GF Beer that Tastes Like ... Beer?

I've never had a GF beer or have attempted to make one, but I have a couple of friends who are GF that I'd like to brew for.

The GF recipe database is pretty slim and I was wondering/hoping if it were possible to brew something similar to a GF version of BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde - something rather light that would take hops and citrus rather well. Something crisp & light? Extract recipes would be preferred.

For those who don't know, Centennial Blonde (the extract recipe) is basically 1 lb Carapils for head stability and 5 lbs of extra light DME. Are there GF extracts that would do the same jobs without any off flavors?

Short answer, no. Sorghum is just going to have that taste. Rice syrup doesn't provide "maltiness". Buckwheat honey can make up for it. You can make some very good beers but, they aren't going to taste like "normal" beer until you go all grain.

Go into it trying to make good beer but, not to mimic barley. Centennial blonde is a very easy, good recipe. I would start with sorghum, rice syrup, light candi syrup, buckwheat honey, and maltodextrin. Use the same hop schedule and yeast.

Someone should be able to point you in a good direction. I don't do extract brew anymore. I might be able to find you a recipe I used a long time ago if you want. Good luck. Its not as hard as it seems to do gluten free.

While not officially GF Omission beer does taste like beer and lacks gluten.

I've said this before: beer is beer. Whether you make it from barley or buckwheat, beer is beer.

Beer is beer. Barley has the advantage of 1000s of years of cultivation and genetic modification to make better beer. Just don't go in trying to replicate barley. I personally don't see the point in trying to make it taste like that anyway. Play to the strengths of your fermentables.

Omission is not gluten free. It is gluten reduced. Even that is a stretch. Its not even that great either.

I agree with Osedax. Beer is a drink made with grain. Millet is a grain. Corn is a grain. Buckwheat is a pseudo grain. By the definition you are using, wheat beer is not a beer because it has not been made with barley. But it is. just because it is considered "Normal" due to it being used for centuries. Using gluten free grains and trying to make it taste like barley isn't going to work. That's like trying to get a leek to taste like a banana, then complaining that it doesn't taste like a banana. Use the taste that the gluten free grains produce and mix it with adjuncts and hops that work with it to produce a great gluten free beer.

I agree, omission was exciting at first because I wanted to remember that taste but now the excitement has worn off, I actually prefer my brews or a greens, or even a Bards. But never Redbridge, that's gross swill

EvanLouis said:

I've said this before: beer is beer. Whether you make it from barley or buckwheat, beer is beer.

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Ash_Mathew said:

I agree with Osedax. Beer is a drink made with grain.

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a traditional definition is beer = barley + hops + water+ yeast + other things, sometimes. that traditional definition holds that if you're missing one of those main ingredients, like barley, it isn't beer.

a definition that i like is from wikipedia: "an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar." GF beers qualify by that standard, i believe.

Ash_Mathew said:

By the definition you are using, wheat beer is not a beer because it has not been made with barley.

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FYI wheat beers are never 100% wheat. i haven't come across a recipe that calls for more than 60%, 40% is pretty typical. the rest is barley.

But that is exactly our point. Just because people think it is 'traditional' doesn't make it the only one or the only way. Especially when Sorghum beers have actually been around a lot longer than barley/wheat beers. People just assume that barley beers are the norm, and if anything else does not have it in is not.

Does it really matter that you have never seen a 100% wheat beer? Somebody will have tried it. Does that mean it is not a beer? No. It has grain. It has hops. It has water. It has yeast. Regardless of what grain is used it is a beer. Each grain tastes differently which is why brewers use different grains to bring different flavours. Isn't that the whole point of brewing? To experiment with different ingredients? Try new things. Otherwise, what's the point. Just buy some commercial beer. At least that way you know it will be chock full of barley.

There are plenty of debate threads on what constitutes a beer. FYI, Grätzer/Grodziskie is an all smoked wheat beer made in Poland. Even Germans used to make all wheat beers and they are the ones that made the Reinheitsgebot. History lesson over.

I honestly could care less what some old, stuffy German thought in 1516. I'm just trying to help a man make a beer.

Seriously though, the gluten free recipe section is slim (it was just created a few months ago) but it has some good recipes in it. Most gluten free brewers have to try harder because its not proven yet and gluten free ingredients tend to be much costlier.

Perhaps a bad analogy, but it sounds like GF brews are to traditional grain-based beers what tea is to coffee - some truly prefer one to the other, and others consider one a substitute for the other. You might enjoy gluten free beers on their own merits out of personal choice, or you might be one who accepts it as a substitute for something else that they can't or shouldn't have.

I'll agree that my problem is probably one of what to expect of GF brews. It sounds like the idea of a perfect traditional beer substitute may be a stretch, but with that in mind I'm open to making something tasty that may or may not resemble traditional beer.

I'm not so familiar with sorghum (other than a very occaisional sample of molasses) and rice syrup. Is the sorghum flavor really something like the flavor of molasses, something that displaces/replaces the role of malt (i.e. different flavor, but similar role in providing body)? I know some BMC type beers utilize rice, but am having a hard time envisioning the true flavor of it.

I think I need to make a small sample batch of something so I can get a taste and a feel for these types of fermentables. The stout and brown ale recipes on the recipe forum seem a little heavier than I was thinking/hoping. Can anyone suggest something somewhat lighter with a bit more hop balance?

The analogy is kind of correct. Imagine if coffee made you violently ill though. Your getting the right idea about style.

Rice just lightens body. It doesn't taste like much unless you go with some exotic stuff. Sorghum tastes metallic-y and a little fruity. Everyone agrees that it has a twang. Try it. You will understand.

Here is a really old recipe I once made:

Gluten Free IIPA

5 gallons

Fermentables:
3.3 lbs Sorghum syrup (1/2 at 60 and 1/2 at 0)
2 lbs Amber candi syrup (0 min)
1 lb Buckwheat honey (0 min)
1 lb Rice Syrup Solids (60 min)
1.5 lb Clover Honey (10 min)
1 lb slightly toasted GF oats (Steeped)

I homemade the candi syrup. Also, I actually mashed the oats with yams and rice.

Hops:
FWH- .25oz perle, .5oz UK kent goldings, .25oz cluster
60 min - 1 oz perle
30 min - .5oz Centennial, .5oz UK kent goldings, .75oz cluster
20 min - .5oz Centennial
15 min - .5oz Northern Brewer
10 min - .5oz Centennial
5 min - .5oz Centennial

No idea whats up with that hop schedule but, its what I used. No dry hop either. Dunno... I'd change that.

Ferment:
1 pkg s-04
1 pkg t-58
2 weeks @ 65F

That seems like a stupid yeast choice. This recipe gets weirder the further I read. Well that was the last extract brew I made. I feel like I have made some brewing strides since then.

It was pretty good and got you messed up. Feel free to change anything in there. I can see a bunch of stuff I would. Good luck.

OK a celiac friend abd his gluten intolerant sister has tried my "GF beer" and without any side effect. Both are hypersensitive to the point of swishing a regular beer in their mouth and spitting it out would make him not feel well for a day or 2.

Slap together a medium gravity beer recipe with little to no wheat variety in your grain bill.

I did a maris otter base with 60L, dextrine, flaked oats, biscuit malt, chocolate, and some special B. Little fuggles, little EKG action, chilled it, then aerated the c!?p out it like we all do. Then I added Clarity Ferm, aerated again, pitched my yeast, and aerated one last time. That's it!

I also just made a 10g batch of Kolsch. One half is all natural and the other half got the Clarity Ferm. Just kegged both and added honeydew melon. I cannot taste the difference!

Thunder Chicken,

Please note that Sorghum Molasses and the Sorghum Syrup reference in this forum are different. Molasses is made from "juicing" the stalk and boiling it down. The Syrup is made from the grain using a "malting" process and is chemically the closest replacement for standard LME. There are additional and different minerals in Sorghum Syrum that seem to create the "twang" as it's known, most brewers have found that split addition and aging will melow the "twang"

kingof14ers

We appreciate your input and I for one would love to see te hop schedules that you used for both those beers. The problem is that Barley, Wheat and Rye all contain gluten. If you take a look at the first sticky in this forum you'll see how large the debate is around the effectiveness of Clarity Ferm. The basic idea is that Clarity Ferm breaks the gluten molecule down into its component parts, so the standard tests will not detect gluten molecules, but the component parts can cause reactions in some people that are sensitive. The danger here is that though no outward reaction in felt, the damage to the internal orgrans may still occur.

I hope that you don't take offence, I'm just trying to inform. The more you know and all that GI Joe taught us right?

It's entirely possible to replicate barley beer using GF ingredients. I have a recipe that, when consumed FRESH, tastes just like a brown ale made with barley- if you wait a few weeks it gets strange though . That said, I agree that if your goal with GF brewing is to simply replicate barley you're doing a lot of work for a mediocre result. See this thread for my favorite discussion on GF beer ideology. My favorite:

jagec said:

In some ways it's a problem with the American culture. If we're used to doing things a certain way (like beer), but can't anymore (diet change/health reasons/allergies), we try to replicate an existing product, rather than make something good in its own right.

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I haven't made a GF brew for like 6 months (shame on me!) but once I start up again I'll be test brewing with my prototype malts.

BrewCanuck said:

Thunder Chicken,

Please note that Sorghum Molasses and the Sorghum Syrup reference in this forum are different. Molasses is made from "juicing" the stalk and boiling it down. The Syrup is made from the grain using a "malting" process and is chemically the closest replacement for standard LME. There are additional and different minerals in Sorghum Syrum that seem to create the "twang" as it's known, most brewers have found that split addition and aging will melow the "twang"

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I don't mean to sound like I am trying to make a GF Centennial Blonde clone, but I would be interested in making a tasty GF beer of a similar gravity.

So what sort of GF syrup additions would produce a base beer body/color similar to say, extra-light LME, wort OG ~ 1.040? I understand the flavor would be different. I like the citrusy Pacific NW hop schedule using Centennial & Cascade, but are there similar hop combinations that might play better with the sorghum twang?

Maltodextrin would go in for head retention I assume, essentially replacing the role of dextrinous grains like Carapils/Carafoam?