Deschutes GF Ale

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adamjg

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By far the best GF beer I've ever had was a GF pale ale that was on tap at Deschutes Brew Pub in Portland, OR. It was so good that I made the server check to make sure I was really drinking a gluten-free product, and not one of their regular ales. If you're in Portland, go there. They always have GF beer on tap.

Deschutes posts ingredients on their website (http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/recipe/gluten-free-ale-clone). Looks simple enough. I'm wondering if anyone has tried to replicate this, and if so, what specifics you might have to offer. Thanks.

Adam
 
Hard to say. I don't recall offhand seeing specific ratios in anyone's tread, in fact, if you look in some of the threads, you'll see how we're discussing the use of sorghum extract at all. Many people are saying that they want to avoid it entirely, but many of us have been using various ratios of sorghum syrup and brown rice syrup, our choice of hops and our choice of yeast and I haven't seen anyone saying that any combination has been outright horrible.
 
I don't mind Sorghum Syrup beers but the residual sweetness is a challenge. I've used sugar in the past to dry it out, but if the SG is too high it can stall.

I've never used S-04 for anything but cider but I think this could help with drying out the flavour. I think K-97 is the alternative.
 
I don't mind Sorghum Syrup beers but the residual sweetness is a challenge. I've used sugar in the past to dry it out, but if the SG is too high it can stall.

I've never used S-04 for anything but cider but I think this could help with drying out the flavour. I think K-97 is the alternative.

You may want to examine your fermentation process if you are having high FG problems, most people have the opposite problem with Sorghum, if any problem.

S-04 is a very sweet English style yeast, and shouldn't be used to dry anything out, it in fact is one of the best at doing the exact opposite. It's great for cider because you dont want those dry at all.

I have not used K-97, but German ale yeasts are typical fermenters, in the 75% attenuation range.

If you really want to dry something out, use S-05 for normal style results in the 78% range. You can also use champagne yeast to dry the crap out of something, but it will be extremely dry and not taste much like beer.
 
By far the best GF beer I've ever had was a GF pale ale that was on tap at Deschutes Brew Pub in Portland, OR. It was so good that I made the server check to make sure I was really drinking a gluten-free product, and not one of their regular ales. If you're in Portland, go there. They always have GF beer on tap.

Deschutes posts ingredients on their website (http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/recipe/gluten-free-ale-clone). Looks simple enough. I'm wondering if anyone has tried to replicate this, and if so, what specifics you might have to offer. Thanks.

Adam

There have been a few variations of Deschutes GF beers, and they all hover around those same ingredients. I had a pale ale that ended up close, although I wasn't specifically trying to clone their beer.
 
You may want to examine your fermentation process if you are having high FG problems, most people have the opposite problem with Sorghum, if any problem.

S-04 is a very sweet English style yeast, and shouldn't be used to dry anything out, it in fact is one of the best at doing the exact opposite. It's great for cider because you dont want those dry at all.

I have not used K-97, but German ale yeasts are typical fermenters, in the 75% attenuation range.

If you really want to dry something out, use S-05 for normal style results in the 78% range. You can also use champagne yeast to dry the crap out of something, but it will be extremely dry and not taste much like beer.

Well that's weird

When I used S-04 to ferment fruit juice all it left was a faint apple taste and a bread aroma.

I find US-05 ferments "sorghum syrup" with an ending that is slightly sweet, unless sugar is added prior to the primary fermentation. Which I've read is a common problem with normal extract brewing.
 
When I used S-04 to ferment fruit juice all it left was a faint apple taste and a bread aroma.

I find US-05 ferments "sorghum syrup" with an ending that is slightly sweet, unless sugar is added prior to the primary fermentation. Which I've read is a common problem with normal extract brewing.

To your first: :off: Commercial cider is generally fermented with cider yeast which is actually very similar to beer yeast, but generally they either kill the yeast before they are done, or kill them after they are done and add sugar. This is why you felt your fully fermented example was not as sweet.

The second problem with sorghum depends on the OG. In general, with stronger beer you want to have greater attenuation. With extract, all attenuation with american ale yeast generally hovers around 75% since you cannot control mash temperature. Since all homebrewers on average brew strong beer, the problem becomes apparent. Adding simple sugar is a nice way to dry it out when you do not have control over mash temp.

Note that if you make a 4-5% beer, you probably do not need to do anything though.
 
To your first: :off: Commercial cider is generally fermented with cider yeast which is actually very similar to beer yeast, but generally they either kill the yeast before they are done, or kill them after they are done and add sugar. This is why you felt your fully fermented example was not as sweet.

The second problem with sorghum depends on the OG. In general, with stronger beer you want to have greater attenuation. With extract, all attenuation with american ale yeast generally hovers around 75% since you cannot control mash temperature. Since all homebrewers on average brew strong beer, the problem becomes apparent. Adding simple sugar is a nice way to dry it out when you do not have control over mash temp.

Note that if you make a 4-5% beer, you probably do not need to do anything though.

Ah sweet, thanks for the information.
 
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