Gluten Free 2 Hearted Ale Homage

Two hearted ale is, in my opinion, the best american IPA out there. I miss it and its amazing taste. It had to be the first beer I'd try to make.

I did a partial boil with about 3 gallons in the pot.

9# sorghum syrup

1oz centennial pellets @ 60
1oz centennial pellets @ 20
1oz centennial pellets @ 7
.5# table sugar and 8oz maltodextrine @ 5
1oz centennial pellets @ 2

Cool and top up to 5.5 gallons

1oz centennial pellets in secondary for 10 days

Prime to 2.5 volumes of CO2.

I fermented at the low end of S-05 to be sure it stayed plenty neutral as 2HA is really all about a beer with a bunch of hops and a bunch of malt in a great balance. I'm not sure the hops feel as well balanced as they could in this but its a pretty good start. I added a little table sugar to try to keep the FG low, but I think I might try and omit it next time since S-05 attenuated the sorghum so well.

How'd this turn out?

I've been savoring it for a while and I think I stand by my comments. Maybe its just a hop head who has been ipa starved for years but its really pretty good.

Next batch I'm going to ditch the table sugar and try to steep some toasted grains for a slightly more rounded malt flavor but honestly to me its already better than any gluten free beer I've bought. I might try a batch scaled back to more of an apa too for when I want a session beer.

I think I just got lucky on my first batch and stumbled into that sorghum may lend itself especially well to ipas. My belgian is another matter entirely and is an example of what not to do at this point. Porter is in the bucket.