Help converting an American IPA Recipe to Gfree

Hi all, been lurking and learning for a few weeks. First of all thanks for all the information and effort made to help.

I am new to homebrewing and have come here to learn to make myself(the Celiac) some decent beer. So far I have brewed a mead with a coworker from a kit...it tastes so,so. I have also made 2 batches of the ESB referenced here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/extract-gluten-free-sorghum-ale-116999/. This recipe included toasting and steeping some Gluten Free grains.

These two batches were my first attempts at hombrewing with my own equipment. The first batch is in bottles and is pretty good, and the second batch is fermenting as we speak. Now it is time to make something else.

I have a recipe my friend made and I drank prior to going Gluten free, and I would like to convert the recipe to Gluten free. I feel a little overwhelmed by the process converting, I don't understand what effects everything....just following recipes, and trying to interpret things in Palmer's "How to Brew" to my Gluten free world.

Here is the recipe I have (5gallon) batch:
OG: 1.065 72 IBU's
8lbs Canadian malt Syrup
1lbs 60L crystal Malt
1.5 oz Nugget Hops (bittering) 60 min
1 oz cascade Hops (flavor) 30 min
1oz Cascade Hops (aroma) flame out
1 Packet Safale US05
0.5 oz Cascade Hops (dry up to 3 weeks)
Prime 3/4 cup priming sugar

I think I have a handle on the process, as the first batch I made from a recipe was drinkable, but need help here.
Can I just replace Canadian Malt Syrup with Sorghum Syrup, Then what should I replace the crystal Malt with.

Thanks for your input, Stefan The Celiac

I don't hink there is anything to really replace barley malt with in GF brewing, unless you are going to malt your own grains. This is not as difficult as it sounds and can add a whole new dimension to your beer.

I'm sure other more experienced brewers will be able to help you more with this.

I would recommend you weigh your priming sugar rather than measuring by cups, it is a lot more accurate, and you have better control over your carbonation levels. There are heaps of priming sugar calculators on the web.

I just made my first gluten free beer (for my Boss not me), you need to add some flavoring agents, I used Buckwheat and molasses. I have not tried the brew, but hope to have it done by thanksgiving. You could go with straight sorghum it would work, might not taste very complex though.

if dont have the capabilities to malt your own (yet cuz im sure you will eventually) check out one of lcasanova's recipes in his pull down. he has a few nice brews using sorghum. personally i cant stand its taste, but i keep trying with it and eventually ill find something i like. i really dont like the citrusly sour flavors. if you really want to explore the world of GF brewing try and avoid sorghum. i have a tapioca millet straw berry blonde recipe floating around too. there is a load of information here in the forums too about it. and if you have any questions feel free to ask around. the gf world of brewing is pretty well unexplored so feel free to shake things up.

I have a recipe very similar to this that is supposed to be a clone of Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale (I just made it gluten free), the main differences are the hops you have used and the OG's. So, I'll give you the fermentables and we will go from there. Also, is this a full or partial boil?

6 lbs Sorghum Syrup
3 lbs Brown Rice Syrup
2 lbs GF Grain of your choice roasted medium/dark (for color)
4 oz Candi sugar, clear

That will get you to 1.062 by my calculation for a 5 gallon batch. Now, some on here may not agree with using that much sorghum- but it is a personal preference. Also, you could get rid of the steeping grains and some of the sorghum and replace it with Amber Candi sugar for color and fermentables. Either way, we can update the recipe to make it work for you. And I would use about 4 oz to prime this batch (probably a little less depending on your loss from fermentation- trub, dry hopping, etc.)

Anyways, take a look and let us know what you think and let's go from there. Welcome to the forum!

cincypilot said:

I have a recipe my friend made and I drank prior to going Gluten free, and I would like to convert the recipe to Gluten free. I feel a little overwhelmed by the process converting, I don't understand what effects everything....just following recipes, and trying to interpret things in Palmer's "How to Brew" to my Gluten free world.

Click to expand...

This is the most difficult part of gluten free brewing, since most things don't have equivalents. Palmer's book mostly talks about process, so just about everything should convert over pretty well except for the all grain chapters.

Here is the recipe I have (5gallon) batch:
OG: 1.065 72 IBU's
8lbs Canadian malt Syrup
1lbs 60L crystal Malt
1.5 oz Nugget Hops (bittering) 60 min
1 oz cascade Hops (flavor) 30 min
1oz Cascade Hops (aroma) flame out
1 Packet Safale US05
0.5 oz Cascade Hops (dry up to 3 weeks)
Prime 3/4 cup priming sugar

I think I have a handle on the process, as the first batch I made from a recipe was drinkable, but need help here.
Can I just replace Canadian Malt Syrup with Sorghum Syrup, Then what should I replace the crystal Malt with.

Thanks for your input, Stefan The Celiac

Click to expand...

To answer your question, yes, you can just replace the malt extract with Sorghum Syrup. It obviously won't taste exactly the same, but hey, nothing we have found will. If you want to replace some with Brown Rice Syrup, I would encourage that, takes the edge off the citrus flavor.

As for the crystal malt, I would recommend Amber Candi Syrup. You could also toast some grains, but the amber syrup is easier and would impart more flavor. I use darkcandi.com's stuff. Works well. Gluten free.

Then, just follow your hop schedule while boiling, cool it off, and pitch the S-05. You know the rest. Your recipe sounds a lot like mine and other people's pale ales around here, and they all came out pretty well. I love me some cascade.