Recent content by jeffz

I had what I thought might be a uniquely bright idea: to try the oat-steeping technique Igliashon used in his No-Nonsense Oatmeal Stout as part of a GF IPA recipe, as a way to improve smoothness/mouthfeel. (It ends up adding oats to IPAs is nothing new as I could have seen if I searched for the...

I've tried a lot of combinations out of a desire to make the most-Paleo-friendly carbonated & hopped beverage that satisfies my cravings for beer. I can give you a summary of what I've tried and the results: 100% honey, boiled like wort, and then bottle-carbonated like beer, can result in...

I can give you some feedback based on experience. My wife falls into the "very gluten-sensitive" camp and, after doing entirely no-grain eating in solidarity with her the last 2 months I find that I'm now sufficiently sensitive to gluten to feel discomfort myself when I do consume it (which is...

I made quite a few good GF brews with the Lundberg's brown rice syrup. If you use a recipe calculator like Brewtoad (was Hopville), I just enter it as if it's the Briess Brown Rice Syrup, which it's apparently close enough to. I get color & gravity results that match what's predicted. Jeff

Not sure if the original poster has ever been back, but thanks! I built a variation on one of these using the same pump a few weeks ago and I love the damn thing. Perfect solution for someone who doesn't care to deal with the volumes involved in a keg/nitro setup (and possibly more genuine...

I've primed with honey and/or agave nectar since my very first batch, and have never had issues. The last suggestion by unionrdr is spot on in terms of technique. My rule of thumb is, for each gallon in the batch, stir two tablespoons of honey into 1/2 cup of warm water. So for my 5-gallon...

I started with honey and rice syrup combos first and have only recently done brews with sorghum. My take is that sorghum is fine for a strong, hoppy IPA but has a weirdish flavor that I'm not sure I'd like in a more lightly hopped beer. Just rice syrup will give you a very lightly colored ale...

I know exactly what you're talking about - I brewed all-grain, albeit briefly, before getting into GF brewing. I used to sample my worts and thought they tasted rather strongly like the beer that would result. Not so with GF. Whether I'm brewing with honey, brown rice syrup, sorghum, or a...

If you want something easy: head and head retention increased dramatically for my brews when I started adding buckwheat honey as an adjunct.

I learned everything I know about brewing in 2012. In fact, I just wrote a giant post on my blog detailing everything I could remember about my journey. My best brew of 2012 was my GF take on a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale -- basically a copper-colored strong IPA. Jeff

So to clarify, some folks here are giving you advice on doing all- or partial-grain brewing, but everything I've contributed has been about doing extract brewing. If you're brewing from grain, there's usually a "mash" or grain-steeping step of some sort that will precede the boil. If...

Also note with my recipes that the volume and boil times vary. I started off brewing all 1-gallon batches and still do for experiments I'm unsure about. But since I've brewed a few batches I loved, I sprung for a larger kettle and fermenter I could use to do 4-gallon batches. I favor shorter...

My process has been to approach it just like brewing ale from extract. Since you're coming from a mead background, here's my quick rundown of what this means: Do a boil of water for somewhere between 30-60 minutes Add bittering hops early in the boil - how much/what kind is recipe-specific...

I've been having a blast for the last few months making ales with brown rice syrup and honey, specifically buckwheat honey and wildflower honey. I have an experimental hoppy stout fermenting now that also incorporates some molasses. This is fairly easy "extract" brewing and a nice way to get...

I'm a few batches into the world of tiny-batch gluten-free brewing and wanted to report in. I started first with the idea of making hoppy carbonated mead, which actually turned out great, except that maltodextrin was required for decent body, and something about the idea of pouring white...