Clarex (Clarity-ferm) testimonial thread!

I realize many true Celiac's will be hesitant to try it. But word of this product has gotten me back into brewing after 5 years. I really miss brewing! I not a true Celiac, but sensitive enough to get wicked headaches from the major contributors like bread, pasta, many beers , etc. Even if it doesn't fully work for me I'll probably keep brewing and giving it away. (see above bold really) I recently found that beers without wheat (witch it seems everybody does these days for head retention) give me a much better chance. Even Heineken... now if only I liked the taste of cat pee.

I've found various tidbits of info via search, but maybe we can start a thread where you give your experience, or experience of others' you've brewed for. I.e., my boss had his first beer in 20 years with no reaction.... or my girlfriend had by beer for the first time without getting ill. I would love to hear all the stories of success/sickness from using Clarex accumulated in one place.

Clarex lets me get down no more than one beer without a reaction, but more than that and I might as well have drunk a normal beer.

I should note that currently there is *no* gold-standard for testing fermented grain-based beverages for proteins that can cause reactions in celiac, gluten-intolerant, and gluten-allergic people. Some tests say that clarex gets rid of the gluten, other tests show it doesn't. The TTB (tax and trade board, formerly the ATF) does not allow any beer made from barley, de-glutenized or not, to be sold as "gluten free". My professional opinion as an acupuncturist is that people with celiac disease should avoid these beers entirely until conclusive evidence of their safety can be demonstrated. People with mild gluten allergies or simple gluten-intolerance, I encourage them to experiment with small amounts, and work their way up to see if they have a reaction.

But, y'know, brewing is just as much fun if you use other grains. Perhaps more fun, because you get the added benefit of knowing you're contributing data to the utter vanguard of brewing. Gluten-free brewing is the bleeding edge of brewing innovation, why not join us on the frontier?

igliashon said:

But, y'know, brewing is just as much fun if you use other grains. Perhaps more fun, because you get the added benefit of knowing you're contributing data to the utter vanguard of brewing. Gluten-free brewing is the bleeding edge of brewing innovation, why not join us on the frontier?

Click to expand...

I've gone down that road a few times in the last couple years... researching a bit and giving up. Ideally I'd like to use a cheap, readily available base grain with all the enzymes I need without having to do any malting or cereal mashing. Plus I just like the taste of real barley-malt beer the best.

Not that I won't someday... it looks really interesting. But I'll certainly try Clarex first (sans any wheat of course) and see how I do. I can deal with a headache for science.

I was just curious to hear all the stories so far. It looks like it's been available for over a year now, hopefully more folks will chime in too!

History seems to be repeating itself https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/low-gluten-beers-may-not-safe-306390/

I agree with igliashon - I made some gluten-reduced beers, one with 2 vials of carex, and they both gave me a reaction after just a few swigs. I had to give them away to other people as it was giving me digestive problems... Don't mess around with gluten man - my dad (who is celiac) was just diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer - so the stuff can literally kill you...

Personally, I'm waiting for my LHBS to get some malted millet. Millet beers are the best, but its difficult to get (maltable) millet and malt all of it in an apartment. Millet makes much better beers than Sorghum, and you really need the grains in various roasts, or you just can't make the beer taste right.

Not to hijack the thread, but DougmanXL, how many millet beers have you had? I tried to mash some unmalted millet with Crosby & Baker enzymes, but did not get significant conversion (probably because of poor grind and insufficient gelatinization...cooking 5 lbs of millet into porridge is a PITA!). Colorado malting company sells malted millet in two varieties, red and "german", but I haven't tried them. Shipping's painful on small orders, though, just to warn you. But it is on the market....

I think I hijacked the thread... sorry. Just, I've had bad experiences with clarex, but those millet beers were Fantastic! I haven't even had the opportunity to make a millet beer (i dont have room/equip. for malting & cant get maltable millet) but I had a brown ale, and a belgian triple from Snowman Brewing. They said they malted/roasted all the varieties needed for each beer, and that they did a regular mash/sparge technique (with coolers), tho I think they added amalyse enzyme. I was planning on doing BIAB with batch/repeated sparging, probably will add a-enzyme (1-3tsp?), with 15lbs of malted "2-row" millet. Mashing unmalted grains doesn't work well afaik, the starches are locked up in the seed pretty good. Anyway, the millet beers I had were really good; they even won awards for their brown ale. I'm surprised there aren't more threads about making millet beers, I thought it was becoming more popular but when I do searches I don't find much here...

Oh wow, never heard of Snowman, but they look intriguing! I'll have to give millet a shot! It is a traditional brewing grain from many cultures, all the way from Africa to China....

I don't trust Clarex at all and there is no way the barley beers that use them should be able to label themselves gluten free.

Milletman at Aussiehomebrewer has a pretty detailed write-up on how to malt and brew exclusively with millet. From what I have read it makes delicious beer but from my perspective, it requires too much time.

I don't think that Clarex is a good option for celiacs. If you want to brew all grain there are ways to do it that aren't too difficult. I'm not sure of the rules on the forum or I would offer to hook some people up with some commercial enzymes I use (beta glucanase protease and amylases). It would be interesting to hear what other people could do with it.

I have mentioned this in one or two other threads, and everyone's system is different. But, my wife is very sensitive to gluten and she has had no ill effects from the beers I have made (currently on batch number 6).

A few precaution that I take: No wheat in the beer (rye and oats haven't been a problem though), leave a little extra beer in the fermenter when transferring to the keg (a little beer loss is better than risking contamination even further), ferment for a minimum of 3-4 week (longer for higher gravity - most of the beers I make are about 1.050 OG or lower, although we have had a taste of a RIS that fermented for about 2 months before going into bottles).

So, although I completely agree with the posters who say that if you have a serious reaction don't even bother tempting fate, for those who are capable and willing to experiment, it is worth the 10-12 dollars for a few vials. I sound like I'm in the minority, but it's really worked for us.

Welcome back to the hobby and good luck!

And as I have mentioned in other threads, celiac disease can be asymptomatic. Absence of a reaction is not absence of intestinal damage. Why one would risk that is beyond me.
http://www.celiaccentral.org/Celiac-Disease/Celiac-Symptoms/32/

Thanks guys, I appreciate the response so far.

I think I mostly intended this to be for folks who know they do not have Celiacs disease and aren't worried about "silent" damage. I think for every Celiac sufferer out there, there must be 5 more non-Celiacs who are sensitive enough to shy away from most beers, but could benefit from Clarex.

I agree that if you have Celiacs disease or are uncertain, it's a personal risk. I'm just giddy because this could be a total game changer for me.

I have brewed 10 batches with clarity ferm and with very good results! I have found as long as I do not use any wheat I am safe. I have celiac and this has been great for me.

The reason that there is such a spectrum of sensitivity is because there is a variety of proteins, which break down into a variety of amino acids, in barley, rye, and wheat, and while we often speak of it being a "gluten" thing, the reality is a bit more complicated. Different people can react to different amino acids and different protein structures, and while breaking down the glutens into component amino acids may be safe for some, it's not for others. There is just such a huge spectrum of sensitivities and disorders, and the only way to be 100% safe is to not use gluten-containing ingredients. But if you're not worried about being 100% safe, then you can perfectly well experiment and see what works for you.

A real important note that I received from WhiteLabs is to add Clarity Ferm immediately after the wort cools. I tried a few batches of adding when dry-hopping 7-10 days after start of fermentation and found that the batches do not pass EX Gluten test or my gut test. My lucky brother-in-law now gets 20gal of fine ale.

Info from WhiteLabs

The effectiveness of Clarity Ferm does depend on it's proper use. One parameter is the time of addition, which is the beginning of fermentation. This is very important because Clarity Ferm works by hydrolysing the proline proteins in the beer so that they don't react with each other to form long chain molecules which we view as chill haze. Once these bonds are formed (during fermentation), the Clarity Ferm will not break them, so it's a preventative measure, not a curative one. Therefore, adding the Clarity Ferm to finished beer will not have nearly as great an effect as adding it to wort. This is one reason we don't promote Clarity Ferm as an agent for producing gluten free beer, since we cannot control how it's used, and if used improperly it will not be effective. So to get the most benefit from the enzyme, add it just prior to pitching your yeast.

Something else that might help with the gluten levels is A journal article by Anita Van Landschoot "Gluten-free barley malt beers", Cerevisia, Volume 36, Issue 3, October 2011, Pages 93–97
Finds that tannin levels during brewing can reduce gluten in the final beer (per the abstract, I'm still trying to get the paper).