First Recipe Attempt: L^2 Gluten Free Beer

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gsector

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My girlfriend can't have anything with gluten, corn, sulphites, or nitrates. I wanted to try to make a beer for her to try that has more to it than just sorghum syrup. I thought something with fruit added might be good, but she didn't like Red Bridge much at all, so I was hoping I could find something that was very different. I'm going to try a combination of a basic gluten free beer and this recipe that has been getting some pretty positive feedback.


I just ordered the ingredients today, but I'm interested to hear if anyone has any opinions before I start or recommendations. Also, any opinions on how the sorghum flavor might work with the lime?

This is my first attempt at making a recipe, the planned Beersmith print out is as follows:


Batch Size (fermenter): 3.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 5.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.3 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs Bries White Sorghum Syrup Gluten Free (4 Extract 1 66.7 %
0.25 oz Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 2 10.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 3 7.9 IBUs
0.25 oz Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 2.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 5.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 9 -
0.30 oz Lime Zest (Boil 5.0 mins) Other 8 -
2 lbs Simply Limeade (1.0 SRM) Sugar 10 33.3 % -
0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 4 -

I cut out around 1/3 of the limeade and it will be added after fermentation has started, just like the original recipe. I went with Motueka hops and left out the other one because that's all BMW had and I don't need to have leftover hops once this brew is done.

I thought about using a wine yeast to really dry it out, but decided I didn't want to watch this sit in the fermentor for 2-4 weeks.
 
I've never heard of motueka before, so naturally I am very interested! It looks like a hops addition, what kind of flavor and AA does it have?
 
Also, I have tried the sorghum syrup a few times. I've found if you add most of it at flameout, you can avoid most of the sorghum 'twang' . Just a tip to consider.
 
Use wb-06 and no whirlfloc.

My BMW order was cancelled because they didn't have all the items in stock, so switched to wb-06 and no whirlfloc.

I've never heard of motueka before, so naturally I am very interested! It looks like a hops addition, what kind of flavor and AA does it have?

I ordered it off of Midwest Supplies, according to their site, it's from New Zeland, has a "lively and lifted lemon and lime followed by a background of tropical fruit." AA is 6.5% to 7.5%.

If you look at the link in my original post, you can see the hops that were originally used. He also used Sorachi Ace, which I believe is just another lemon/lime-y hop. Since I'm only doing a 2.5-3 gallon batch, I decided I didn't want leftovers and stuck with just using one. Also, I couldn't find that sorachi ace anywhere.

Also, I have tried the sorghum syrup a few times. I've found if you add most of it at flameout, you can avoid most of the sorghum 'twang' . Just a tip to consider.

Interesting, I was thinking of boiling the sorghum for even longer than 60 minutes, but do shorter boils actually help control the "sorghum twang?" Part of why I wanted to try this is because I've seen people describe the sorghum flavor as almost citric and I thought maybe the lemon lime would help mask the flavor or at least compliment it to something a little better or different.
 
Forgot to add, so is there a consensus on optimum boiling length for sorghum? It seems like most regular brews are 60min to 90min. Is there a shorter time for sorghum?

The Briess website has directions for gf beer recipes that say boil for 40 minutes, I think I'm likely going to change to that unless someone recommends differently.

And then, I was reading about maltodextrin. I don't think I have a complete understanding of its effect. Does anyone think it would help a sorghum based beer get closer to that of a wheat beer? Or not at all?
 
No, using maltodextrin won't really make a sorghum beer closer to a wheat beer. It'll give the beer more mouthfeel, body, and fullness. It's hard to quantify in terms of taste. It's often used in gluten free beers because brewers use highly fermentable sugars as their base and end up with a drier beer, which in and of itself isn't a bad thing. If you're using sorghum as your base, I see no reason to add malto since sorghum will leave some residual sweetness and body. Maltodextrin isn't always produced from corn so be careful. I avoid it all together since for some reason it messes with my sleep.
 
Forgot to add, so is there a consensus on optimum boiling length for sorghum? It seems like most regular brews are 60min to 90min. Is there a shorter time for sorghum?

The Briess website has directions for gf beer recipes that say boil for 40 minutes, I think I'm likely going to change to that unless someone recommends differently.

And then, I was reading about maltodextrin. I don't think I have a complete understanding of its effect. Does anyone think it would help a sorghum based beer get closer to that of a wheat beer? Or not at all?
I've found my hefeweizen and witlessbier both came out very close to what I remember wheat beers being like. In fact, I personally think that sorghum produces something closer to the usual barley/wheat mix than it does to pure barley.

Anyway, both of these beers used 6 lbs sorghum, 1 lb rice syrup solids, and 4 oz maltodextrin (the differences being in the hops, yeast, and the addition of coriander and orange peel in the witless).
 
for those who had or in the future ever will think about making this... don't.
 
I'm not really sure what exactly went wrong, but it might be the limeade. It just seemed way too bitter without any sweet.

Some people are really enjoying the original that I linked to in the first post, so maybe a different recipe might make it work, but I wasn't a fan of the one I came up with.

I'm thinking maybe skipping out on the zest might have helped, or adding lactose or something to sweeten it a bit.
 
I think I may have used too much water causing it to thin out. That could by why there isn't much flavor and just bitterness.

It's still alcohol though, so it's getting turned into skip and go naked at some point in the near future I think.
 
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