All-grain mash schedule for no-malt gluten-free brewing

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solaceBrewing

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I've been wanting to brew gluten-free and all grain for a while. My initial experiments trying to malt millet and use it as a base malt were a bit discouraging, yielding starchy breakfast porridge rather than sweet wort. Then I came across some posts on the Aussie Homebrew forum about using enzymes to mash unmalted grain. I've done one initial test mash that is promising, so here's how my thinking is developing about this, and what I hope to try next...

First the enzymes. You need two, the first is Alpha Amylase, and the second is Gluco-amylase (aka alpha-glucosidase). These are sold by a few online distributers:
- Mile Hi Distilling has them in 1 lb amounts sold as BA-100 and GA-100
- Brewhaus also sells both of these, they seem to be the same as Mile Hi's, and you can get them in 1lb or 2oz amounts. homebrew4less.com also redistributes these same enzymes from brewhaus.com

How to best use these enzymes?

Package instructions say the following:
Amylase Enzyme is for converting starch into complex sugars and is most active around 152-158F
Gluco-amylase Enzyme is for converting complex sugars into glucose that yeast can eat and should be added at room temperature.

I don't think this is the complete story. Info from bevenovo.com (which may or may not be the same product) suggests there is more to it:

Alpha Amylase
- working range is pH 5.5 - 8 up to 230F
- optimal range is pH 6 - 6.5 at 194F-212F
- Ca (calcium) concentration at 50-70 ppm is optimal
Gluco Amylase
- working range is pH 3.0 - 5.5 at 104-140F
- optimal range is pH 4 - 4.5 at 136-140F

So after pouring through the Mash chemistry chapter of Palmer's How-to-Brew, here's my proposed mash schedule

1. Crush raw, unmalted grain (corona type mill works better than roller mill with most gluten-free grains, which are smaller than barley) and mash in fairly thick so you can add water to cool mash later
2. Beta-glucanase rest at 112F for 20-30 min (helps break down "gumminess")
3. Protein rest at 122F for 15-20 min
4. Add alpha-amylase enzyme (0.4-0.8g per lb of grain)
5. Raise mash temp high enough to gelatinize grain (167-180F) and hold for 10-15 min
6. Cool mash to 156F and hold for 30 min to activate alpha-amylase enzyme (may be able to skip this step if enzyme is really working well at higher temps, according to bevenovo information)
7. Cool mash to 138F
8. Add Gluco-amylase enzyme (0.5-1g per lb of grain) and hold 138F for 30 min to activate gluco-amylase enzyme
8. Mash out at 168F and lauter as normal; you will probably want to add rice hulls, depending on your crush and if your grain had any husks.

There's a document out there by Andrew Lavery that details a similar gluten-free mash schedule, if you search around on the Aussie Homebrew forums. His process is for malted grain and does not use added enzymes, but has you decant the top liquid off the mash to preserve the enzymes before boiling the mash, and then adding the decanted liquid back in after you've brought the mash temp back down below 160F.

Anyone want to try this with me? Here we go...
 
Hmmm, there is some funkiness in there.

Alpha Amylase's optimal temperature cannot be near boiling...barley mashes contain alpha amylase and "mash out" at 168F to denature the enzymes. Also, mash schedules with barley commonly refer to 158F as optimal for Alpha.

Also, to gelatenize, I would just boil the grains for awhile, then cool it down and add enzymes. Seems easier to me, and cereal mashes are done this way in glutenous brewing.

The rest of your schedule seems fine, but that alpha seems like quite the wildcard...
 
I definitely want to try this (I can't get malted GF grains in Canada, though I can malt Quinoa). Did it work ok?

What grains did you use? I was gonna do something similar to this:
http://blog.highgravitybrew.com/2010/05/review-of-my-all-grain-gluten-free-beer/
only I would convert the oats/rice using enzymes like you did.

I was also contemplating using less oats, but since I'm a relative noob, I may just make it exactly the way Desiree did (other than using enzymes instead of "malted" oats). Did the oats convert well?

Also, I'm wondering if I should try a 12 or 24 hour mash; is it worthwhile?
this seems to suggest that 1.5hrs is ok... but then again that was for normal grains, not GF ones.
 
So if a schedule like this is followed, can malting of grains be completely avoided or is there still added value? I mean, are other things created in malting? Seems like this would be 90% as effective at making a great beer, yes? Especially since GF stuffs tend to have less personality than actual grain.
 
So if a schedule like this is followed, can malting of grains be completely avoided or is there still added value? I mean, are other things created in malting? Seems like this would be 90% as effective at making a great beer, yes? Especially since GF stuffs tend to have less personality than actual grain.

Post from the grave!

It tastes different and creates enzymes...thats about all the malting process does.
 
And in my opinion the malting process is part of what gives the grain more personality, that and roasting. Otherwise, they'd never be malting barley.
 
And in my opinion the malting process is part of what gives the grain more personality, that and roasting. Otherwise, they'd never be malting barley.

I think they actually do most of it for the enzymes if you are talking about 2-row. Just makes things easier.

That being said, when you look at black patent vs carafa, the only difference is malting and neither of them have enzymes at that color. So, the only difference is the taste, so there is certainly something to it.

FYI, I like carafa better, which is the malted one.
 
Those are the ones that based the idea that I could get away with roasting sorghum without malting even if it tasted different. Too bad that all I got was a popped sorghum snack. Tasty though.
 
Those are the ones that based the idea that I could get away with roasting sorghum without malting even if it tasted different. Too bad that all I got was a popped sorghum snack. Tasty though.

Perhaps if you tried it with corn kernels... ;)
 
popcorn!

Gluten-free beer already lacks some/most of the malty flavor/feel that normal beer has, so I'm thinking what have I got to lose, eh? I'm hoping it might be an effective shortcut to substitute in some amylase with processed grains (cooked rice/rolled oats), in addition to some malted grains (quinoa, sorghum)... it could save on cost and effort, right? I guess it would take trial and error to figure out where the sweet spot was (if there is one) for retaining the right flavor, unless it scales with the amount of malted grain added.
 
Indeed, I'll be doing a certain enzymatic addition process this coming weekend or two. Unfortunately, I have no measurements to back anything up to what I'm doing yet.
 
6 pounds sorghum, gelatinzed, uncracked. Single 160 degree hour long "mash"/soak with 1 gallon of water, with undefined amylase compound. resulted in a 1.010 gravity in an hour, 1.030 at about 2+ hours. I could possibly see about letting it sit longer. Think I'll do a different experiment where I don't do the single soak.

It's also an unappetizing green color... I'll probably just toss it since it was cheap sorghum as an initial process test, and I don't have the time to boil any of it for a few days. I'd have preferred not to have done this today, but the grain was starting to get a bit odd.
 
Check their source. I think some of them say that they're from a fungal source, as opposed to a barley source. I can't recall if any said that they were from other than a fungal source.

Even from a fungal source however, I don't know what their processing techniques are.

I do know how mine went and that it was a fungal source grown on sorghum.. though I forgot to finish off the process of straining, so I'm not quite sure what it's turned into by now. It didn't work very well in any case, so I'll report back when I have a semi-successful process.
 
Speaking of sorghum I'm working on homebrewed African Chibuku beer commonly called shake-shake.

I have a 6 lb bottle of malted sorghum extract on the way and the flaked maize will be mashed with Amylase enzyme.

My Recipe for 2 gallons of partial mash shake-shake:
1.75 lbs sorghum extract
2 lbs flaked maize

Boil for 10 minutes then cool.

Pitch with Cry Havoc yeast and WLP677 lactobacillus.

It is supposed to be ready in a few days and is a slightly fizzy, milky, sour, beer with a strength of 6% ABV. It is to be drunk fresh while still fermenting. In addition to the three cases of homebrew I'm bringing to a pig roast next month I might bring a few gallons of shake-shake and see if anyone has the guts to try it. Maybe if I leave out the lactobacillus it will be more acceptable?

Interesting, huh?

shake1.jpg
 
Did you ever make this stuff? A quick google search doesn't make it look very appetizing but I'd love to know how it turned out. You should probably start a new thread with some pics if you have them.

Did you serve in a milk carton?:mug:
 
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