Brewing up a Gluten Free Beer this weekend- anyone else?

Brewing an IIPA that I'm going to secondary with some oak soaked in Jack Daniel's.

Having problems with the recipe, mainly because I may not be able to get some Amber Candi sugar and because it was a last minute decision.

Really just an excuse to drink some beer, teach a friend to brew and play some Xbox 360 :cross:

So, who else is brewing?

Pretty sure I will be!

Gotta get to the LHBS and buy another fermenter, a new o-ring for my old fermenter, some sorghum syrup, hops and yeast.

I'm looking at making a golden Ale, what sort of hops should I get?

I've roasted some buckwheat to a nice golden brown colour, and lightly crushed it. I'll steep that for a half hour or so before starting the boil.

In my other fermenter, I'll be doing up a batch of Edworts Apfelwein, as requested by SWMBO

Nice! I don't really know much about Golden Ale, but let us know what you end up doing!

Just getting setup for brewday, should start in an hour and a half or so.

:rockin:

Well, it appears I roasted my buckwheat too dark for a golden ale, so I'm going for a darker ale, kind of like a tooheys old. The LHBS expert said to use a tiny bit of my Aussie Super Pride (15%AA) hops for bittering, and then some goldings for flavour and aroma.

I'll try and take photos of my brew process this time, and will of course add my recipe to the recipedb

Nice work pwarren!

I wasn't able to get a hold of Amber Candi Sugar before my brew day so I had to use some roasted sorghum to get the amber color I wanted. I also added some molasses and going into the bucket I had a nice amber color. I don't really have any pictures, but if it turns out good I'll post the recipe.

I based it off of the Arrogant Bastard clone- just tweaked it so it was gluten free.

I'm still deciding on whether or not I want to oak the whole batch or just half of it...

Got my pics put up on the interblatz finally.

Bits lined up ready to go


Water getting up to temp


Buckwheat in knee-high stocking


Wort after buckwheat infusion


Sorghum added to wort


Hot Break, about as foamy and boily-over as sorghum seems to get


1042 OG, not as dark as I'd have liked, but darker than my first attempt

You would have gotten more color if you roasted the buckwheat a bit longer. I've been using the method where you increase the temp by 25 degrees-F every 30 minutes until I get the color I want. Most often the grains come out a bit darker than originally after they have sat for 1-2 weeks.

Righto, I'll try that roasting schedule for my next ale. What would be some good hops for a dark ale? (I will search around as well, don't worry!)

double post, stupid internets

Bottled the beer I did above today, it tastes quite sweet, but it's been at 1012 for 3 days, so I think it's pretty much done. Don't know if I can wait for another 3 weeks to taste it, will have to see how my batch of Lager lasts. The lager is REALLY REALLY bitter, but quite refreshing and eminently drinkable

Nice, mine's actually still in primary, next weekend I'll transfer to secondary and add the oak chips that are soaking in Jack Daniel's.

Brewing up a GF Double IPA tomorrow...anyone else brewing a GF brew this weekend?

Let me know if your Double ends up tasting winey. I've yet to make a batch of GF beer over about 6.5% that tasted right.

Sunday was brew day for me. I'm attempting an all-grain GF Belgian Wit. Mostly malted millet, with some unmalted roasted millet and chestnuts (plus the usual...hops, bitter orange peel, coriander). OG was lower than I was shooting for, but I think I had poor efficiency (didn't crush the millet fine enough...grrr).

Cheer, Pete

lcasanova said:

Brewing up a GF Double IPA tomorrow...anyone else brewing a GF brew this weekend?

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I actually finally brewed up that Lager. Should be an interesting one to taste, going to be adding a couple pounds of honey to the primary tomorrow.

http://brew.dkershner.com/2010/no-pils-pils/

peterbronski said:

Sunday was brew day for me. I'm attempting an all-grain GF Belgian Wit. Mostly malted millet, with some unmalted roasted millet and chestnuts (plus the usual...hops, bitter orange peel, coriander). OG was lower than I was shooting for, but I think I had poor efficiency (didn't crush the millet fine enough...grrr).

Cheer, Pete

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That's still pretty awesome, I haven't had time to get back to malting lately

lcasanova said:

Brewing an IIPA that I'm going to secondary with some oak soaked in Jack Daniel's.

Having problems with the recipe, mainly because I may not be able to get some Amber Candi sugar and because it was a last minute decision.

Really just an excuse to drink some beer, teach a friend to brew and play some Xbox 360 :cross:

So, who else is brewing?

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I brewed an IPA that weekend as well. What hops and qty did you use? When I get home I will post my recipe on this thread.

Awesome another accountant who brews beer and plays XBOX 360... play COD modern warfare 2 by chance? If so hit me up online!!! tag name is blze

lcasanova said:

Brewing up a GF Double IPA tomorrow...anyone else brewing a GF brew this weekend?

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Just got done brewing a stout this past weekend. GF oats is a good way to get that silky texture in the beer.

andrewdell19 said:

I brewed an IPA that weekend as well. What hops and qty did you use? When I get home I will post my recipe on this thread.

Awesome another accountant who brews beer and plays XBOX 360... play COD modern warfare 2 by chance? If so hit me up online!!! tag name is blze

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I haven't touched my 360 in months and I haven't even gotten in to COD, maybe this summer though..

Depending on how the beer turns out- I will post the recipe, as of right now I am thrilled- it smells delicious

Here's a little though:
.5 oz Chinook (90)
2.5 oz Warrior (90)
1 oz Simcoe (45)
1 oz Columbus (30)
1 oz Simcoe (flame out)
2.25 oz Centennial (flame out)

Dry hopping with Simcoe, Centennial and Columbus additions every week for 3 weeks.

I adapted it from a Pliny Clone recipe on here.

lcasanova said:

I haven't touched my 360 in months and I haven't even gotten in to COD, maybe this summer though..

Depending on how the beer turns out- I will post the recipe, as of right now I am thrilled- it smells delicious

Here's a little though:
.5 oz Chinook (90)
2.5 oz Warrior (90)
1 oz Simcoe (45)
1 oz Columbus (30)
1 oz Simcoe (flame out)
2.25 oz Centennial (flame out)

Dry hopping with Simcoe, Centennial and Columbus additions every week for 3 weeks.

I adapted it from a Pliny Clone recipe on here.

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Wow thats hopping it up! When I originally started to bew GF beer I was interested in doing an IPA but the guy who works at the homebrew store said that lots of hops and sorghum dont mix. I found this NOT to be the case and more hops covers teh sorghum taste... Maybe he used hops that I didnt use...

How about posting some of the recipes you guys are using. I'm getting ready to make my second batch for a Friend. She was happy with the first batch, but the sorghum after taste, not so much. So I malted a few pounds of buckwheat and the turned it into crystal. Then I roasted 8 oz at 250 for two hours. I was going to steep 8 oz crystal and the 8 oz of roasted before adding the 6 lbs of sorghum syrup. Last time I used 1/2 oz Chinook for 60 min, 1/2 oz of cascade for 30 min and 1/2 oz cascade for 10 min. I thought I would use the same hop schedule this time. Any suggestions?

Brewing now
6lbs Sorghum
2oz malto-dextrine
1 lb roasted buckwheat steep 30 minutes
1.25 lbs dark rice syrup
.5 oz nugget 60 min
1 oz amarillo 20 min
1 oz amarillo 10 min
1 oz amarillo 5 min
S-05 yeast
may even do a dry hop cascade

This is my first GF and only doing it to give to friends

Bartman said:

Brewing now
6lbs Sorghum
2oz malto-dextrine
1 lb roasted buckwheat steep 30 minutes
1.25 lbs dark rice syrup
.5 oz nugget 60 min
1 oz amarillo 20 min
1 oz amarillo 10 min
1 oz amarillo 5 min
S-05 yeast
may even do a dry hop cascade

This is my first GF and only doing it to give to friends

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I wouldn't brew GF if not for a friend also. But it's worth it, and it is helping me to expand my thinking. I pretty much only brew four different beers. A couple variations of pale ale, a Snowcap Clone and a Barley Wine. I have brewed a lot of different style but these are what I really like. Brewing GF is helping me to explore again.

uechikid said:

I wouldn't brew GF if not for a friend also. But it's worth it, and it is helping me to expand my thinking. I pretty much only brew four different beers. A couple variations of pale ale, a Snowcap Clone and a Barley Wine. I have brewed a lot of different style but these are what I really like. Brewing GF is helping me to explore again.

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From your post earlier...why don't you use the hop schedule for your pale ale and add a little corn sugar to dry it out a bit- the hops and the alcohol should help hide the sorghum aftertaste.

And to reply to that same post- I post my recipes after I taste them over time and think they turn out well, I do have some in my dropdown though.

Nice work malting :rockin: and brewing for a friend

lcasanova said:

From your post earlier...why don't you use the hop schedule for your pale ale and add a little corn sugar to dry it out a bit- the hops and the alcohol should help hide the sorghum aftertaste.

And to reply to that same post- I post my recipes after I taste them over time and think they turn out well, I do have some in my dropdown though.

Nice work malting :rockin: and brewing for a friend

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Thanks for the advise.

Brewing this tonight and bottling up my GF Double IPA right before that. Maybe I'll get some pics

I don't come here often but I'm glad you all have a gluten free section. My wife is gluten intolerant and I brew so.... I've never made a beer with sorghum and today will be the first. I usually use dry rice malt and various fruits with a little bit of honey. Those turn out great but they aren't sooo much like beer I guess. So my local home brew place got in a 5gal bucket of malted sorghum and said "its all yours or it goes back." Drat; I bought it.

So today is going to be the first gluten free IPA. I've got a little northern brewer and some cascade but hearing that these really need more hops to cover the sorghum after taste I'm now thinking of throwing in the tetnang I have sitting around here. I've also got a pound of clover honey. And I guess I'll go a little conservative on the sorghum to keep the alcohol down because I want to avoid something that tastes like hop-wine.

Maybe in a few months I'll tell y'all how it turned out. And I'd also be interested to hear more from those that have brewed higher alcohol sorghum beers. I've had good luck with the dry rice malt beers I make but I don't want something so sweet and/or sorghum flavored we won't drink it.

chilort said:

I don't come here often but I'm glad you all have a gluten free section. My wife is gluten intolerant and I brew so.... I've never made a beer with sorghum and today will be the first. I usually use dry rice malt and various fruits with a little bit of honey. Those turn out great but they aren't sooo much like beer I guess. So my local home brew place got in a 5gal bucket of malted sorghum and said "its all yours or it goes back." Drat; I bought it.

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You mean 5 gallons of sorghum syrup or 5 gallons worth of malted sorghum grain? If you got a hook on some malted sorghum grain, hook a fellow brewer up!!

5 gal sorghum syrup: Briess #6142. Sorry, I'm not totally up on all the jargon yet.

ive been libating and scheming,
i was almost thinking of experimenting with a big GF beer, ive been watching this video by brewdog brewery of scotland. they made a 30+% stout called tactical nuclear penquin. so i was thinking about doing a double ferment. fermenting with an ale yeast, waiting for a stuck ferment, then pitching a champange yeast and seeing what it does again. prolly adding 10-15lbs of a sugar. heres a recipie that im kind of pondering.
into 5 gal
mash 4-8# of millet with amalyse
7# tapioca syrup
3.5# sorghum syrup
3-5# clover honey
8oz maltodextrin

something like
8oz of hops

pitch an ale yeast

3 weeks later pitch a champang yeast

find a way to freeze the fermenter and decant everything not frozen from the ice.

keg and force carb and become very very stupid

thoughts, opinions, concerns, alterations?

DirtbagHomebrew said:

ive been libating and scheming,
i was almost thinking of experimenting with a big GF beer, ive been watching this video by brewdog brewery of scotland. they made a 30+% stout called tactical nuclear penquin. so i was thinking about doing a double ferment. fermenting with an ale yeast, waiting for a stuck ferment, then pitching a champange yeast and seeing what it does again. prolly adding 10-15lbs of a sugar. heres a recipie that im kind of pondering.
into 5 gal
mash 4-8# of millet with amalyse
7# tapioca syrup
3.5# sorghum syrup
3-5# clover honey
8oz maltodextrin

something like
8oz of hops

pitch an ale yeast

3 weeks later pitch a champang yeast

find a way to freeze the fermenter and decant everything not frozen from the ice.

keg and force carb and become very very stupid

thoughts, opinions, concerns, alterations?

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Hmmm...well, uh...I'm not sure where to start..

Have you had success converting millet in the past? What is your malting schedule like with it? Is the maltodextrin really necessary since you are going to be concentrating it anyways?

It just seems like a lot of fermentable sugar to start with and going into a boil you are going to have some pretty thick wort.

If I were going to do this I might brew a 1080 beer and add the rest of the sugar over the time of the ferment and then switch to champagne yeast later on, you'll probably need a starter for that though...

And to freeze it, I might use 2L coke bottles or something to keep from breaking glass...

Just my .02

Making an Eisbock is one of the most difficult practices to pull off successfully in brewing, and you want to do it with GF grains that don't convert themselves? I cannot advise strongly enough against this unless you have some gobs of brewing experience I am not aware of.

First of all, no maltodextrin. This thing is already going to be a milkshake no matter what you do.

You need lots of stuff in there that finishes LOW. Corn sugar is a good start, I have no idea what tapioca as a primary fermentable tastes like or finishes at. Honey is borderline, but you need something to give this flavor of some sort. Your grain bill is interesting, have you ever tried something similar in composition to this? Making a huge beer certainly won't make it taste any better.

Have you considered how long you are going to age a 20+% beer? If it were me, I would probably wait about a decade. I had some 120min IPA, and it was maple syrup and fire. Unless you want fire, AGE LONG. It doesn't taste good.

When you do the initial giant pitch of ale yeast, maybe 10 packs or so, let it ferment two days, and slowly each day add more sugars. Honey, corn sugar, tapioca, all could easily be added in the fermenter, and therefore should be. Then I would skip champagne and go straight to WLP099. Champagne doesn't have the alcohol tolerance you desire.

Those are just my initial thoughts, there are probably several other variables you have to deal with.

dkershner said:

Making an Eisbock is one of the most difficult practices to pull off successfully in brewing, and you want to do it with GF grains that don't convert themselves? I cannot advise strongly enough against this unless you have some gobs of brewing experience I am not aware of.

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Basically what I thought last night when I read this...I was thinking "theres no way this will work..." Nice thought though, and if you do try it, post your notes please sir

lcasanova said:

Basically what I thought last night when I read this...I was thinking "theres no way this will work..." Nice thought though, and if you do try it, post your notes please sir

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It's possible.

I was contemplating doing something like this on the non-GF side of my brewing, but decided against it due to the aging requirements and the fact that it doesn't taste very good. GF really wouldn't be all that much harder, both would probably need amylase anyway. Although, this would be the most difficult thing I have ever taken on, and I have been brewing for 6 years and hundreds of gallons. Incredible control to not contaminate, knowing what yeast does and what it means in near all brewing scenarios, having yeast culturing equipment, and having brewed several successful 12%+ beers would be what I would consider a baseline for even making an attempt.

dkershner said:

It's possible.

I was contemplating doing something like this on the non-GF side of my brewing, but decided against it due to the aging requirements and the fact that it doesn't taste very good. GF really wouldn't be all that much harder, both would probably need amylase anyway. Although, this would be the most difficult thing I have ever taken on, and I have been brewing for 6 years and hundreds of gallons. Incredible control to not contaminate, knowing what yeast does and what it means in near all brewing scenarios, having yeast culturing equipment, and having brewed several successful 12%+ beers would be what I would consider a baseline for even making an attempt.

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Well at least your advice is a starting point for any takers

I'll help anyone through it, but first brew a Barleywine at 12% that gets to below 1.030. That way you are at least familiar with what it takes to get some lazy yeast in gear.

I wish there was a GF beer you could taste that was 15%+. The best way I can describe it is a combination of winey, sherry, scotch, & maple syrup flavors with the consistency and look of beer. You could and should easily go straight to 100IBU, because it will still taste VERY malty.

Anyone else brewing this weekend? I'm brewing up my Gluten Free Pumpkin Ale Saturday- hopefully.

Lcasanova said:

Anyone else brewing this weekend? I'm brewing up my Gluten Free Pumpkin Ale Saturday- hopefully.

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I am brewing up a glutenous and a gluten free version of 'Merriment', this year's holiday spice ale. Recipes will probably be finalized over the coming days.

I'm hoping to start my stout-ish GF mash this weekend or by next at the latest.

On freezing to gain ABV(I've done it to make cider jack, but never beer) is the flavors are WAY concentrated so any flaw in the original product will be exaggerated. IE if it's a little sour it's going in it will come out puckering you like lemons etc... you get the point. Getting something to ferment to 12-15% is easy enough with the right yeast and proper control of temperatures, but getting something there that still tastes good.............not so easy.

If you do try definitely take good notes and share your conclusions. Sounds like a fun learning experience if nothing else. I dare say at the least you will be able to make something that can make you act stupid

fermentedhiker said:

On freezing to gain ABV(I've done it to make cider jack, but never beer) is the flavors are WAY concentrated so any flaw in the original product will be exaggerated. IE if it's a little sour it's going in it will come out puckering you like lemons etc... you get the point. Getting something to ferment to 12-15% is easy enough with the right yeast and proper control of temperatures, but getting something there that still tastes good.............not so easy.

If you do try definitely take good notes and share your conclusions. Sounds like a fun learning experience if nothing else. I dare say at the least you will be able to make something that can make you act stupid

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Yes, I definitely didn't want to discourage anyone from doing this eventually, but maybe make the base beer, then a BIG base beer, then freeze concentrate once you have a REALLY awesome tasting BIG beer. I just didn't want anyone to waste a whole ton of time and not learn anything from the process.