GF Buckwheat-Beet Ale

So I am attempting to make a GF beer for a friend with a gluten allergy. I have a copy of Brooklyn Brew Shop's Beer Making Book for small batches, which has several GF recipes in it.

You can find the sprouting and mash process here: Brooklyn Brew Shop's Beer Making Book: 52 Seasonal Recipes for Small Batches - Erica Shea, Stephen Valand, Jennifer Fiedler - Google Books

The 1-gallon recipe goes like this:

1.4 lbs. whole raw buckwheat
1.4 lbs. beets, peeled and grated
.2 lbs. rice hulls
1 cup packed light brown sugar
.1 oz. EKG
.2 oz. Amarillo
1/2 packet Nottingham
3 Tablespoons honey for bottling

I bought 3.5 lbs. raw buckwheat groats that I plan to sprout, so obviously I'm more than doubling the recipe. Does anyone have experience with any of these ingredients, besides the hops? Are the rice hulls necessary? I thought those were to prevent stuck sparges, but I'll be doing BIAB on the stovetop for my 2.5 gallon batch.

I must say I have no idea what kind of flavors this will impart with the beets and brown sugar included, but I'm looking forward to experimenting. All you GF brewers out there, help a GF newbie out!

The rice hulls will still help the total grist from getting gummed up--I would use them as an extra measure, just in case. Just make sure to soak them first so they don't take up any of your brew water!

Sounds pretty good. You'll definitely get better conversion if you malt the buckwheat. So after sprouting, just make sure to kiln and remove the rootlets. I'd second the rice hulls and lots of them for that matter. I've had some real problems with buckwheat before.

Great tips, thanks! I am definitely planning on malting the buckwheat. How long does it keep after malting do you think? I plan to wait until just before I brew to put them in a ziplock back and crush them with a rolling pin.

You had me on buckwheat !

Do you happen to know which variety of beets is being mentioned? I can imagine sugar beets, but have trouble imagining the traditional red beets.

Actually, I think traditional red beets could make for a very interesting beer, though different than what was originally intended. If I were making this myself, which now I sort of want to, I'd peel red beets, bake them in tinfoil in the oven until fork tender (to caramelize the sugars), grate them, and add them to the mash. The red would make for a fascinating color. As for buckwheat storage, it'll probably keep for a while. If you storing it for more than a week or two, I'd keep it in an airtight container. Crushing right before brewing as you said is definitely the way to go.

KevinM said:

Do you happen to know which variety of beets is being mentioned? I can imagine sugar beets, but have trouble imagining the traditional red beets.

Click to expand...

Here's what it says in the book:

"Red beets bring additional fermentable sugars, a tangy flavor, and a gorgeous pink color -- perfect for the summer. Use young, tiny beets if you can. Their flavor is much sweeter and cleaner than that of the larger, earthier types."

Now, I have very little experience with beets in general, so any input is more than welcome!

mloster said:

Actually, I think traditional red beets could make for a very interesting beer, though different than what was originally intended. If I were making this myself, which now I sort of want to, I'd peel red beets, bake them in tinfoil in the oven until fork tender (to caramelize the sugars), grate them, and add them to the mash. The red would make for a fascinating color. As for buckwheat storage, it'll probably keep for a while. If you storing it for more than a week or two, I'd keep it in an airtight container. Crushing right before brewing as you said is definitely the way to go.

Click to expand...

Appreciate the feedback, esp. about the beets. The book doesn't give detail on preparation other than peeling and grating, but your process sounds better to me. Thanks!

Here some pics of the process as it moves along.

Buckwheat is sprouting. I soaked them for about 30 hours, draining and changing the water about every 8 hours or so.

Are there any potential problems with breaking the kilning process into two parts?

The buckwheat about doubled in size so I decided to toss it in the oven last night. After more than an hour it was just beginning to dry, but I was pretty wiped after work and class, so I turned the oven off and left them in the residual heat overnight. This morning they were looking better but still not completely dry. I'll finish them in the oven tonight.

I don't think there is unless they still have enough moisture to keep malting or for mold/bacteria to grow.

a GF maltster! Awesome! I'm not sure, but isn't beligum candi sugar also known as "beet sugar"? I use that a lot in my GF beers for extra fermentables - never used real beets though. I think they'll find their way in to my next batch though

MBruno said:

a GF maltster! Awesome! I'm not sure, but isn't beligum candi sugar also known as "beet sugar"? I use that a lot in my GF beers for extra fermentables - never used real beets though. I think they'll find their way in to my next batch though

Click to expand...

I have to plead ignorance on that. I'm pretty much a dummy when it comes to belgium ingredients (and GF ingredients, for that matter). I'm going to the farmers market or store after work today to grab some red beets. Also gonna use US-05 instead of Notty, since that's what I have in my fridge.

The recipe calls for a step mash, starting with the buckwheat, then adding the beets later along with the rice hulls. Not sure of the reason, but that's what it says!

PattyC,

If you come up with a good way after kilning/dehydrating to remove those shoots from the groats please let us now! I have malted my own buckwheat once before (beer is currently priming in bottles) but I barely "deculmed" at all cause I got lazy. Not sure what negative impact this had on my beer if any.

For the small amount of deculming I did do, I simply would scoop up a handful of groats, rub them between my hands a few time vigourously, and then dumped them in a mesh strainer to let any little bits that came off fall through, in case that helps you at all.

jrobidoux said:

PattyC,

If you come up with a good way after kilning/dehydrating to remove those shoots from the groats please let us now! I have malted my own buckwheat once before (beer is currently priming in bottles) but I barely "deculmed" at all cause I got lazy. Not sure what negative impact this had on my beer if any.

For the small amount of deculming I did do, I simply would scoop up a handful of groats, rub them between my hands a few time vigourously, and then dumped them in a mesh strainer to let any little bits that came off fall through, in case that helps you at all.

Click to expand...

Yep, pretty much what I did. My girlfriend and I sat in front of the TV, rubbed them between our hands and sieved them as best we could. Not a perfect system, but I can't think of a better way. I'm guessing the beer won't suffer much from it.

Well, it's in the fermenter. I used US-05 instead of Notty because that's what I had. Fermentation was slow-going but definitely happening. The color reminds me of a framboise, but I think the Amarillo hops will balance out the sweetness nicely.

keep us updated on how this goes! I was planning a buckwheat-based brew with my gluten-free girlfriend and she's all about beets, so this might be a winner!

jgoran said:

keep us updated on how this goes! I was planning a buckwheat-based brew with my gluten-free girlfriend and she's all about beets, so this might be a winner!

Click to expand...

Will do. I intended to bottle this past weekend but I've been hung up on school work. I plan to get to it sometime this week, so I'll post an update in a couple weeks when it's ready for a taste.

Finally bottled this last night. The color really belies its taste. It turned out that the Amarillo hops really shine through, and the Nottingham dried it out a lot. I started with a gravity of 1034 and ended at 1002! Probably because I pitched a whole pack of Notty into less than 2.5 gallons. Anyway, I thought it tasted good; just hope my gluten-sensitive friend thinks the same.

The process I thought was fairly straightforward, but I can't say I'd do it again just because of the labor involved. Still, I'm really glad I tried it. It gave me a better sense of the malting and kilning process.

Oops, I forgot I used US-05 instead of Notty. That would explain the low FG!

any updates?

Followed the recipe and everything went great... but. even after straining to put it in the carboy, the wort very thick. its been one week and the beer is starting to settle. but there is so much sediment in the bottom its going to make only about half a batch of drinkable beer. Have i screwed up? should i bottle the sludge and drink it??