Need feedback on stout recipe

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mrdail87

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So I'm a pretty experIenced brewer, but this is my first attempt at gluten free brewing.

I'm thinking of doing an extended boil to caramelize some of the sugars. Will this work with Sorghum? Or is this a mistake?

Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks.


Glutenfree Stout

Recipe specifics:

Style: American Stout
Batch size: 5.0 gal
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.016
Bitterness (IBU): 52.0
Color (SRM): 22.3
ABV: 6.4%

Grain/Sugars:

6.00 lb Sorghum Extract, 68.6%
1.00 lb Dememera Sugar, 11.4%
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Dark (Belgian), 11.4%, boil for 5 min
0.50 lb Molasses, 5.7%, boil for 5 min
0.25 lb Maltodextrin, 2.9%

Hops:

1.00 oz Chinook (AA 11.5%, Pellet) 60 min, 38.1 IBU
1.00 oz Chinook (AA 11.5%, Pellet) 10 min, 13.8 IBU

Yeast/Misc:

Cocoa Nibs, 2.5 unit(s), Other
Coffee, 2.5 unit(s), Other
Safale S-04 Ale, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast

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Howzabout a decoction.
Put some of the sorghum in a small pot and reduce to a third.
Remember to continuously stir.
 
I find dark GF beers much more challenging to make well, than pale beers...but I will offer this.

Sorghum syrup has a wierd off flavor (metalic/apple).
The best sorghum beers taste only slightly off, most are preaty bad.
The off flavors do improve with extended aging, 3 months of bottle conditioning helps a bit.

At a minimum, I would replace all of the sorghum syrup with rice syrup; and increase the maltodextrine to 0.5 or 0.75 lbs (or even 1 lb if you like a somewhat thick stout).

If you can source some Dark Rice malt (Eckert), and use it as a steaping grain; this will dramatically improve your flavor profile over using just candi syrup and molassis for color and flavor. Steeping 2 lb of dark rice malt would be a great replacement for that molassis.

I can not speak to the extended boil...I have no experience there. But without steaping some grain, its going to be hard to make somthing truly beer like.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Although, I think I'm stuck with Sorghum base for the moment. Can't afford the rice syrup solids right now.

I heard that steeping rice can take the metallic edge off a little. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but gonna give it a go.

I can't get my hands on the dark rice malt, but I might be able to get some millet to steep. I had been considering it anyways.

Also thinking about upping the cocoa nibs and coffee for the roast flavors. Got the idea from a an article I read that featured a "pale stout". The recipe featured no roasted barley, and got all the roasted flavors from sitting on nibs and coffee beans. I'll follow up and let you guys know how it works out.
 
Has anyone tried roasting some millet or rice or such to achieve some roastiness? I've been thinking about a GF stout but I'm reluctant. edit. I just saw a post asking the same thing. Good luck be sure to post your results.
 
Has anyone tried roasting some millet or rice or such to achieve some roastiness? I've been thinking about a GF stout but I'm reluctant. edit. I just saw a post asking the same thing. Good luck be sure to post your results.

I've heard of this, it seems to be a pretty popular cheap way to do it. I actually lightly roasted some steel cut oats for this one, and used some roasted buckwheat too. I'll post the revised recipe later, but it smelled great in the kettle, and the gravity sample are making me pretty optimistic.

When roasting at home keep the temp at or below 350° F to avoid burning them. You can chew the grain to get an idea of the flavor contribution. From my non-GF brewin experience, if it doesn't taste right befor it goes into the beer, it probably won't taste better in the beer.
 
Okay here's the recipe that actually got brewed. Went with the long boil to try to bring out caramel flavors, and had to make some pretty big changes based on available ingredients.

In the kettle it smelled pretty much like a real homebrew. Tasted a sample before pitching yeast, also pretty similar to the real thing, but a little less grainy and a little light. We'll see if it holds up after it's done fermenting, but I think it's gonna pretty good. Thanks for the input on adding the grains, I think it made a big difference.

It's bubbling away still at about . I might add some honey after it's done with primary fermentation depending on how the samples taste. Also debating stepping up the coffee addition, might stick with 6 oz at first, and adding extra if necessary.

Glutenfree Stout

Recipe specifics:

Style: American Stout
Batch size: 5.0 gal
Boil volume: 4.0 gal
OG: 1.066
FG: 1.016
Bitterness (IBU): 53.6
Color (SRM): 19.3
ABV: 6.5%

Grain/Sugars:

6.00 lb Sorghum Extract, 57.1% (boiled 70 minutes prior to any other additions)
1.00 lb Dememera Sugar, 9.5% (boiled 70 minutes prior to any other additions)
1.00 lb Roasted Steel Cut Oats, 9.5%
1.00 lb Roasted Buckwheat, 9.5%
0.50 lb Maltodextrin, 4.8%
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Dark (Belgian), 9.5%, boil for 0 min


Hops:

1.00 oz Columbus (AA 15.6%, Pellet) 60 min, 44.7 IBU
1.00 oz Columbus (AA 15.6%, Pellet) 5 min, 8.9 IBU

Yeast/Misc:

Cocoa Nibs, 4.5 oz (soaking in vodka 2 weeks, adding at kegging)
Coffee 6.0 oz cold brewed (adding at kegging)
Irish Moss, 1.0 unit(s), Fining , boil 15 min
Nottingham, 1.0 unit(s) (Fermented at 62-64 F)
Yeast Nutrient, 3 TBSP, Other , boil 10 min

Recipe Notes:

1 L starter in 3/4 cups cane sugar, 1/4 cups honey, ferment 24 hours. Pitch entire starter.

1 cup rice steeped in 1 gallon water at 120° F. Rinse with 1 gallon water. 1 lb Roasted Buckwheat, 1 lb Roasted Steel Cut Oats (baked 350° F for 35 min) steeped 170° F for 30 min.

Preboil demerera sugar and sorghum extract for 70 min, reduce 5 gallons down to 4 gallons. Proceed with 60 minute boil.
 
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