First gluten free all grain attempt

[glutarded-chris]

I expressed to Grouse that I am glad they are doing well and hope that they continue to thrive and grow but that we need to find ways to get GF grain prices at least closer to barley. They agreed and said they are willing to work with other distributors. I don't have much confidence in my LHBS but will try anyway.

 

[KatoBaggins]

Totally agree. Supply and demand are at work here as well as economies of scale. I think there is a healthy emerging market for GF malted grains as well as extracts (other than sorghum.) Grouse and Colorado better be on their game or they could be passed by Briess (or some other player) in a blink of the eye.

 

[brwmistr]

Kato and Chris,
The Millet that the grain supplier sells for birds,if its for expensive birds, needs to be sprout-able. I use this in Canada from my feed place in London Ontario. 1-50Lbs bag is $25 last I looked. You will have to "process" it...meaning remove the nasty bug parts and other grain bits you don't want and wash it, as its most likely been in a silo somewhere. But this works very well and I save big $ doing it this way...PSST.. don't tell the malting companies, or we might be bared from using this type. But you will have to malt it or use lots of enyzme to convert it and there goes the saving part.

 

[KatoBaggins]

Kato and Chris,

The Millet that the grain supplier sells for birds,if its for expensive birds, needs to be sprout-able. I use this in Canada from my feed place in London Ontario. 1-50Lbs bag is $25 last I looked. You will have to "process" it...meaning remove the nasty bug parts and other grain bits you don't want and wash it, as its most likely been in a silo somewhere. But this works very well and I save big $ doing it this way...PSST.. don't tell the malting companies, or we might be bared from using this type. But you will have to malt it or use lots of enyzme to convert it and there goes the saving part.

I think I could buy a s*** ton of enzymes for the cost difference between 50 lbs at the feed store and 50 lbs from Colorado Malting. I think I can be persuaded to clean, malt, and roast some millet to save around $200. Besides it will increase my skill set.

 

[refluxologist]

So i got off my butt and brewed this last Monday, with some changes due to using what I had, ie, I used all pale millet and only cascade hops and I had to add some (.5lb) rme to make a decent fg number 1.045.

Totally need to refine my methods as my kit doesnt use igloo mt's, but I managed to make it go pretty decent, wort tasted awesome and the fermentation so far has been aggressive.

I'll test at 1 week to see where I'm at with it being done.

This was a fun experience and I'm looking forward to the next batch..

 

[hipturn]

Chris: the price is high for the grains, and shipping is a killer. I agree with subsequent posts that 1)CMC and Grouse can't really be concerned about the home brew market; 2) Some bigger maltster might be in the future. Also, I'd be happy to go in with anybody on a bulk buy but geography and shipping conspire against us. I can say this. alone, I'm not making an order for GF malts right now. I'm really enjoying seeing your results. I wish I could contribute more. So, thank you for sharing.

 

[glutarded-chris]

Thanks for the kind words hipturn. Geography is definitely difficult as we are spread out and only a few happen to live close a maltster. Ask around when you are in need of grain again.

 

[refluxologist]

I'll test at 1 week to see where I'm at with it being done.

So I bleed off some wort from the fermenter and tested it, as soon as I brought the refractometer to my eye I knew something was off about it.

it showed 1.010 as the FG, but smelled infected, tasted even worse.

narf.. so much waste.

I'm going to go over all my equipment and see what could have cause it. I'm pretty good a cleaning and sanitizing everything.

 

[KatoBaggins]

So I bleed off some wort from the fermenter and tested it, as soon as I brought the refractometer to my eye I knew something was off about it.

it showed 1.010 as the FG, but smelled infected, tasted even worse.

narf.. so much waste.

I'm going to go over all my equipment and see what could have cause it. I'm pretty good a cleaning and sanitizing everything.

Millet based sour, perhaps?