100% buckwheat ale

[400d]

hey guys, I'm new to GF brewing. it seems that I might have gluten intolerance. at this moment I'm waiting for the results of blood analysis....

meanwhile, I'm reading about GF brewing, just in case.

I wonder is it possible to brew 100% buckwheat malt beer? let's say I can malt 10lb of buckwheat.... can I use it as only fermentable in my grain bill?

thanks

 

[muench1]

Hmm, good question.

From Alcohol, Its Production, Properties, Chemistry, And Industrial Applications:

[unmalted] Wheat contains a good proportion of diastase, but not enough to give the full yield of alcohol unless some malt is added. Buckwheat approximates to wheat...

From Kilning conditions for the optimization of enzyme levels in buckwheat:

Buckwheat is a novel ingredient in malting and brewing, and therefore, requires optimization of the malting and brewing processes. In this study, three temperature regimens, 48 hr at 40°C (KR1), 5 hr at 40°C + 11 hr at 50°C (KR2), and 5 hr at 40°C + 3 hr at 50°C + 3 hr at 60°C (KR3) were used to kiln green buckwheat malt produced from grains steeped for 12 hr at 10°C and germinated for 96 hr at 15°C. Kilning regimens KR1, KR2, and KR3 produced malts with a moisture content of 6.8, 6.2, and 5.7%, respectively. Although an increased enzymatic activity level in buckwheat malt was noted with increased thermal exposure during the kilning regimen, it is not reflected in its brewing characteristics with regard to extract and apparent fermentability after using an optimized mashing system. However, the effect of treatment at higher temperatures with respect to enzymatic activity levels in buckwheat malt is reflected by rapid visco analysis where decreased peak viscosities correlate to an increased amylolytic activity level. The results of this study suggest that buckwheat, kilned using KR3, which was found to contain highest levels of amylolytic enzymes and produced the highest levels of total soluble nitrogen and free amino nitrogen when optimally mashed, be recommended for the kilning regimen of buckwheat green malt.

Those sources would indicate to me that 100% buckwheat is pretty capable of making a decent ale.

I've not tried buckwheat yet- I'm still working on sorghum. Most everything I've read about buckwheat makes it sound like you can just buy and malt buckwheat groats and it should be fairly easy like Quinoa is.

The few accounts I've heard of straight buckwheat brewing made it sound like mashing and sparging were challenging because they just got porridge from the buckwheat and had difficulty separating wort from the gooey mess. Go try it for yourself and come post results! Make sure you report back on your malting success, too!

 

[mloster]

I've done one myself. The beer came out very strange. First, I had huge problems sparging, as stated above. If you were to do it, I'd include a mass of rice hulls. Next, if you're committed to the idea, I'd make sure you're malting procedure is solid. My beer had a ton of off flavors and ended up tasting pretty rancid. This could have been due to an infection, but there were no visible signs. You lose about 1/4 of the original grain weight in malting, so for 10 lbs of finished malt, you need about 13.333 lbs of grain to begin. Don't let me discourage you're experiment. It's viable, just difficult.

 

[400d]

I've done one myself. The beer came out very strange. First, I had huge problems sparging, as stated above. If you were to do it, I'd include a mass of rice hulls. Next, if you're committed to the idea, I'd make sure you're malting procedure is solid. My beer had a ton of off flavors and ended up tasting pretty rancid. This could have been due to an infection, but there were no visible signs. You lose about 1/4 of the original grain weight in malting, so for 10 lbs of finished malt, you need about 13.333 lbs of grain to begin. Don't let me discourage you're experiment. It's viable, just difficult.

how would you describe those off flavors?

 

[BBBF]

I haven't done 100%, but I have done a pretty high percentage.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/hefe-buchweizen-234898/

I could't imagine going higher, unless you're goal is to make a buckwheat beer and let it be what it is. It won't taste like any beer you used to drink, but that doesn't mean you won't like it.

The only thing I can say about the taste is that it tastes like buckwheat. Cook some and that flavor will be what you taste in the beer.

 

[mloster]

For the first week after carbonation, the beer tasted pretty good. I wouldn't call it beer, but it was a hopped, carbonated somewhat malty beverage. After another week, I opened one with one of my friends. He said it tasted like salami and I would have to agree. So by off flavors, I mean salami. Yeah it's pretty weird. I think there was some spoilage due to the high protein content of the buckwheat.

 

[Cassyyi]

i was wondering the same.

 

[igliashon]

I would think that either 100% millet or 100% quinoa would work better than 100% buckwheat. I'm curious about amaranth, too, but haven't read much on it. Or heck, what about a 100% sweet potato beer? Sweet potato can convert itself, evidently. Not much hope for different roasts, but I'm definitely planning to experiment with an all-sweet potato blonde or pale ale.

 

[KevinM]

100% anything so far hasn't seemed to give good sensory characteristics. The more sweet potato in a brew, the higher alcohol, esthers and bitter flavors were found. I think someone also mentioned a "slippery" effect from sweet potato.

Pretty much every grain/fermentable has it's own problem and characteristics. I highly doubt we will really want to do a 100% anything. (People do however, since there is 100% millet and 100% sorghum "beers" and 100% rice sake which happens to be great.) It's unique properties can be an attraction in itself. I think once we refine our processes we'll probably be looking at various combinations and even the possibility of 100%s. more than likely will be that we will be using various combinations of malted grains and adjuncts like some have already done with mixed results. However, most official studies have been of straight processed grain, not necessarily toasted.

A study on buckwheat did a straight pale malt beer with buckwheat, and it appears that it wasn't all that great. Unique flavor, buttery, etc.

But if we do something else with them it could work
For example, a combination of:
malted millet
sweet potato
crystal malt buckwheat?

Or different varieties of sweet potato?
Sweet potato using a combination of raw and baked?

Sweet potato and unmalted sorghum?

 

[thanantos]

100% anything so far hasn't seemed to give good sensory characteristics. The more sweet potato in a brew, the higher alcohol, esthers and bitter flavors were found. I think someone also mentioned a "slippery" effect from sweet potato.

Pretty much every grain/fermentable has it's own problem and characteristics. I highly doubt we will really want to do a 100% anything. (People do however, since there is 100% millet and 100% sorghum "beers" and 100% rice sake which happens to be great.) It's unique properties can be an attraction in itself. I think once we refine our processes we'll probably be looking at various combinations and even the possibility of 100%s. more than likely will be that we will be using various combinations of malted grains and adjuncts like some have already done with mixed results. However, most official studies have been of straight processed grain, not necessarily toasted.

A study on buckwheat did a straight pale malt beer with buckwheat, and it appears that it wasn't all that great. Unique flavor, buttery, etc.

But if we do something else with them it could work
For example, a combination of:
malted millet
sweet potato
crystal malt buckwheat?

Or different varieties of sweet potato?
Sweet potato using a combination of raw and baked?

Sweet potato and unmalted sorghum?

This makes a lot of sense. I think over time we will find a mixture of grains that will compliment each other well and have a nice final result.

This is much the same as the best gluten free bread recipes. Most have at least 4 or more different types of flour in them.

 

[igliashon]

I agree, I think blending will ultimately lead to the best beers. That's how Green's does it, all of their beers feature a mix of gluten-free grains, and they're hands-down the best on the market. I do think it will also depend a lot on style; I can't see buckwheat working well in a pale ale, but I can imagine it being perfect in a stout or a nut-brown ale. At a guess I'm thinking millet will prove to be the most versatile grain, though...it has a mild, sweet flavor when cooked, unlike the fairly strong tastes of quinoa and buckwheat but also not quite as bland as most rices. Then again, I have never cooked with teff or amaranth, so I could be missing out on something even better...the small size just really puts me off.

The real question to me, though, is can we come up with gluten-free beers that are good in their own right, rather than being poor imitations of barley-based styles? What can we do *better* with gluten-free grains? I really hope the next few decades will bring us out of the shadow of barley and into brave new worlds of brewing....

 

[BBBF]

My favorite GF beer is still Sprecher's Mbege because it isn't trying to be "regular beer." It's just an Africian beer that is natually GF.

 

[BREWSTERED]

I posted a long reply to buckwheat brewing because of gluten intolerance, but the web page didn't reload it. So it is lost.
Anyways, to make this short and sweet, I would suggest for less hassle brewing to mix the wheat grains with wheat extract, fruit like beets, and brown sugar, to make up the difference. You would need a whole lot of grains to make even a 5 gallon batch. Get it already "malted" because I tried "malting" my wheat berries from the health foods store and it is quite a pain. It worked but a real pain. I couldn't find "buckwheat". Maybe in a feed grain store they might have it. But I will keep "malting" my grains at a minimum!
I have mixed wheat berries with barley extract, and pale malt (dried) with brown sugar. It made 7 bottles!. It is real hoppy with 3 types of hops. The fermented wort tastes really strong and a fine smooth finish. I haven't tried the finished beer yet. So this wasn't so short after all. I had better copy and paste!
Just joined today!.
Happy Brewing!

 

[Ash_Mathew]

Hey man, I think you may have stumbled into the wrong section. This is Gluten free brewing. Wheat is actually very bad for us, as is barley so we brew with other grains and fermentable products. I feel I also have to disagree with you, I have found malting buckwheat to be very easy and I have made some damn good beers using it. I am actually roasting some that I have just malted as I type this, and no, it was not bought from a "feed store". It was bought from a health food shop. But Thanks for the input anyway man.

 

[igliashon]

Yeah, buckwheat is not even remotely related to wheat. Understandably confusing, but nevertheless.

I wonder what we can do to keep confused "regular" brewers from accidentally wandering into this section?

 

[Ash_Mathew]

Something like a "Ye be warned" sign? Haha


Granted, I go through the 'regular' beer section for ideas on different recipes. And I occasionally post ideas. But I do know where I am, and that theirs will be slightly different.

 

[BBBF]

I think it most often happens when they come here through a search or viewing all new posts.