Anyone ever made Quinoa beer?

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RedIrocZ-28

RedIrocZ-28

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I have read about this grain that comes from South America (The Andes region I believe) thats a lesser known grain. It looks like little flat beads maybe 1/8" across. There was a recipe that I came across once for a beer made with them but they used an awfully small amount, like 2-3lbs if I remember correctly. I also seem to remember that the OG was about 1.030 or so. There was never a reference to the finished product though.

Anyone? Should I be the guinea pig? I found this stuff at a local supermarket by accident. And by accident I mean, as I was walking down the aisle looking at everything trying to figure out what I could use in my brewing.

It was $8/lb by the way.
 
I can believe it would be used as a specialty grain, but have no idea what kind of flavors it will bring. I wouldn't think it will add much to SG, so it will mostly be a flavoring thing.

It has a fairly thick coating of an alkali on the outside that will likely do unpleasant things to your beer. Most cook books recommend pulsing it in a blender a few times with water to remove this. Doing so with a couple of pounds could be entertaining.
 
Quinoa are pretty yummy, but shouldn't cost you $8/lb. I think I pay $1-2 at the local grocery store in the bulk section. A couple nights ago I made the mushroom recipe from Hungry Cravings blog it was great!

Not sure about how they would do in beer, but it is worth a shot.
 
Would it even be worth making beer from if it had not been malted? I wouldn't think you would really get much sugar at all.
 
Ive tried malting it without much success, its sprouts but doesn't contain enough enzymes to convert. Its very small compared to barley so its almost impossible to mill, you basically have to turn it into flour. I would try toasting it to various degrees and using it in small amounts as an adjunct. Some of the stuff comes prewashed but just to be safe its best to wash it anyway, the stuff that you need to wash off has a bitter soapy taste that you dont want in beer.
 
Quiona is really high in protein. I wonder if it would come through enough to affect the head and body.
 
Quinoa is quite possibly the food that could save billions from starvation being very protein rich and vitamin rich, but I am not sure it'd add much to beer. Maybe a bit of nutty flavor? I love quinoa.
 
I've only made it once and I wasn't sure how much. I overestimated. I was eating quinoa three meals a day for a week. I might almost be ready to make it again. It was really good... but too much is too much. :D
 
Funny, I am sipping on a Belgian with quinoa in it as I type this. The recipe is in the Belgian/French ale section on here (Blondenbot). Although it has some spice, it is a pretty grain oriented beer. The quinoa comes through, but is a pretty mild grain. Chill haze is unavoidable. There is also a quinoa bitter recipe in "the homebrewers garden" that looks pretty promising. I think that there is a recipe in there for almost every grain that you can think of (although no mention of Teff or Kamut?).

-Ander
 
In my reading so far it looks like it "can" be malted, although there is no specifics as to how much sugar it would yield in a mash. Maybe I'll do a little experiment with it on Friday since I have 2 - 3gal carboys. I guess I could make a 2 gallon batch to try it out. I am also going to have a look at those recipes posted here earlier.
 
if you look at the nutritional information and divide the number of sugars by the number of carbohydrates you should be able to find out what percentage of it is fermentable. and if you use a little of the enzyme used for low carb beers it will convert some of the unfermetable starches.

another grain that is getting used more and more is millet.
 
I have brewed up a beer using toasted hemp seeds, and I would imagine that quinoa would impart a similar flavor; kind of nutty, toasty flavor, maybe good in a brown ale?
 
I have a quinoa/amaranth beer that is 2 weeks in the primary right now. I malted my own grains. My first attempt, I got a full conversion, but I ruined the batch by burning some of the grains. On this attempt, the grains were a little under modified and I didn't get a full conversion, so I added a little alpha amylase to get the job done.
 
from what I've been reading its pretty much a standard practice to use some alpha amylase and do a decoction mash on GF grains. aussiehomebrewer.com has a ton of info and lots of posts by a comercial GF brewer.
 
I had this idea a while back to make Quinoa beer.I have been reading about it and it in the seed family not the grain family.would be interesting though on how the fermentation process would work
 
I bottled my quinoa/amarath beer last Monday. The fermentation process is the same. The brewing process is completely different if you aren't using barley.
 
So I don't see anyone saying how their beers were? Are they good? Nutty? Does it make a good frothy head from all the proteins? I just ate a bowl of this stuff and LOVE it! It seems as though it would make a great beer if used as an adjunct...if it's possible to convert it might make great fermentation. Anyone got a good process nailed down? I'd love to try it. How about a commercial extract?
 
I made it with around 3lbs IIRC, it had a horrid taste but after 6 months in the bottle it was actually drinkable but still had a hint of that horrid taste in the background.

I hated eating quinoa so I though brewing would be a good way to use it up. Bad idea.

To get an idea of what the horrid taste I'm talking about is, take a handful of raw quinoa and chew it up in your mouth, rinse with beer. That's what the beer tastes like.
 
RedIrocZ-28 said:
I have read about this grain that comes from South America (The Andes region I believe) thats a lesser known grain. It looks like little flat beads maybe 1/8" across. There was a recipe that I came across once for a beer made with them but they used an awfully small amount, like 2-3lbs if I remember correctly. I also seem to remember that the OG was about 1.030 or so. There was never a reference to the finished product though.

Anyone? Should I be the guinea pig? I found this stuff at a local supermarket by accident. And by accident I mean, as I was walking down the aisle looking at everything trying to figure out what I could use in my brewing.

It was $8/lb by the way.
Click to expand...


I have, and it was horrible.

It kind of reinforced my opinion that attempting to clone the thing you're avoiding is a bad idea.

There's a ton of great vegan food, but tofurkey and tofu burgers aren't it--don't make faux meat.

There's a ton of great low-fat desserts, but frogurt isn't it--don't make faux ice cream.

There are plenty of great wines, ciders, and other non-barley alcoholic beverages, but quinoa beer isn't it--don't make faux beer.
 
I think I must disagree with SumnerH, while I have not brewed with quinoa I am currently drinking a tasty beverage done with a partial mash of roasted millet, buckwheat and rice and after only 1 week in the bottle its not bad at all.

Definitely planning on making a quinoa beer in the future, we will just have to see how it goes.
 
I brew gluten-free beer. I used a combo of quinoa and oats in my very first brew, along with rice syrup, candi sugar, and honey. I toasted the quinoa first, and the resulting brew came out very tasty. Something like a dark belgian, not at all what I was shooting for, but I'm confident that a tasty quinoa beer is entirely possible. Just toast it first so it's a nice brown color and smells toasty and not sour/bitter like raw quinoa smells. It's certainly not any worse than sorghum, anyway.
 
You'll have to wait until next year but DFH does a Quinoa beer called Pangea. I think its fantastic but they only release it in October. You could probably find one still if you look around. They use an ingredient from every continent.

I think there is a quinoa recipe in the gluten free section here...good luck

EDIT-- Its a gingered ale...but I didn't taste any ginger in it. spicy...somewhat hot but a nice break from the hoppy side of ales.
 
SumnerH said:
I have, and it was horrible.

It kind of reinforced my opinion that attempting to clone the thing you're avoiding is a bad idea.

There's a ton of great vegan food, but tofurkey and tofu burgers aren't it--don't make faux meat.

There's a ton of great low-fat desserts, but frogurt isn't it--don't make faux ice cream.

There are plenty of great wines, ciders, and other non-barley alcoholic beverages, but quinoa beer isn't it--don't make faux beer.
Click to expand...

May you be blessed with gluten intolerance!
 
tekhna said:
Quinoa is quite possibly the food that could save billions from starvation being very protein rich and vitamin rich, but I am not sure it'd add much to beer. Maybe a bit of nutty flavor? I love quinoa.
Click to expand...
Quinoa soup is fantastic, but unfortunately, the growing popularity of quinoa has increased its price in Bolivia to the point where the locals can no longer afford it. Quinoa was a staple of their diets, so it's sad to see it all go to the export market.
 
When I went to this year's Southern California Homebrew Festival, I tried a Spelt Quinoa Saison at one of the booths. It was pretty darn tasty!

Wish I could help on the recipe, but it wasn't mine (nor from my club). But making a good beer with it is definitely doable.
 
"What the hell is quee-no?"

"Is that a loofah?!"

That's probably one of the funniest Bud Light commercials on this football season. If anyone makes a quinoa beer, we could do an HBT-version spoof commercial: "What the hell is he brewing?!" "I don't know, but it tastes like a dirty tree branch."

Homebrew recipe creation: it's only weird if it doesn't work.
 

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