy flavor, and the over all flavor is pleasant, even though it is more like wine - I cant wait to taste it after it conditions. Thanks for teh advice

DKershner · 03-02-2010, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byrdbrewer

are you plugging the ingredients into a calculator or going by the gravity reading. I could have read the hydrometer wrong, I jus tstarted using it, but I could swear that 1.064 on the gravity side of the hydrometer was equivelant to 8% on the abv side of the hydrometer. But like I said I could be wrong I'll have to recheck -

1.064 probably is about 8%, but you have to subtract how much sugar there is in there at the end, the FG. In this case, about 1.3%.

Byrdbrewer · 03-02-2010, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkershner

1.064 probably is about 8%, but you have to subtract how much sugar there is in there at the end, the FG. In this case, about 1.3%.

that makes perfect sense, I completely forgot about accounting for the left ofer sugar in the beer. I just started using a hydrometer, that one slipped right past me. Thanks