Gluten Free Belgian Double recipe?

A good friend of mine has developed an allergy to wheat/gluten. He has not had the taste of a truly good beer for a long time. I would like to make a Dubbel like Chimay for him - will someone please recommend a good GF recipe that would get close?

Also (I know this is asking a lot)...where can I find these ingredients?

Thanks for your help!

Chimay Red...you certainly know how to start off with a Bang into GF brewing.

Do you want to roast or malt and mash your own grains?
What is your experience level on the non-GF side of brewing?
Do you have the ability to create a yeast starter?

The answers to these questions will help us to answer your request a little more fully.

DKershner, thanks for your reply! I have an all grain setup and have been brewing for many years. I make 2L starters for my 15 gallon batches using a stir plate. Belgians are my favorite (and I just made a dubbel with WL chimay yeast and barley etc.!)

I think that I would like to avoid mashing for my first GF and use my old 5 gallon extract starter equipment to make a batch that I can bottle and send home with my friend. But, if GF beer must be mashed to achieve real quality, then I am willing to do that, too!

Thanks again!

meadowstream said:

But, if GF beer must be mashed to achieve real quality, then I am willing to do that, too!

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The only reason to mash is if you malt your grains, as there is no such thing as malted gluten free grain. Now worries though, we will set you up extract style. You will have to bear with me as it has been awhile since I had the red.

I will make a starting idea and hopefully others will show up and add their input.

8.5lb Brown Rice Syrup
1lb Sorghum Syrup
1lb Dark Candi Syrup (160SRM)

.75oz Magnum @ 60min
.5oz Tettnang @ 10min

WLP500 w/ appropriate starter size - make the starter out of sorghum syrup and water instead of DME (this will cause a very, very minor amount of gluten to be in the final beer, but there is no replacement for chimay yeast, do not use Wyeast 1214, it has much more gluten)

4tsp Yeast Nutrient @ fermentor
.5tsp Irish Moss @ Boil

Ferment @ 66F
Prime with a little less sugar than usual.

That should get you somewhere in the ballpark at least.

Oh, the above recipe should have about the following vitals:

OG 1.072
FG 1.018
ABV 7%
SRM 17.3
IBU 22.3

dkershner - thanks again! Where do you find the supplies? Our LHBS does not seem to carry the syrups...and the online sources that I see seem to sell the syrups for $6 per pound.

meadowstream said:

dkershner - thanks again! Where do you find the supplies? Our LHBS does not seem to carry the syrups...and the online sources that I see seem to sell the syrups for $6 per pound.

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I use brewbrothers.biz

They have BRS and Sorghum, although they dont have it on their website, just call em up. Maybe $3/lb? Something like that.

They also have the candi syrup. That is on the site, I think.

DKershner said:

I use brewbrothers.biz

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They should be giving you a discount by now.

aggieotis said:

They should be giving you a discount by now.

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Yeah, geez, seems like over the past week I have been asked like 5 times. The guys are really nice though and go out of their way to get me whatever I need even though I dont live near them.

The only reason they have BRS or Sorghum is because I asked and they went and got it. I think I am the only one who buys it, but they keep it on CO2 so it stays fresh.

Also, their BRS is from a local, organic honey farm.