Levels of gluten free, steeping grains ok?

OrkinYards · 12-27-2011, 02:05 PM

My girlfriend is celiac and I have been experimenting with gluten free brewing for a few months now. However, I have still been using steeping grains to get the wort started and get my color. She has not had any of her typical reactions when drinking the beer. I'm curious if this is considered gluten free or what the general opinion is? I've had several people who are aggravated because they can't drink good beer anymore try my beer with no gluten reactions. In fact, I brewed a gluten free chocolate bourbon stout that won a local home brew contest. I've been assuming gluten free because of the sorghum, but curious what the reality is.

Thanks!

KevinM · 12-27-2011, 02:24 PM

Generally no, the inclusion of gluten ingredients (barley, sorghum, rye) means that the product may not be gluten free.

It could potentially be under the threshold that many consider gluten free in terms of ppm or dilution. Meaning that for some people who have this may be ok if they have no other gluten triggering proteins while it's in their body. For other people, it could push them over the limit and they can have a reaction. For people who are very sensitive to gluten, they can have a reaction.

If anything, it's likely to be considered a low gluten beer or gluten free by european standards but a risk to people who need gluten completely eliminated. You can always send it in for testing, or use some testing strips to see what shows, but based on your tests with people who say they've not had a reaction, it's low gluten enough that it doesn't trigger on its own.

Like any other food allergy, peanuts and tree nuts, or rotten meat accidentally touching good meat. If it's touched, it's contaminated. It might not give you food poisoning or trigger anaphylactic shock and to some people, might be worth the risk. For others, it may not be.

OrkinYards · 12-27-2011, 02:27 PM

Great input! Do you know much about how valid the home testing is or where I could track that down? I'd be curious to see what the acceptable PPM is and where mine stack up. My girlfriend is actually extremely sensitive, so I tend to think that I'm pretty damn close! I've actually gained a lot of interest in me brewing in larger batches and beginning to sell some of the beers. That is another can of worms I haven't even began to research, but just curious how I first get all of my ducks in a row for KNOWING the specifics of what my 'gluten level' is on these brews.

KevinM · 12-27-2011, 02:39 PM

If you're looking for home testing, check EZ GLUTEN | For When You Need To Know for test strips from ELISA Technologies. The ELISA test itself is the standard gluten test. This just determines if something is expected to be under the ppm threshhold. Not necessarily if it's totally free of gluten.

For potential sales, you'll probably have to send the product into the the testing center itself. You would then want to have both the statement of gluten free, as well as the contains barley (or whichever) as a statement. Or anything else to avoid lawsuits of misrepresentation, false advertising or some other label law if people do manage to get sick.

Personally, I'd just keep the label off and not mention it, and try to get the word out that it's lower in gluten due to the process (after checking with the strip), etc. After all, we can eat many things that aren't labeled gluten free, but are not made with gluten, or sometimes made in a facility that processes allergens (with clean processing laws) but at that point, anything we do is our (the consumer's) fault.