Breiss White Sorghum Syrup

I am brewing beer for my wedding this September and a family friend has celiacs disease. I think he would really appreciate it if I could brew a small batch of gluten free beer for him because he used to drink beer before he found out about his gluten allergy. I have looked into brewing with sorghum and have read that most sorghum extract is actually from the cane rather than from the grain and many say it really isn't that good in beer. Breiss white sorghum syrup however, is from malted sorghum grain so I am wondering if it is any different and is better than that stuff from the sorghum cane? Does anyone have experience with the breiss sorghum syrup? Is it any good or does it at least taste kind of like beer?

austinb said:

I have looked into brewing with sorghum and have read that most sorghum extract is actually from the cane rather than from the grain and many say it really isn't that good in beer. Breiss white sorghum syrup however, is from malted sorghum grain so I am wondering if it is any different and is better than that stuff from the sorghum cane? Does anyone have experience with the breiss sorghum syrup? Is it any good or does it at least taste kind of like beer?

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I've heard both of those regarding the source of the syrup. That said, I order my sorghum syrup from Midwest Supplies -they use Briess as their supplier. I can't really complain about my beer, especially if you get a little age on it and if you find a style that fits well with it. I think a wit or a pale ale would work just fine but don't limit yourself to that, I had a brown ale that turned out fantastic and so has my double ipa.

It seems that the beers taste good young but you might notice some sorghum twang but I've found that this goes away with age. Oh and to dry out your beer a little, use rice syrup solids or brown rice syrup.

If you give us an idea of what style you're wanting, then we could probably point you in the right direction.

The breiss sorghum extract is definitely different from sorghum molasses, or whatever you're going to call, the stuff made from the cane.

My first batch was made with the Breiss and 1 lb of rice syrup, and it came out good. Even my non-celiac friends were suprised.

aggieotis said:

If you give us an idea of what style you're wanting, then we could probably point you in the right direction.

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I'm probably just going to go with something mellow like a blonde ale or a pale ale which is fairly light on the hops. He has been allergic to gluten for a long time, I think since the 70's before all these craft brews and hoppier ales hit the market mainstream. I would just ask him what style he wanted but I want it to be a surprise.

Here's a decent and simple Pale Ale, very similar in taste to Deschutes' Mirror Pond Pale Ale.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/first-time-gluten-free-brew-159868/index2.html#post1846713

Nice thing about this batch if you don't have to get fancy at all with malting your own grains, kilning anything, or adding enzymes. You can do this one start to finish in 90 minutes.

You can get the sorghum from Midwest Supplies or Northern Brewer. You can use regular rice extract instead of brown rice extract.

Put all of these together and you've got a kit for under $40 with shipping.
1x - http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/nb-sorghum-syrup-6-0.html
2x - http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/rice-syrup-solids-1-lb.html
1x - http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/centennial-pellets-1-oz.html
1x - http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/cascade-pellets-1-oz.html
1x - http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/safale-us-05-american.html

I talked to his wife and she suggested a slightly darker German style because he spent some time in Germany before he was diagnosed with celiacs disease and really liked the beer there. Anyone have any ideas of how one of these styles could be acheived with sorghum syrup or am I just going to have to settle with a lighter German style beer?

You could always go over-the-top and get him German's #1 Gluten-Free Beer, Schnitzer Braeu!
http://www.schnitzerbraeu.de/

"German" beers really encompasses a HUGE range of beers, any ideas which particular ones he liked before? Also, do you have lagering equipment (a dedicated fridge or freezer with a custom thermostat)? If you want a dark beer, you're going to have to roast some of your own grains to get the color you want. German yeasts tend to work just fine with sorghum, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Unfortunately saying, "He liked beer while in Germany" is like saying, "He liked the barbeque in the US". Unless we know where he was it's hard to even take a decent guess as to what it was he liked. Because making a nice mustard-sauce pork is going to really disappoint somebody looking for pepper-rubbed brisket.

In all honesty though, no matter what you make him, he'll probably be pretty happy. You could just hope that the Deschutes' Public House has a good GF Beer on-tap at the moment and go up there to pick up a few growlers.