sorghum malt supplier?

Does anyone have a lead on where to get sorghum malt? I know extract is available, but I'm not interested in it. I would like to experiment making a gluten free beer for a friend and also I've wanted to try making the opaque sorghum beer of southern Africa. I know Bards has someone growing and malting for them, but I wonder if it is available elsewhere... I know some people malt their own, and although that is admirable in my eyes, I'd rather spend that time mashing and I haven't had any success finding unmalted sorghum in Portland Oregon anyway. Any help is appreciated.

I did a lot of looking a couple months back, didn't find anyone malting it. Odd given the amount of sorghum grow in western Oregon, that it isn't available retail.

Nobody is making it for retail. I think the owner of Bards is a part owner of the malting company that they get their sorghum from and they only sell to Bards.

I don't think anyone else has malted sorghum because gluten free brewers are a small, nitch market. I doubt they could make enough money off sorghum alone and the cross contamination issues of malting both sorghum and barley would be a problem.

I've malted some of my own quinoa and amaranth. I'm going to start malting some millet, buckwheat and quinoa this weekend.

My amaranth and quinoa beer got an infection. I racked under the mold, but there are definatly some off flavors. I've been letting it age a few more weeks and I'm now able to taste what the grains contributed. It's not bad, so I'm definately going to continue experimenting.

I sent an email to Bard's the same night I posted to this forum, asking whether they offer any amount of malted sorghum to homebrewer's and got this reply:

We hope you like Bard's. We think we have the best gluten-free beer on the
market as only Bard's malts its sorghum for traditional taste and aroma the
beer lovers desire.

At this time, our sorghum malt is not commercially available. Sorry we are
unable to help you with our request.

Brian

It is surprising that it is so hard to find. I called an African market today, and although they don't carry it themselves, the guy I talked to seemed to remember seeing it at another market. I'll keep calling.

May be I should be looking into getting some raw sorghum from eastern Oregon to play with. I know I said I didn't want to malt my own, but if there's no other option...

Well someone is making a lot of it because Anheuser-Busch is using it for RedBridge and they don't make small amounts of anything.

Nurmey said:

Well someone is making a lot of it because Anheuser-Busch is using it for RedBridge and they don't make small amounts of anything.

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They have access to a lot of manufactured enzymes that we don't have access too. They are using unmalted grains and getting the enzymes from a lab.

BBBF said:

Nobody is making it for retail. I think the owner of Bards is a part owner of the malting company that they get their sorghum from and they only sell to Bards.

I don't think anyone else has malted sorghum because gluten free brewers are a small, nitch market. I doubt they could make enough money off sorghum alone and the cross contamination issues of malting both sorghum and barley would be a problem.

I've malted some of my own quinoa and amaranth. I'm going to start malting some millet, buckwheat and quinoa this weekend.

My amaranth and quinoa beer got an infection. I racked under the mold, but there are definatly some off flavors. I've been letting it age a few more weeks and I'm now able to taste what the grains contributed. It's not bad, so I'm definately going to continue experimenting.

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Could you offer me some tips on the malting process or direct me to a thread that addresses that topic. I haven't found one yet. I got some buckwheat and found a method to malt and will try it. But how do you get the controlled 60 degree temperature? My only Johnson control thermostat is on my kegerator and I can't buy another right now.

ElDuderino said:

I sent an email to Bard's the same night I posted to this forum, asking whether they offer any amount of malted sorghum to homebrewer's and got this reply:

We hope you like Bard's. We think we have the best gluten-free beer on the
market as only Bard's malts its sorghum for traditional taste and aroma the
beer lovers desire.

At this time, our sorghum malt is not commercially available. Sorry we are
unable to help you with our request.

Brian

It is surprising that it is so hard to find. I called an African market today, and although they don't carry it themselves, the guy I talked to seemed to remember seeing it at another market. I'll keep calling.

May be I should be looking into getting some raw sorghum from eastern Oregon to play with. I know I said I didn't want to malt my own, but if there's no other option...

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Bards could sell the malt to us if they wanted to, other microbrewerys do it. And their GF isn't very good in my opinion, at least not the 6 pack I bought. Sorghum and sorghum malt is available if you don't mind buying 3000 metric tons or buying 350 acres of sorghum at once. I guess Anheiser is buying in bulk to brew their Redbridge and of course Bards. At least you got a response when you contacted them. I emailed and they didn't even bother rsvping.

It does seem rather odd that sorghum malt extract is so readily available in the retail market yet not the malt itself.

Austin Homebrew Supply carries sorghum...

Here ya go:

Austin Homebrew Supply

Austinhomebrew said:

Austin Homebrew Supply carries sorghum...

Here ya go:

Austin Homebrew Supply

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Thank you but this is not sorghum malt. The reason we search for malt and not malt extract or syrup is because the malt can help convert other unmalted grains like flaked corn and extract or syrup can not. Sorghum malt extract and syrups are readily available for brewing. It seems odd that the malt it is made from is not readily available.

kontreren said:

Bards could sell the malt to us if they wanted to, other microbrewerys do it. And their GF isn't very good in my opinion, at least not the 6 pack I bought. Sorghum and sorghum malt is available if you don't mind buying 3000 metric tons or buying 350 acres of sorghum at once. I guess Anheiser is buying in bulk to brew their Redbridge and of course Bards. At least you got a response when you contacted them. I emailed and they didn't even bother rsvping.

It does seem rather odd that sorghum malt extract is so readily available in the retail market yet not the malt itself.

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IMO, the very best GF beer is made by St. Peter's. They make a pilsner that tastes exactly like a regular pilsner. New Grist would be my second pic. Sprecher's makes/made two GF, african beers. I couldn't drink more than one (they are bigger bottles), but I give them props for making a different style that is naturally GF. I like the dark beer from Green's, but I'm not so fond of the other two. I met the owner though and he was very cool. And then I'll give Redbridge the nod over Bards for the price. I don't mind Bards, but it tastes only slightly better than Redbridge and not enough to cover the added expense.

BBBF said:

IMO, the very best GF beer is made by St. Peter's. They make a pilsner that tastes exactly like a regular pilsner. New Grist would be my second pic. Sprecher's makes/made two GF, african beers. I couldn't drink more than one (they are bigger bottles), but I give them props for making a different style that is naturally GF. I like the dark beer from Green's, but I'm not so fond of the other two. I met the owner though and he was very cool. And then I'll give Redbridge the nod over Bards for the price. I don't mind Bards, but it tastes only slightly better than Redbridge and not enough to cover the added expense.

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I don't think I've seen either St. Peter's nor Sprecher's. I don't mind Bard's but it was actually New Grist that I was thinking of. I asked New Grist company for some GF malt sources with no response via email. I do not care for New Grist at all, perhaps a bad batch or a taste preference. I think Redbridge is by far the better of the GF commercial beers I've tried. It just seems to be more of a BMC crowd pleaser beer and is very consistent. My GF GF (Gluten Free Girl Friend) couldn't even drink New Grist. She didn't like Bards or Greens but I found those two drinkable. I will have to try and track down St. Peter and Spreacher. Really I would rather get more skilled at brewing GF beers.

Sprecher's might be hard to track down because they haven't made any of the african beers in a year, but some places can still get it. Whole Foods carries St. Peters. My GF GF didn't like New Grist either, but she went on the gluten free diet shortly after turning 21 and never really got to try different beers. Hops are a strange flavor when all you've tasted was the crap everyone drinks in college.

Thanks for all the GF beer leads, BBBF and Kontreren, I'll give some of them a try and pass the list on to the friend who started this whole search. I, too, think it's odd that malted sorghum is so hard to come by, especially when it is being made in quantities large enough to supply Bard's and Budweiser. There was an Aussie company making it and beer, too, but they gave up after having problems they don't disclose on their website.Gluten Free Food, Wheat Free, Gluten Free, Gluten Free Products, Coeliacs | Silly Yaks
I'm keeping my finger's crossed for a local African market.

I looked into this a little bit a while ago and was unable to find any malted grains, but did come across some descriptions of people doing malting at home. Not sorghum, but buckwheat, amaranth and other gluten-free grains.

This piece on byo.com is typical of what I found via Google.

I meant to say, no one sells malted sorghum retail. Did find a local source of seed sorghum, but 1000 lb minimum and it has some kind of treatment to control fungus sprayed on it.

BakerStreetBeers said:

I looked into this a little bit a while ago and was unable to find any malted grains, but did come across some descriptions of people doing malting at home. Not sorghum, but buckwheat, amaranth and other gluten-free grains.

This piece on byo.com is typical of what I found via Google.

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thanks for the tip, looks like we are going to have to malt our own grains. I would even malt the sorghum myself if I could buy less than 300 acres of it at once.

you guys might consider just going with the raw unmalted form and then buying some amylase to convert.

z987k said:

you guys might consider just going with the raw unmalted form and then buying some amylase to convert.

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I've had zero luck converting anything with amylase. Have you been successful with it? If so please tell me your method and quantities. I've only tried to convert flaked corn but I would think it would be the easiest as starchy as it is. I was not successful.

I emailed Bards too with the same response. There is obviously a demand for it. Surely the market will fill it soon.

kontreren said:

I've had zero luck converting anything with amylase. Have you been successful with it? If so please tell me your method and quantities. I've only tried to convert flaked corn but I would think it would be the easiest as starchy as it is. I was not successful.

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I have never used it, but I would imagine it would be rather easy. Dough in around 155+, and add enough to convert. (I have no idea how much that is)

I learned a lot about sorghum when I stumbled across this page: Sorghum, Milo of the Midwest

All certified food grade sorghum is white sorghum.

Apparently the sweet sorghum syrup we've all grown to know and love is produced from the sweet juice found in the stalks and perhaps the reason that there is no sorghum malt available. However there is a grain sorghum as well and surprising to me a lot of it is referred to as millet.

Reading this one page info sheet on sorghum has expanded my understanding of the difference in the maltable grains and the fermentable syrup. Till now I have always referred to sorghum syrup as sorghum malt extract. Apparently it is not extract in the traditional sense, as in a non-GF extract kit.

I haven't come close to finding sorghum malt. The only raw sorghum I've found so far is sudan grass, which won't do. I think the chances of finding the red variety grown for beer are slim, so may be something like this is the answer:

Sand Hill Preservation Center: Grain Catalog - amaranth, barley, lentils, sesame, sorghum, and teff

I've also wondered if someone with connections to South Africa could mail a handful of the favored seeds grown for home malting and opaque beer manufacture.

ElDuderino said:

I haven't come close to finding sorghum malt. The only raw sorghum I've found so far is sudan grass, which won't do. I think the chances of finding the red variety grown for beer are slim, so may be something like this is the answer:

Sand Hill Preservation Center: Grain Catalog - amaranth, barley, lentils, sesame, sorghum, and teff

I've also wondered if someone with connections to South Africa could mail a handful of the favored seeds grown for home malting and opaque beer manufacture.

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From what I've read it is the white sorghum that is certified food grade. I can't promise anything yet but I did a search on "whole sorghum" and found some and ordered 5 lbs. It is a sorghum grain and not the stuff that syrup is made from. I have no idea whether it will malt or not. I'm really hoping it will. You can find it here at this link but you might want to hold off on ordering it until I determine if it will malt. That is unless you just want to cook with it.
Shiloh Farms Whole Grain Organic Gluten-Free Sorghum

Also read this article: Sorghum, Milo of the Midwest

I found this course listing:
Certificate Course in Opaque Beer Brewing at the University of Pretoria
CourseDetail

It's a long shot, but why not give it a try...
Hello,
This email is directed to those involved in the certificate course in opaque beer brewing (p000516). I am writing in the hope someone could help me attain a handful of the sorghum seed variety used to produce opaque beer so that I may try and grow it in the state of Oregon, USA. My hope is to grow the grain, malt it and then produce opaque beer on a small scale as a home brewer. Unfortunately, the varieties of sorghum available in the US are not appropriate for brewing; they are either silage varieties or those whose stalks are sweet and produce syrup. There is an interest in this among the brewing community and if I could get any seeds to thrive, I would share them with others, hopefully spreading an appreciation of this unusual (for us) drink. I have been trying to locate a source without luck for some time now.

If there is anyone who could help me secure a handfull of seeds to try this, please contact me.

Here is a link to a current discussion of this subject on a popular North American brewing website:
sorghum discussion on homebrewtalk.com

Thank you for you help,
Jeff Omundson

kontreren said:

From what I've read it is the white sorghum that is certified food grade. I can't promise anything yet but I did a search on "whole sorghum" and found some and ordered 5 lbs. It is a sorghum grain and not the stuff that syrup is made from. I have no idea whether it will malt or not. I'm really hoping it will. You can find it here at this link but you might want to hold off on ordering it until I determine if it will malt. That is unless you just want to cook with it.
Shiloh Farms Whole Grain Organic Gluten-Free Sorghum

Also read this article: Sorghum, Milo of the Midwest

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Nice, I bet that will work, not too bad on the price either!

Edit: Are you worried about the "cyanide" that is in the rootlets and sprouts? I'm sure you can get them off once dried, but still. I read this in an older posting, the link was to this site Sorghum and millets in human nutrition Look at the section "Processing Malted Grains"

lcasanova said:

Nice, I bet that will work, not too bad on the price either!

Edit: Are you worried about the "cyanide" that is in the rootlets and sprouts? I'm sure you can get them off once dried, but still. I read this in an older posting, the link was to this site Sorghum and millets in human nutrition Look at the section "Processing Malted Grains"

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Well there's a wrench in the engine. The way I read it I think we are okay because we aren't going to eat it. This could also be a reason why malted sorghum isn't produced and put on the market. But I really don't know. I sure would hate to produce drinkable poison.

Subscribed. I have brewed a couple brews with the Syrup for my GF GF, and the second one seems like it will be good (a Belgian Tripel), but I would like to do something a little more complex.

I went on the same search as you about a month or two ago and ended up giving up for the time being and using the syrup and experimenting with Beers that already had GF adjuncts in it.

I know Sorghum makes a great base for GF beer, but is there another grain we can use instead? What about using a different type of corn that can convert on its own? Also, what about using some sort of rice instead to help the conversion?

Just some ideas I thought I would throw out there...

Sorry to sour the mood but I thought I'd put it out there in case you didn't know!

I think you just need to make sure that the rootlets and sprouts are completely removed- I mean, the big guys are doing this aren't they? There's GOT to be a way to do this yourself!

I'll look into this more tonight and post if I find anything, but hey, you've found the grain and that seems like a step in the right direction. :rockin:

Also, one more thing I thought I would add for the Oregon guys in the thread, Deschutes is now making their own Sorghum-based gluten free ESB, and they have to be getting it from somewhere.

I could hit up the brewery and ask em while I am on one of the touristy tours.

dkershner said:

Subscribed. I have brewed a couple brews with the Syrup for my GF GF, and the second one seems like it will be good (a Belgian Tripel), but I would like to do something a little more complex.

I went on the same search as you about a month or two ago and ended up giving up for the time being and using the syrup and experimenting with Beers that already had GF adjuncts in it.

I know Sorghum makes a great base for GF beer, but is there another grain we can use instead? What about using a different type of corn that can convert on its own? Also, what about using some sort of rice instead to help the conversion?

Just some ideas I thought I would throw out there...

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Hit the Sproutable Buckwheat link in my signature. There is a base GF grain that can be malted.

lcasanova said:

Sorry to sour the mood but I thought I'd put it out there in case you didn't know!

I think you just need to make sure that the rootlets and sprouts are completely removed- I mean, the big guys are doing this aren't they? There's GOT to be a way to do this yourself!

I'll look into this more tonight and post if I find anything, but hey, you've found the grain and that seems like a step in the right direction. :rockin:

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I'm starting to think that Anheiser and Grist Mill are from the Sorghum syrup removed from the stalks of that one type of Sorghum. The only Grist Mill I've tried (or care to) had a notable sorghum molasses taste. That is after I got past the first swallow. That first swallow of Grist Mill was unrecognizable as any beverage I've encountered and extremely unpleasant. So much so that GF GF wouldn't drink it. So I took one for the team and drank the 6 pack over time but every bottle had that same horrid taste on the first swallow followed by heavy sorghum molasses flavor. I think Anheiser is just useing less Sorghum per batch in their Redbridge.

lcasanova said:

Sorry to sour the mood but I thought I'd put it out there in case you didn't know!

I think you just need to make sure that the rootlets and sprouts are completely removed- I mean, the big guys are doing this aren't they? There's GOT to be a way to do this yourself!

I'll look into this more tonight and post if I find anything, but hey, you've found the grain and that seems like a step in the right direction. :rockin:

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Would you agree, based on this quote from the article that using sprouted sorghum as a base for a mash is acceptable? The grain will only be used as a source of enzymes for converting starches to sugars and hopefully be able to carry the corn and rice conversions with it, similar to though not as effectively as barley malt. We do not consume the sprout itself.

"The fresh shoots and rootless of germinated sorghum and their extracts must therefore never be consumed, either by people or by animals, except in very small quantities (e.g. when the germinated grain is used just as a source of enzymes). "

Alright, enough reading already, I'm tired of it. Here's what I've found and compiled from various Journals, Case Studies and Publications:

From Pseudocereals and less common cereals: grain properties and utilization…

A potential nutritional danger with germinating sorghum is that it results in the formation of high amounts of dhurrin in the roots and shoots. Dhurrin is a cyanogenic glycoside, which on hydrolysis yields hydrogen cyanide. However, there is clear evidence that drying at temperatures of 30 degrees C and above, removal of the roots and shoots, or traditional fermentation processing reduce the cyanide content to completely safe levels.

Here’s the process from a paper titled Malting Characteristics of Sorghum Cultivars:

Clean grains (100 g, triplicate samples) were placed in perforated nylon bags and steeped for 20 hr in aerated, running tap water at 28-30°C inside a container (Morall et al 1986, Taylor and Dewar 1992). After steeping, the grains were immersed in 2% sodium hypochlorite solution for 10 min and then rinsed five times with excess water. The grains were germinated at 28°C, 95% rh, for five days in a germinator equipped with a humidifier. The germinated grains were dried in a forced-air oven at 50°C for 24 hr. The dried malt was cleaned and the roots and shoots were removed by hand using a corrugated, rubber surface.

From my readings it seems that soaking the grains in an alkaline solution for a few hours, then moving to fresh water, improves the quality of the malted grain and inhibits microbial growth. Good to know!

Also, degerming the malted grain reduces the cyanide levels present to acceptable levels for human consumption. And, according to the WHO (not the band :cross: ) fermentation reduces the cyanide and alfatoxin levels from the malted sorghum.


So there you have it! After all this reading, it seems that malting the sorghum and removing the sprouts and rootlets would make the malted grain safe to use.

Hope that helps, let me know what you think and what your results are if you give this a shot. BTW- I emailed a supplier in South Africa to see what quantities they sold their malted sorghum in and if they could ship to the U.S. so, we shall see. :fro:

I have to admit I've heard about cyanide formation in the rootlet during malting and I haven't yet read some of the great links you guys have provided (I will as long as the baby keeps sleeping), but I just assumed that it can't be too involved, as malting sorghum and making sorghum beer (a thick cloudy version drunk young) has been undertaken in South African village households for years. This is actually something I want to try. Here's a link to a website detailing a recipe, although they call for malted sorghum and don't describe how they do it.
Sorghum Beer

There are a lot of exerpts from brewing texts available on google books, if you just type in 'malting sorghum' and hit search books. The book 'Malts and Malting' on the second page of results has a very detailed description of both village and industrial malting techniques.

In response to concern expressed in a couple posts about toxins released during malting, the following was kind of interesting, if true:
"In Bantu beer brewing, the roots and shoots are generally 'milled in' with the 'berry'."
Malts and Malting by Dennis Edward Briggs

There are some great books listed; too bad they all seem to cost a couple hundred dollars...

ElDuderino said:

There are a lot of exerpts from brewing texts available on google books, if you just type in 'malting sorghum' and hit search books. The book 'Malts and Malting' on the second page of results has a very detailed description of both village and industrial malting techniques.

In response to concern expressed in a couple posts about toxins released during malting, the following was kind of interesting, if true:
"In Bantu beer brewing, the roots and shoots are generally 'milled in' with the 'berry'."
Malts and Malting by Dennis Edward Briggs

There are some great books listed; too bad they all seem to cost a couple hundred dollars...

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I still refer to the following quote and ask opinions. In my opinion we aren't eating it, we are using it for the enzyme. What do you think?

"The fresh shoots and rootless of germinated sorghum and their extracts must therefore never be consumed, either by people or by animals, except in very small quantities (e.g. when the germinated grain is used just as a source of enzymes). "

Sorghum isn't hard to get, but like someone previously pointed out, that's if you are buying it by the ton.

There's some places on the internet that you can order from. However, if you're not on the west coast, it isn't worth it. I've found some places with really cheap grain, but once shipping is factored in, it isn't worth it.

Grains, Groats, Berries and Seeds


As for the cyanide problem, it is there, but it's in the roots. Remove them and you'll be fine.

BBBF said:

Sorghum isn't hard to get, but like someone previously pointed out, that's if you are buying it by the ton.

There's some places on the internet that you can order from. However, if you're not on the west coast, it isn't worth it. I've found some places with really cheap grain, but once shipping is factored in, it isn't worth it.

Grains, Groats, Berries and Seeds

As for the cyanide problem, it is there, but it's in the roots. Remove them and you'll be fine.

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Thankx for the link, be sure to hit those two links in my signature and check those out as well. Those prices are no worse than other place I order and have shipped. Shipping does increase the costs dramatically. Clearly I need to start farming.

kontreren said:

I still refer to the following quote and ask opinions. In my opinion we aren't eating it, we are using it for the enzyme. What do you think?

"The fresh shoots and rootless of germinated sorghum and their extracts must therefore never be consumed, either by people or by animals, except in very small quantities (e.g. when the germinated grain is used just as a source of enzymes). "

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I will totally agree with this and based on all the stuff I read last night, the removal of the shoots and rootlets seem to solve the problem. FYI- apparently this cyanide problem is prevalent in a lot of other fruit and vegetables, but it is in such a miniscule amount and we are so used to it that it does not matter.

I feel much better about trying my hand at this and not worrying about producing something poisonous. Seems like BBBF is pretty confident in this and I'll listen to him as I've seen some good advice from him in the past.