Looking for a good gluten free recipe.

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Monstar

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Hey dudes! I have a friend that gluten intolerant. I was wondering if any of you guys have a tried and true gluten free beer recipe that actually tastes like GOOD BEER. I have tried commercial brews before and most just taste more cider/wine like. Thanks for any help, you guys RULE.
 
I figure this will be an appropriate place to chime in for the first time.

Hi, I'm Adam.
I am in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in England, and currently deployed to an "undisclosed location in the Middle East" for the 4th time.

On a whim, about a month ago, I decided I would look into homebrewing.
I figure I will research it until I can be stationed back in the states (I'll FINALLY be back april/may 2012), and then with a head full of knowledge, I would give it a go.

So, after a quick google search, I found this website and naturally have been visiting for a few hours a day.

One of the many amazing things about this website is an entire section dedicated to Gluten-Free Brewing, which is a Godsend since my SWMBO has Celiacs.

Anyways, long story short, I have a million questions about brewing.
However, even after several hundred hours of lurking on this message board over the last month, I have had no reason to post my own question/topic because LITERALLY EVERY QUESTION HAS BEEN ASKED/ADDRESSED and can be easily accessed with a quick search.

I'm clearly coming off aggressively, and I honestly only half apologize for it.
Some of it is relieving some unrelated pent-up stress, but a lot of it is coming from the frustration of realizing how lazy some people seem.

Do a quick search for Gluten Free recipes and you'll come up with a MILLION of them with different techniques, brew times, grains, blah blah blah. All with various reviews from people who are clearly subject matter experts.
Just flip through the pages of this gluten-free section, and you'll see people discussing different specialty grains, roasting times/temps for them, yeast strains, etc. as well as the affects these will have on the flavor/aroma for the brew.

Long story short, do your own damn work.
And not only that, isn't "GOOD BEER" pretty relative anyways?

/rant
 
Great to have more people, If I had to say, I'd say take a look at Lcasanova's recipe list or DKeshner's website which he has in his sig for most of the recipes. For some reason I can't remember the alternate locations of some of the other people's. Good Beer is unfortunately relative. I've made about 8 gallon sized batches which to others have tasted pretty good, like a real beer, but isn't to me, but only because I don't like light lagers, Helles, or IPAs. I've been wanting a stout for the past few years so I'm messing about with Lcasanova's stout recipe to find which tastes I like from it.

It's true that tons of questions have been asked, but we do come up with more. Mashing sweet potatoes for one and its results. There's a lot of information out here, I've dug through the forums myself though I can never seem to retain the information.

As for the beer, you would want to try to specify what you're looking for in a beer if you've not found something similar in the recipe lists. Most of the others here will chime in about what ingredients they would use in what quantities, even if they haven't tried it out yet.
 
Lol, Adam, chill out, we get these questions a lot. I know that you don't have any homebrew where you are, but perhaps relax and have a Afghani or Iraqi brew. :mug: Also, we'd be happy to answer any of your questions as well, so let us know.

Monstar, that flavor you taste that you are describing as cider or wine is really Sorghum. Most of us have created beer that we like and is gluten free, but it really is about hiding the sorghum flavor. We have effectively done this with hops, semi effectively with other flavorings, and less successfully so far with avoiding the ingredient entirely.

Please tell us what kind of beer you are looking for and we will help you get something you like.
 
Haha.

And of course, after the stresses of the day have wound down, I regret even posting.

Anyways, on the topic of Gluten, I explained to my SWMBO the justifications of starting up homebrewing, which is I'll be able to craft GF beers that don't suck.
Well she took the bait, which is a good thing.
However, after asking her which beer she used to like the best so I can see if I can duplicate it, she responds with, "That German one with the monk on it."
Referring to Franziskaner Hefeweizen.
Which cracked me up, since naturally she has to pick the beer with "wheat" right in the name.
Good taste, though.
 
Haha.

And of course, after the stresses of the day have wound down, I regret even posting.

Anyways, on the topic of Gluten, I explained to my SWMBO the justifications of starting up homebrewing, which is I'll be able to craft GF beers that don't suck.
Well she took the bait, which is a good thing.
However, after asking her which beer she used to like the best so I can see if I can duplicate it, she responds with, "That German one with the monk on it."
Referring to Franziskaner Hefeweizen.
Which cracked me up, since naturally she has to pick the beer with "wheat" right in the name.
Good taste, though.

Luckily the taste of FK is matched equally with grain and yeast.

Not an easy task, but at least you can have the yeast on your side. I was thinking about trying to duplicate a hefeweizen again anyway, so I would be down to help with this challenge.
 
@DKershner: I know you would be down to help, and that's why this board is so inspiring

@Lcasanova: I saved those recipes to my computer, and the blood orange hefe will probably be my first GF brew attempt.

Like I said, this is a long term goal right now as I just don't have the room in England to take this as seriously as I intend to.
Plus, it will be nice to get back to the states with a fat reenlistment bonus to help kick this off right.
 
Dear Adam: I am an all grain brewer. My first brew and the some 20 following batches have all been all grain. Every recipe except the first brew I ever made was a recipe that I created myself using only knowledge found in books, on the web, in Beersmith, and here on HBT.com. I have done "my own damn work" many times over, so please, save your rants for someone else. If you hate posts like these so much, don't read them.

L
Monstar, that flavor you taste that you are describing as cider or wine is really Sorghum. Most of us have created beer that we like and is gluten free, but it really is about hiding the sorghum flavor. We have effectively done this with hops, semi effectively with other flavorings, and less successfully so far with avoiding the ingredient entirely..
Ah! I never knew that. Maybe that explains why most of the posts in this section seem to come off as so experimental! I have lots of respect for dudes like you that are trying to sort of pave the way for people like my friend who can't consume gluten and want... dare I say... GOOD BEER.

I guess as far as a particular style goes, I would go with either a straight Hef or an American style wheat ale. Do GF brewers have an ingredient available that can give the haze of wheat? I found a good list of GF yeast, so thats not so much needed. Anyways, is that specific enough for ya?

And just to explain my original post, I was seeing if any of you guys have a particular recipe you always keep on tap. I love all kinds of beer, and was only seeing if there was something that really blew you guys away.
 
I guess as far as a particular style goes, I would go with either a straight Hef or an American style wheat ale. Do GF brewers have an ingredient available that can give the haze of wheat? I found a good list of GF yeast, so thats not so much needed. Anyways, is that specific enough for ya?

And just to explain my original post, I was seeing if any of you guys have a particular recipe you always keep on tap. I love all kinds of beer, and was only seeing if there was something that really blew you guys away.

No, I dont keep a GF beer on tap at all times. Of course, I don't do that with normal beer either. Variety is the spice of beer. Some recipes have been better than others, but all of them are quite drinkable that I have created so far. My favorite so far has probably been the "no pils pils". Lagering really helps.

Anyway, haze is easy stuff, although it is also what I would worry about the least. For your first GF brew, stick to just normal ingredients before you worry about things like appearance.

It sounds like you and Adam have a common goal, even if you haven't started off as the best of friends. I will post my theory for a hefeweizen recipe in a bit when I get a second. I call my tries "Keineweizen" (No Wheat).
 
Based LOOSELY on this recipe. Mostly the results of the recipe.

It was easier for me just to post it, since I will be brewing this too.
Keineweizen #2

The idea here is to get the sweet wheat flavor from the amber candi syrup, to get the starchy wheat flavor from unmalted, uncrushed buckwheat, and to complement it with a light backbone of rice syrup and a strong bavarian weizen yeast. Also, I am offsetting the added starch, which should cause some haze, with the very dry corn sugar addition to maintain a reasonable FG.

No idea if it will work, but it's the best I got.
 
Love it. Im going to make it this weekend and let you know how it turns out. Gracias for the help!
 
So I just made 2 pounds of candi sugar the other day, would that work instead of the syrup?
 
@Monstar- my SWMBO is a fellow celiac sufferer. She loves Oatmeal Stout and she hasn't had any reactions so far. I don't know if this helps with your lady's palate, all celiacs have diffferent tolerences.

@ Air Force guy (sorry forgot your name) just wanted to let you know I'm a fellow soldier and my SWMBO's celiac triggered on my first trip to the sand box so you are not alone.

@ all other posters- Love where your heads at. The best way to find great beer for our celiac afflicted loved ones is to combine our efforts. Great threads.
 
Hey dudes! I have a friend that gluten intolerant. I was wondering if any of you guys have a tried and true gluten free beer recipe that actually tastes like GOOD BEER. I have tried commercial brews before and most just taste more cider/wine like. Thanks for any help, you guys RULE.

I've had good success with (HULLED!) red millet, which is also very inexpensive. It is modeled after a Kenyan Beer, so I call it Obama Beer. It's pretty dark and as long as you use a lot of hops, has a pretty good smack. I also add ginger, osha, some lemon peel and juniper berry for my arthritis.
When you drink this beer in the evening, your joints will feel good and warm.
The trick is in getting about 7 cups or so of millet in a bucket, soak overnight, then twice daily soak and rinse until they start to sprout. I'm experimenting with letting them sprout quite long. Then, lay down aluminum foil over your oven inserts, enough so that you can break up the sprouted clump into small even pieces. Roast as you will from 100 deegrees to 350, until all has turned dark brown. I like quite a bit of this in a large pan, and boil for at least an hour, each batch, until you get 5 gal. worth. Add your hops and other things appropriately. 5 cups of sugar is good enough for a 5% alcohol expectation, and you can adjust flavoring as you go.
The rest is the old fermentation, bottling thing.
 
Trying with 1/2 oz at first boil, another 1/2 later, and a final oz at the end... Still not getting it right. I want HOP FLAVOR!
Using Warrior hops, should be bitter.
Read on internet how hops turn out to combat diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and helps the eyes, and to sleep better too.
No wonder I've always loved beer...
 
Hey Rick, mind sticking that into the malting gluten free grains thread? Can you also give more details about conversion, gravity, etc? How easy were they to sprout, perhaps in comparison to sorghum, buckwheat etc. I'd love to know, but I'm still working on extracts. I think the thread is where some people were wondering about millet too.
 
There's also a newish protein coagulant (used to help clarify the beer) that also works on gluten proteins. So you can brew regular beer with grain that contains gluten and it has been shown to reduce these gluten proteins to about 5 ppm which is less than the recommended amount per item (10 ppm) for those with Celiac's. I am trying it out for the first time in a batch soon for two friends with Celiac's. They will test it out and I will let everyone know how it goes. BTW, the product is White Labs Clarity Ferm.
 
There's also a newish protein coagulant (used to help clarify the beer) that also works on gluten proteins. So you can brew regular beer with grain that contains gluten and it has been shown to reduce these gluten proteins to about 5 ppm which is less than the recommended amount per item (10 ppm) for those with Celiac's. I am trying it out for the first time in a batch soon for two friends with Celiac's. They will test it out and I will let everyone know how it goes. BTW, the product is White Labs Clarity Ferm.

Please don't do this. Or if you choose to, make sure that they read this full thread:
Lazy Man's Gluten-Free Beer

Despite initial hopes my conclusion was Risk>Reward.

tl;dr: Celiacs react to small pieces (gliadins) on the gluten protein. Breaking the protein apart still leaves the pieces. Tests only look for the whole protein. So while you might have 'gluten-free' beer according to a test, it might well be loaded with the reactive pieces (gliadins).
 
Please don't do this. Or if you choose to, make sure that they read this full thread:
Lazy Man's Gluten-Free Beer

Despite initial hopes my conclusion was Risk>Reward.

tl;dr: Celiacs react to small pieces (gliadins) on the gluten protein. Breaking the protein apart still leaves the pieces. Tests only look for the whole protein. So while you might have 'gluten-free' beer according to a test, it might well be loaded with the reactive pieces (gliadins).

+1 to this. Maybe we should start a new thread or re-title the lazy man thread and make it a sticky. We are going to continue to have people bring us this "new" news and try it out.
 
+1 to this. Maybe we should start a new thread or re-title the lazy man thread and make it a sticky. We are going to continue to have people bring us this "new" news and try it out.

I'm all for that idea, but I'd like to maybe have a good long post with full links about gliadins and hordeins and how they may not be affected by this. I nominate peterbronski as he seems to be the most knowledgeable of us when it comes to the science behind celiac.

Here's my contribution links:
Researchers Pinpoint Cause of Gluten Allergies
Comprehensive, Quantitative Mapping of T Cell Epitopes in Gluten in Celiac Disease
 
Please don't do this. Or if you choose to, make sure that they read this full thread:
Lazy Man's Gluten-Free Beer

Despite initial hopes my conclusion was Risk>Reward.

tl;dr: Celiacs react to small pieces (gliadins) on the gluten protein. Breaking the protein apart still leaves the pieces. Tests only look for the whole protein. So while you might have 'gluten-free' beer according to a test, it might well be loaded with the reactive pieces (gliadins).

My friends fully understand that it's not gluten "free" but gluten reduced. It's strictly a test among the two of them and they are willing to try. Well with me as well but primarily for flavor since I am not allergic to gluten.
 

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