New GF Attempt Questions

Hey All, I've been brewing for a little over 4 years now, and a few of my friends have asked about making a gluten free beer given their intolerance. I'm trying to soak up as much info as possible from some of the existing threads on the forum, but had some questions I'm hoping people can give some insight towards.

I plan to pick up some Redbridge to see what kind of flavors are out there, and if the local stores have it some New Grist by Lakefront Brewery (I hear it's not that bad).

1. So the typical "sorghum" flavor that people describe as citrusy/fruity/sweet...is that something that can be completely offset by a stronger hop profile? I'm thinking based on the Briess 1:1 substitute claim you could make an IPA-ish beer with stronger bittering additions (centennail, columbus, warrior...) to counter-balance that. Am I wrong?

2. Does boil time affect the "off" flavors produced by the sorghum? In typical all-grain brewing, especially with pilsner malts, a longer boil time decreases the risk of having to much DMS in the beer. Would going to a 90-minute or longer boil be beneficial with the sorghum syrup?

3. I read on one of the threads that aging the beer longer can help the "off" flavors mellow out. Is is best to keep longer in primary as well as longer in the bottle or just 1 of the 2?

4. I assume that the regular maintenance and cleaning of brewing equipment would be sufficient, but would I need a dedicated fermenter for gluten free to ensure a true "gluten free" beer? I would think StarSan or Iodophor would take the risk away, but again you guys would know better than I do. To that end, if you need a dedicated fermenting vessel, I'd assume you'd need dedicated Gluten Free bottles!

I think those cover my initial questions. Hopefully some of you who've been at the GF thing for a while can help me out. When I get around to a recipe I'll definitely let everyone know what I do and how it goes.

Cheers!

IPA would be an excellence choice if you are trying to avoid off flavours. I dont see a reason to increase hop additions compared to a regular IPA. There are some really good recipies floating around in here, pick one and have fun. As far as cleaning goes just be very carefull to clean everything like usual. You should be fine. Oh and dont have to high of expectations for redbridge in my opinion it is even more watery tasting than a bud light with a very sorgumy aftertaste.

4) While proper cleaning and sanitation should be sufficient, some people prefer to know that the item is produced on "a dedicated line" or better "dedicated facility", meaning equipment has less of a chance to come into contact with a gluten contaminant.

1. I've made an all centennial IPA, around 60IBU's. Was very tasty and hid the sorghum flavour well. I'm planning a couple of single hop ipas (amarillo fermenting and citra hopefully soon), but I think a multi-hop IPA would be great.

2. I don't know, would be interested in your findings.

3. Depending on what your beer is made of (what hops and if you used fruit), it can improve or deteriorate over time. Mine never last long enough for a definitive answer on that.

4. It really depends how sensitive the person you're brewing for is. I've had stuff brewed off non-GF fermenters that was fine, but really with the amount it costs for ingredients and time I'd do it right. All of my gear is kept separate.

Thanks for the tips everyone!

NoGBrewer - I don't have high expectations at all for Redbridge. I basically want to try it so I can see first hand what sorghum tastes like in beer.

KevinM - I agree that it would probably give people peace of mind knowing that the beer was produced on a dedicated line. I think for the first batch I'll take extra steps in sanitizing all the equipment to make sure they like the beer first before I go off and pick up extra carboys.

Spaced - Nice brew blog! I'm glad to know that running hops up into the IPA realm can be beneficial. I noticed you put maltodextrin in a few of your recipes for mouthfeel...is 4oz (per 5 gallon/20L batch) a pretty good amount or will you be adjusting that on future brews? I only ask because I've heard that a beer made with sorghum as the dominant fermentable can be very thin.

I'll take inventory of my hops and let you all know what my brew plan is. Assuming it doesn't tank and my friend likes it I'll probably throw some variation in there (longer boil, etc) and see how things go from there. Thanks for the help!

Try Bard brand gf beer. It's surprisingly good. There's also one from England called Green's or something like that and it's pretty good too.

Slowfro said:

Spaced - Nice brew blog! I'm glad to know that running hops up into the IPA realm can be beneficial. I noticed you put maltodextrin in a few of your recipes for mouthfeel...is 4oz (per 5 gallon/20L batch) a pretty good amount or will you be adjusting that on future brews? I only ask because I've heard that a beer made with sorghum as the dominant fermentable can be very thin.

Click to expand...

Thanks Slowfro, I'm really just testing the waters with maltodextrin at the moment. My 4oz maltodextrin brews are currently in the fermenter, so it's too early to say if it's the right level.

I carb pretty high (2 tsp of sugar per bottle) so it hasn't really worried me much to date. I will get feedback from regular beer drinkers on the mouthfeel for those batches though.

Also I recommend mucking around with different sugars, belgian dark syrup, belgian amber syrup, honey, golden syrup, etc.

Heh... I thought this post was New "Girlfriend" Attempt Question...

mattmcl said:

Heh... I thought this post was New "Girlfriend" Attempt Question...

Click to expand...

Well don't let the old one know about the new one and you should be right.

JonM said:

Try Bard brand gf beer. It's surprisingly good. There's also one from England called Green's or something like that and it's pretty good too.

Click to expand...

Was picking up some beer yesterday and saw Bards there so I got a 6pack. Going to chill them this weekend and try one when I brew the GF beer next week. I'm hoping I can make something relatively comparable in quality since that stuff is expensive!

UPS is scheduled for delivery Monday, so I should have a recipe posted by Tuesday...I'll either brew Tuesday or Thursday depending on how next week goes (but most likely Tuesday, I'm like a kid at Christmas when new brew stuff shows up and can't wait).

I was pretty impressed by the fact that a Bard rep came to a national brewing industry convention here in Milwaukee and took part in a big tasting event for the public. The rep was a hilarious wise-arse with all these self-deprecating comments like "this beer sucks. You're gonna hate it." and then the samples were really good. And he was doing all that while set up next to the Duvel/Maredsous booth, so heavy competition.

I believe Nickelbrook GF is a good example of the sorghum flavour. I used to think it was because of bad cans, because of the metallic flavor. I now mostly drink my own beer, and New Grist - which hides it fairly well, somehow.

Also I think honey, or carbing with honey might help mask the sorghum flavor a bit.

DougmanXL said:

I believe Nickelbrook GF is a good example of the sorghum flavour. I used to think it was because of bad cans, because of the metallic flavor. I now mostly drink my own beer, and New Grist - which hides it fairly well, somehow.

Also I think honey, or carbing with honey might help mask the sorghum flavor a bit.

Click to expand...

I had planned on using honey as the priming sugar at bottling. I think I read 1 cup for a 5-gallon batch was about right...does that go along with what you guys have done? I was going to look into that more when bottling time came closer. Does "organic" honey make any difference or is just plain old honey work just the same? I've used honey before in an IIPA to boost ABV, but never for priming solution.

lol... what is organic honey, anyway? I thought honey varied based on the flowers in the region, or if its pasteurized/unpasteurized. Get the "free-range honey" ;P
Like with mead, I would use unpasteurized local (farmers market) honey. It should be "sterile" already because it contains hydrogen peroxide/low ph/etc.. Also it takes longer to carb.

I just am not sure it will have a _big_ effect on hiding the sorghum taste. I thought it hid it a little, but other things like hops might hide it better.

OK, is Bards really the measure of a good GF commercial beer? I brewed mine last night so I tried one and all I can say is wow. Whatever those aromas and flavors were, were pretty awful. I couldn't really put my finger on how to describe it though, it was very bizarre. It sure doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about the 5 gallons bubbling away in my basement!

Well for what it's worth I don't like Bards. I'll take redbridge over bards any day.