Brewing a GF for my friends

I am enjoying a few of my finest home brews while I brew up a GF for my intollerant friends. See below:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: GF Intolerant Ale II
Brewer: Bart
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 5.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 45.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Sorghum Syrum (3.0 SRM) Extract 75.00 %
1.00 lb Rice Extract Syrup (7.0 SRM) Extract 12.50 %
1.00 lb Buckwheat, roasted (10.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 36.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 6.8 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
2.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Safale US-05 (DCL Yeast #S-05) Yeast-Ale

That looks great. I did a chinook/cascade combo for an IPA over the summer. I thought those hops worked really well together. Still hanging on to a few bottles, but it is hard to keep them around.

Let us know how it turns out and how they like it. I think the IPA/APA style is a good choice for gluten free beers.

I did this recipe once before but used nugget and amarillo. It tasted damn good and could have passed for regular beer.

That's because the hops cover up the sorghum sometimes, other times, not so much.

Stupid question. Is the Buckwheat malted and toasted, or just toasted. Thanks.

I don't know. It is sold at whole foods in the bulk cereal isle. It just says roasted or toasted buckwheat. I steep in in a hop bag and it turns into a big pile of what looks like mashed potatoes with the skins on. Colors the breing water some.

I don't think you can buy malted buckwheat. Most of it is roasted or plain.

I see. I figured you guys were buying, then malting and toasting.

Exactly. However, if you do find a source for malted buckwheat or any other GF grains, let us know.

I plan on doing this as soon as my stuff arrives in the mail. I still have one question. The buckwheat i bought from the grocery store is roasted. Do i have to roast it further, or just add it as is. Thanks.

You can leave it as is. IMO- there's no point in roasting it for a Pale Ale

Agreed- pale ale no point- stout roast the hell outta it! Or BURN it!

Excellent. I am excited to give this a try.

I did this over the weekend. The problem is i think i screwed up with the buckwheat. I put it into to steep, but could not get it out. I ended up boiling with it in the beer. Hopefully it doesn't screw up my beer too much.

metches said:

I did this over the weekend. The problem is i think i screwed up with the buckwheat. I put it into to steep, but could not get it out. I ended up boiling with it in the beer. Hopefully it doesn't screw up my beer too much.

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Depends on the buckwheat. If you had buckwheat with hulls you might have gotten a fair amount of the tannins out and it'll have some off flavors. But if you had hull-less then you might be just fine.

Just don't throw the beer away. Since you've already made it might as well see what happens. My bet is your beer might have some extra tannins in it which will throw the flavor off, but not be a deal-breaker. You will also have a lot of gooey cold-break in your carboy meaning you'll likely only get about 60-80% of your desired beer volume.

I do not think that it had hulls. I am assuming the hull is probably hard, and you could eat this buckwheat; it was crunchy. Either way, i guess i will see what happens.

metches said:

I do not think that it had hulls. I am assuming the hull is probably hard, and you could eat this buckwheat; it was crunchy. Either way, i guess i will see what happens.

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The hull is flaky and not tasty in anyway. So sounds like you had de-hulled buckwheat (if they even have hulls, can't remember), so you might be just fine.

Did you steep it in a hop or grain bag? That way you could just lift it out after the steep time.

I used a grain bad, but could not get a good grip on it once it started to boil. Next time i'll get it done properly, and hopefully this time the beer is still drinkable.