Just diagnosed Celiac...

The_Fuzz · 12-06-2011, 01:15 AM

Crap . . . .I need some help here. I've made several beers before, but all from kits. I've got 2 on the go right now

Anyway I was wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction for brewing from scratch glutten free. I have no expereince with any boiling etc, and am a bit overwhelmed looking at al the threads here. Any easy recipe to get started on? I live in a big city, so should be able to find supplies.

Thanks.

**david_42** · 12-06-2011, 01:30 AM

This is probably a good place to start:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/awesome-gluten-free-mcgee-beer-recipe-242668/

You can even buy it in kit form.

I've had good results with converting extract pale ale recipes using 4 parts sorghum to 1 part cane sugar to substitute for malt extract. If the recipe calls for 5 lbs of malt, use 4 lbs of sorghum and one pound of cane sugar. The cane sugar dries out the sorghum's sweetness.

mloster · 12-06-2011, 02:55 AM

Yep, I'd start off with an extract brew and sorghum as your base. If you want to buy a kit, I've tried Gluten-Free Dark Ale Beer Kit with good success. You can easily just buy the ingredients for cheaper though. I think that specific recipe uses northern brewer and liberty hops.

Satisfaction · 12-06-2011, 03:16 AM

Sorry that you were diagnosed with Celiacs.. My wife recently received the same news and we made a pact to try our hardest to maintain our lifestyle we enjoyed. So she bakes the gluten free bread and I volunteered to make the beer since we found all brands on the market to be lacking.

As the previous poster suggested the gluten free McGee is great and the gluten free shock top clone is also very good. Up until our lifestyle shift I had never brewed any beer, but I started with these and found great and easy success.

I wish you the best of brew luck and post all your questions here. There is a great community here that really likes to help people out.

The_Fuzz · 12-06-2011, 03:53 AM

Thanks guys, I'll see if I can find the ingredients here. I'm in Canada, so probably not worth the shipping hassle to buy the kit. Recipe doesn't look to difficult! Now I just need to empty my equipment of the tasty beer I can't have

Guess I'll have lots of Christmas presents for people!

The_Fuzz · 12-07-2011, 10:07 PM

Alright just placed an order for all the ingredients form a Canadian distributor to save some $$$. It still costs $110 for 2 batches worth of stuff with shipping (figured I would double up to save on shipping costs).

The only thing I couldn't get was Rice Flakes (pre-gelatinized) so hopefully I can find those in town. It doesn't sound to exotic an ingredient? I'll post in the other thread when I get a chance to make some up.

spaced · 12-08-2011, 07:30 PM

FYI, don't use any of your old stuff (fermenters, spoons etc) for gluten free beer. Buy brand new stuff.

Metal and glass is ok to reuse if it hasn't got any scratches. What types of beers did you like to drink before getting your diagnosis?

I'm 3+ years in as a Celiac and 1 year in as a gluten free brewer. This year has definitely been the most fun

The_Fuzz · 12-08-2011, 07:41 PM

I made kits before, all very good, from stout to pilsner. I like most any beer!

Do I really need to get rid of everything? wouldn't sanitizing ensure it is clean enough? I don't plan on replacing all of my kitchen cooking utensils, should I do that too?

stargate_to_Earth · 12-08-2011, 07:46 PM

If your not too much against it you could brew some hard cider or even some Edworts Apfelwein...

The_Fuzz · 12-08-2011, 08:01 PM

Not really into cider. I'll see how this beer turns out though!