Thoughts on modifying recipes for lower residual protein/gluten?

I recently discovered that I may have a gluten allergy. I've been investigating the whole gluten-free beer thing with Sorghum and brewed my first batch of 100% gluten-free beer a couple of weeks ago.

That said, I'm not quite ready to give up on the barley so I'm exploring options to reduce the residual protein/gluten in my beer. My current thinking is that I can reduce the wheat/gluten in my diet and still be able to enjoy my homebrew without a big reaction as the beer doesn't seem to be as big of an offender that bread, pasta, and so.

I'd imagine that staying away from wheat in the recipes would be a good start. However, what else could one do? I already regularly use Irish Moss to clear my beers. Would also using a Whirlfoc help?

I do all grain and mash at around 154 degrees. Would mashing at a different temp make a difference?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
John

Since gluten is a protein polymer, nothing in the brewing process will break it down. The two enzymes active during a protein rest don't cut gluten. Irish Moss/Whilfoc don't remove it either. There is some hope on the horizon for an enzyme derived from Aspergillus niger (not the Beano enzyme), but it hasn't reached the market yet.

Hmm...that's too bad. Thanks for the info David.

Hey I have a friend with a gluten allergy also. You think I could get that recipe from you or could you lead me in the rite direction to it? Thanks

I've got a friend that either has celiacs or a gluten allergy and she asked me if I could make gluten free beer.

I tried a Redbridge, and it seemed like sourghum could be worked with. I was thinking if you steeped some gluten free oatmeal (you have to be careful, they rotate oats with wheat and the gluten ends up in the soil as well as the equipment; it'll say on the package if it is) it would make it a bit smoother. I'm also thinking about shortening the boil and using a mellower hop like perl for about 25 minutes, then maybe some amarillos for two. The sorghum by itself is pretty bitter, so there's no point in wasting potent hops. Maybe some gypsum would help smooth it out. The sorghum feels kind of like licking a really weak 9-volt battery as it fills your mouth, it definitely needs something to smooth that out!

Honey seems to be popular from the multitude of recipes I've seen, too. I might go for a bit of unfermentable sugars instead, though.

Is anyone aware of any research into exaclty how much gluten makes it into a finished beer? Most of what I've read simply assumes that the gluten makes it through the process without ever measuring it.

jcole said:

I recently discovered that I may have a gluten allergy. I've been investigating the whole gluten-free beer thing with Sorghum and brewed my first batch of 100% gluten-free beer a couple of weeks ago.

That said, I'm not quite ready to give up on the barley so I'm exploring options to reduce the residual protein/gluten in my beer. My current thinking is that I can reduce the wheat/gluten in my diet and still be able to enjoy my homebrew without a big reaction as the beer doesn't seem to be as big of an offender that bread, pasta, and so.

I'd imagine that staying away from wheat in the recipes would be a good start. However, what else could one do? I already regularly use Irish Moss to clear my beers. Would also using a Whirlfoc help?

I do all grain and mash at around 154 degrees. Would mashing at a different temp make a difference?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
John

Click to expand...

Im not Dr. but if you have a confirmed gluten allergy, wouldn't it be best to stay away from it altogether? Like David said, there is an enzyme in the works that reduces the residual gluten in a beer to < 5 PPM which I suppose would be acceptable if you weren't extremely reactive to gluten.

I like using sorghum syrup and I've just started using brown rice syrup with the sorghum syrup. One of these days I'll try one that is all brown rice syrup. There should be a few topics around here in the Gluten Free Brewing forum to help you.

ThirstyDevil said:

Is anyone aware of any research into exaclty how much gluten makes it into a finished beer? Most of what I've read simply assumes that the gluten makes it through the process without ever measuring it.

Click to expand...

Like I said above, for some people, any amount is too much and they will have a reaction, why take the risk. Drink a beer that is gluten free!

To make a 100% gluten free beer you must use a yeast/ and or starter that was grown
in a non-barley malt extract, this includes not only the starter, but the strain you started
with. W-yeast sells #1056 in a gluten-free form also. The only way to make a true 100%
gluten-free beer. Just my 2 cents. Cheers!!!

Brewerforlife said:

To make a 100% gluten free beer you must use a yeast/ and or starter that was grown
in a non-barley malt extract, this includes not only the starter, but the strain you started
with. W-yeast sells #1056 in a gluten-free form also. The only way to make a true 100%
gluten-free beer. Just my 2 cents. Cheers!!!

Click to expand...

Did you get a confirmation from them about 1056? I know a few years ago they came out with an Ale and a Lager yeast that were gluten free- they no longer make it though.

You will also need to use equipment that hasn't been used to brew standard beer, or you will get cross-contamination.

I was wrong about 1056, I looked in my catalog, and its #1272 American Ale II-GF. As
a commercial brewer, I have access to many strains not available to homebrew retail
markets, however it does say *retail availability TBA,next to its listing. I will call W-yeast
on monday to see what's up. I also am looking to brew a true 100% gluten-free beer, as
I feel the ever increasing pressure from the public. I always say "Brew What They Want
and the People Will Come". Stay Tuned!& Cheers

Brewerforlife said:

I was wrong about 1056, I looked in my catalog, and its #1272 American Ale II-GF. As
a commercial brewer, I have access to many strains not available to homebrew retail
markets, however it does say *retail availability TBA,next to its listing. I will call W-yeast
on monday to see what's up. I also am looking to brew a true 100% gluten-free beer, as
I feel the ever increasing pressure from the public. I always say "Brew What They Want
and the People Will Come". Stay Tuned!& Cheers

Click to expand...

Don't bother contacting them, I did this Fall and they told me they discontinued the two Ale and Lager strings that were gluten free. I know there are some recipes in the Gluten Free Brewing forum that are 100% gluten free, make one to start then tweak it!

Yes you are right,they confirmed what you posted earlier, because of lack of
intersest they said. But he told me at w-yeast suprisingly that their competitor Danstar grows all their yeast from a molasses based extract only.
Not so sure totally about that one, can anybody confirm this? CHEERS!!

Brewerforlife said:

Yes you are right,they confirmed what you posted earlier, because of lack of
intersest they said. But he told me at w-yeast suprisingly that their competitor Danstar grows all their yeast from a molasses based extract only.
Not so sure totally about that one, can anybody confirm this? CHEERS!!

Click to expand...

Here's what I got:

Hi Logan,
We actually stopped selling the Lallemand Danstar brewing yeasts earlier this year, which included Nottingham, Windsor and Munich. However, all of the products that we carry from Lallemand and Laffort are gluten-free and I have attached certificates from their companies for you. I have also included the gluten-free certificates regarding our Scottzymes and our filter products just in case. Are you brewing gluten-free beer? Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Click to expand...

I think even on the packages of Danstar yeasts it says "Gluten Free"

For those of you wanting better beer and more variety, just use White Labs yeast. Here's a statement that I got from them
___________________________________________

In the meantime here is some information for you regarding our yeast being gluten free:

According to a recent FDA ruling, anything under 20 ppm can be considered gluten free. Our yeast analysis: Yeast slurry in package~12 ppm. When our yeast is used with ingredients such as sorghum to make gluten free beer~2 ppm. Therefore, beer made with our yeast will fall under that amount and CAN be considered gluten free.

**The European standard for gluten free is below 100 ppm.
________________________________

Empirically I can say that all of my GF beers have used White Labs yeast, and every single one of them is Celiac Tested, Celiac Approved. This coming from people with even very high sensitivities.

Keep in mind that scientifically you cannot prove the complete absence of anything. Know your threshold and stay under it.

aggieotis said:

For those of you wanting better beer and more variety, just use White Labs yeast. Here's a statement that I got from them
___________________________________________

In the meantime here is some information for you regarding our yeast being gluten free:

According to a recent FDA ruling, anything under 20 ppm can be considered gluten free. Our yeast analysis: Yeast slurry in package~12 ppm. When our yeast is used with ingredients such as sorghum to make gluten free beer~2 ppm. Therefore, beer made with our yeast will fall under that amount and CAN be considered gluten free.

**The European standard for gluten free is below 100 ppm.
________________________________

Empirically I can say that all of my GF beers have used White Labs yeast, and every single one of them is Celiac Tested, Celiac Approved. This coming from people with even very high sensitivities.

Keep in mind that scientifically you cannot prove the complete absence of anything. Know your threshold and stay under it.

Click to expand...

How do you make your starters, or do you just pitch the yeast?

Just pitch and keep things in the right temp range. When doing something high gravity though, I make a sorghum extract starter. I'm comfortable with pitching 1 vail per batch but 2 might be pushing it.

Additionally, don't forget that once you get a good recipe going, do some yeast ranching and you can have beer in the <1 ppm range on the next batch, do it again for <100 ppb, again for 10 ppb, etc.

aggieotis said:

For those of you wanting better beer and more variety, just use White Labs yeast. Here's a statement that I got from them
___________________________________________

In the meantime here is some information for you regarding our yeast being gluten free:

According to a recent FDA ruling, anything under 20 ppm can be considered gluten free. Our yeast analysis: Yeast slurry in package~12 ppm. When our yeast is used with ingredients such as sorghum to make gluten free beer~2 ppm. Therefore, beer made with our yeast will fall under that amount and CAN be considered gluten free.

**The European standard for gluten free is below 100 ppm.
________________________________

Empirically I can say that all of my GF beers have used White Labs yeast, and every single one of them is Celiac Tested, Celiac Approved. This coming from people with even very high sensitivities.

Keep in mind that scientifically you cannot prove the complete absence of anything. Know your threshold and stay under it.

Click to expand...

A couple things I'd like to point out though are the breiss gluten free sorgum isn't necessarily totally gluten free, it is just tested and falls under 20ppm just like the white labs yeast. I doubt its 0ppm. Phrasing it like their product is going to mix into 0 ppm gluten wort is misleading on their part.

Also if anyone is brewing for celiacs and isn't famililar with the disease, I'd like to be sure they know that lack of external symptoms doesn't mean that internal damage isn't being done. Its easy to think celiac is about physical symptoms of feeling sick but it also damages the intestine and continued exposure (potentially without external symptoms) can have all sorts of nasty after effects like increased cancer rates. Even if you can't "see" it, it might be causing hard to a celiac.

Hopefully that will help inform some people who might be brewing for celiac friends, and at least give you the information to pass on to them so they can make their own decision. Personally I keep my exposure as minimal as possible since biopsy testing of me and elisa arrays for gluten aren't cheap or practical. I figure all those "pennies" can still add up to a dollar. Ymmv.