Amylase enzyme and gluten free brewing

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kontreren

Gluten Free Brewing
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I made a futile attempt to convert corn/rice starch to sugars w/o barley malt. My first mistake was tying the grain bags way to tight. My second mistake was cutting the grain bags open and putting the "mush" into a larger but more fine grain bag. No starch could escape from it. I am extremely annoyed at my lack of common sense when it comes to brewing. Nonetheless the "extreme" filter bag did not let much of the starch out. After adding a 6 row barley malt the conversion started immediately as on would expect. I let it steep overnight. I brewed today w/ chocolate malt on top of the grains et difficulti. So anyway the beer tastes ok. I added SEVERAL more ingredients and cooked what can only be described as a "unique" HOMEbrew. I will try again w/ the conversions of corn starch to fermentable sugar w/o barley (or any other gluten carrying product) but this one was a total flop as far as gluten free is concerned. I will try again but I may as well find some sorghum malt (rather than extract) at this point. Will keep you posted. One question: Does amylase enzyme get old? It could have been sitting in the LHBS so long it was no longer effective. ??????

All questions, no answers;
Jesse
 
I did a partial mash last weekend in a 2 gallon cooler using a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. It worked great.

I would say try again but check your water-grain ratio (should be around 1.25 qt/lb) and maybe consider using more amylase if it doesn't convert within 30 minutes. You are forging new ground here so some experimentation will be required. ;)
 
Amylase enzyme is relatively stable at room temperature. It works best around 156F and a pH of 5.4. What dilution were you using and did you adjust the water pH?
 
The original thread title was "Saccharomyces."

See Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Yuri, I am still LOL. It was addressed to user Saccaromyces because he asked me to give an update as to how my experiment went. I had no idea that it was a species of budding yeast! You really threw me for a loop. Anyway, its just an update on an experiment. Didn't mean to get :off:
 
I did a partial mash last weekend in a 2 gallon cooler using a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. It worked great.

I would say try again but check your water-grain ratio (should be around 1.25 qt/lb) and maybe consider using more amylase if it doesn't convert within 30 minutes. You are forging new ground here so some experimentation will be required. ;)
I totally screwed up the water-grain ratio. Will have to keep experimenting. I should try to find some sorghum malt or other gluten free malts (rather than extract) to kick start the process. Though my understanding is that sorghum malt doesn't pack the punch that barley malt does.
 
Amylase enzyme is relatively stable at room temperature. It works best around 156F and a pH of 5.4. What dilution were you using and did you adjust the water pH?
I use natural spring water, which last check was a pH of about 6. I've not tried to adjust it. I don't know what food grade stuff to use. Only adjusted pH in a fish tank.
 
Dang, I totally forgot about adjusting the pH. Without malt you will need to adjust the pH for the amylase to convert the starches. This is probably why it didn't convert. The easiest route would be to grab Five Star 5.2 stabilizer and toss in a couple of teaspoons into your mash.

I sense an experiment in my future... 100% unmalted wheat hefeweizen.

As for :off: a PM does the trick. ;)
 
I'll second the pH 5.2. I have extremely pure water here & if I forget to use it, I'll lose 10-15% efficiency.
 
i'm trying something similar to the all wheat hef, but with corn, and i'm using powdered amylase enzyme, how much per pound of corn should i be using? i am using pregelitanzied corn grits so i don't have to make it into a porridge first
 
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