GF ingredients to improve sorghum-based beers

I was diagnosed with Celiac 2 years ago and gave up homebrewing, a favorite hobby I had been doing (non-GF) for 8 years or so. I've been reluctant to do any GF brewing for a couple reasons. The commercial GF beers I've had which have been sorghum-based (which is clearly the most popular ingredient) have all been thin and have the sweet cider-y sorghum flavor. The all grain options (provided exclusively by glutenfreehomebrewing.org AFAIK) is cost prohibitive for me living on the east coast. It would cost me roughly $100 to have ingredients for a 5 gallon batch shipped.

Every so often, I get frustrated at the situation and do a little more reading into GF homebrewing. I recently read some posts on another forum where some guys have been brewing sorghum-based beers, but reducing the quantity of sorghum and using other ingredients that tone down sorghum's impact. I'm hoping people can offer some input on things they've done, sharing a recipe or two, to brew non-AG GF beers that are very good with reduced sorghum flavor.

As far as body is concerned, I understand one can add maltodextrin. But what are some other "base" malts and specialty grains that can be used to result in a solid beer.

Thanks in advance.
Mike

Belgium candy sugar, and brown rice syrup work well as fermentables. Balancing sorghum with other fermentables can help minimize that really distinctive after taste. I would suggest grabbing some commercial GF beers and checking out what they add. I believe that Ground Breaker is being distributed on the east coast and they make a great GF IPA. It is not a big secret that they use lentils in their beer. How they utilize them makes a difference in balancing that sorghum. Sorghum commercially is more cost effective.

Malted buckwheat is amazing for body and flavor. It can be malted and dried and roasted at home, but it's just really time consuming. You can purchase the groats at the store. I pretty much just buy from GFhomebrewing the stuff that I don't want to malt and/or roast myself.

Malted Buckwheat
Lentils
Rice
belgian candy sugar

I have a new one that I was going to try this weekend and I have no idea how it'll turn out. I kind of stopped experimenting with GF because I didn't have the time to do all the prep of the ingredients to lower cost of buying stuff like millet. I live in Oregon, and there are now 2 GF breweries here, Moonshrimp and Ground Breaker and both are very different. I've got more time and space so I'm going to start back up. I'll post my recipe once I get it brewed this weekend, that way I'll have my stats on sugars produced. Brewersfriend says I should get a way higher SG than I think is possible. I'm a little skeptical.

Thanks for your response, wildseedgrrrl. I have a 22 month old so, like you, I don't really have time on my hand to experiment with malting, recipes, etc. I'm hoping to leverage the trials/experience others have done to brew something solid with relatively easily attainable and affordable ingredients.

+1 on the buckwheat. I used Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat groats in my last batch and its way more effective than maltodextrin. I did not malt the buckwheat, nor did I toast it. It was just raw, milled and mashed with my other grains (malted millet from Grouse).

PhillyBrewer said:

I was diagnosed with Celiac 2 years ago and gave up homebrewing, a favorite hobby I had been doing (non-GF) for 8 years or so. I've been reluctant to do any GF brewing for a couple reasons. The commercial GF beers I've had which have been sorghum-based (which is clearly the most popular ingredient) have all been thin and have the sweet cider-y sorghum flavor. The all grain options (provided exclusively by glutenfreehomebrewing.org AFAIK) is cost prohibitive for me living on the east coast. It would cost me roughly $100 to have ingredients for a 5 gallon batch shipped.

Every so often, I get frustrated at the situation and do a little more reading into GF homebrewing. I recently read some posts on another forum where some guys have been brewing sorghum-based beers, but reducing the quantity of sorghum and using other ingredients that tone down sorghum's impact. I'm hoping people can offer some input on things they've done, sharing a recipe or two, to brew non-AG GF beers that are very good with reduced sorghum flavor.

As far as body is concerned, I understand one can add maltodextrin. But what are some other "base" malts and specialty grains that can be used to result in a solid beer.

Thanks in advance.
Mike

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hello bro, please give a try to Mead, make a basic dry mead and you will love it, is totally gluten free. a dry hydromel with hops is the most beer like mead i have ever drink, Honey is cheap and you can make 6-5% that will be ready to drink in 4 weeks.

Can you post a recipe for the hydromel?

the thing to do is get yourself some Clarex. its what brewers use when they make the gluten-removed/ less than 20ppm gluten/ gluten-free* beers you see in the store that are made from regular barley and wheat.

i'd look up the brewery closest to you that makes GF beer and ask them if they'll give you some. drive out there, and come home with an ounce or two. you'll use a really small amount. they can give you an idea of how they use it, when to add it, what temps, how long to wait, etc. and then you can adapt it to your setup at home. or maybe ask your local home brew shop if they'll order some for you, but smallest package is like 1kg. might be too pricey that way, unless maybe you can share it by mail with other folks who need GF beer?

otherwise, just use alot of adjuncts. ive never had sorghum, so i dont know the taste, but i'd say to load up on the corn sugar, rice/flaked rice/rice syrup solids, table sugar, etc to try and get it drier. does rye have gluten? if not i'd use it, a bunch. it helps dry out beer. maybe some oats for body. my guess is that if you used a bunch of these sugars in a small amount, you could get a third to even half your fermentables from them, which would help balance out the sweetness of sorghum. and since you use a smaller amount of each, you shouldnt get too much of the flavor that each can impart when used in large amounts. flaked rice/corn/oats/rye etc would still need enzymes to convert, so i dont know what to tell you there because i dont know if sorghum has enough enzyme power to convert other grains, but you can always buy some amylase enzyme and add it to mash to get full conversion if you need it.

and definitely think about making saisons. all sorts of random grains and fermentables is normal for the style. and it attenuates like crazy so it should help your beers to finish pretty dry, despite the sorghum. if you dont like the spicy peppery notes in traditional saisons just go for one of the strains that is softer and bit more fruity.

but its probly easiest to just get some clarex and learn how to use it.

SanPancho said:

the thing to do is get yourself some Clarex. its what brewers use when they make the gluten-removed/ less than 20ppm gluten/ gluten-free* beers you see in the store that are made from regular barley and wheat.

i'd look up the brewery closest to you that makes GF beer and ask them if they'll give you some.

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A couple things... First, Clarex is readily available. Second, if "gluten reduced" was the same as "gluten free", there would be no sorghum beers and all beers for people who are gluten intolerant would be brewed with Clarex. Unfortunately, that's not the case and "gluten reduced" beers are still an issue for many people.

PhillyBrewer said:

A couple things... First, Clarex is readily available. Second, if "gluten reduced" was the same as "gluten free", there would be no sorghum beers and all beers for people who are gluten intolerant would be brewed with Clarex. Unfortunately, that's not the case and "gluten reduced" beers are still an issue for many people.

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damn. you mad bro?

max42 said:

Can you post a recipe for the hydromel?

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for sure is very easy, just pick your favorite Honey i use one from my local market

there is no an exact recipe all you need for your first try is this:

one gallon jug or container.
yeast i use Lalvin K1-V1116
and water.

just mix the honey and water to get 1.055 on you hidrometer it will be alittle more than one pound of honey.

i dont boil the must do it if you feel more confortable, put the whole packet of yeast when the must is a room temperature and wait for 3-4 weeks.

for sparkling hydromel put 1/4 cup of honey on another jug and rack your hydromel to that jug mix slowly to avoid oxigenation.

they wait one or two weeks to get a nice champagne like hydromel.

if you let the hydromel to by still you will have a light and watery mead i really recommend you to do the sparlling process.

Sagatho said:

for sure is very easy, just pick your favorite Honey i use one from my local market



there is no an exact recipe all you need for your first try is this:



one gallon jug or container.

yeast i use Lalvin K1-V1116

and water.



just mix the honey and water to get 1.055 on you hidrometer it will be alittle more than one pound of honey.



i dont boil the must do it if you feel more confortable, put the whole packet of yeast when the must is a room temperature and wait for 3-4 weeks.



for sparkling hydromel put 1/4 cup of honey on another jug and rack your hydromel to that jug mix slowly to avoid oxigenation.



they wait one or two weeks to get a nice champagne like hydromel.



if you let the hydromel to by still you will have a light and watery mead i really recommend you to do the sparlling process.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try it sometime soon.

Well said PhillyBrewer

Sagatho said:

for sure is very easy, just pick your favorite Honey i use one from my local market



there is no an exact recipe all you need for your first try is this:



one gallon jug or container.

yeast i use Lalvin K1-V1116

and water.



just mix the honey and water to get 1.055 on you hidrometer it will be alittle more than one pound of honey.



i dont boil the must do it if you feel more confortable, put the whole packet of yeast when the must is a room temperature and wait for 3-4 weeks.



for sparkling hydromel put 1/4 cup of honey on another jug and rack your hydromel to that jug mix slowly to avoid oxigenation.



they wait one or two weeks to get a nice champagne like hydromel.



if you let the hydromel to by still you will have a light and watery mead i really recommend you to do the sparlling process.

Click to expand...

BTW you mentioned hops before, how much (whole, leave, pellet) and when for this recipe?

I regularly brew GF beers--and have been for a number of years now. I brewed an IPA just this week.

I do extract only because with 3 kids 3 and under, time is of the essence. This is pretty much the base recipe that I have found works perfectly for giving the yeast enough nutrients, fermentables, and body to not taste like Sorghum.

Base Recipe for GF extract brewing:
3lbs Sorghum
1.5lbs Brown Rice Syrup
2lbs of Belgian Candi Syrup (the color/flavor depends on the beer you are going for: golden, D-45, D-90, D-180)
1lb of maltodextrin (helps with body)

Beyond that--there are other adjuncts you can add: honey is a good one (especially buckwheat honey), brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup).

Hope this helps.

Here's mine. GF Brown Ale
1# roasted lentils
1# malted buckwheat
.5# dark malted rice
.5# Dark roasted Millet
1# cooked brown rice
1# maltodextrin powder
4# sorghum
1.5 hour mash

OG ended up being 1.052. A note on the flavor when I tasted the wort. It was roasty and slightly nutty and the sorghum was ever so slight. If I didn't know that it had sorghum in it, I woudn't have been able to pick it out easily. I feel like after fermentation will be the true test on how well this turned out.