GF Mexican Lager

[fostee]

Hi all, I am relatively new to brewing, and this is my first post, but I am interested in making a Mexican style lager. I found what looks like a decent glutinous recipe and this is copied below.

6 lbs Pilsner Malt or American 2-row
2 lbs Vienna
1½ lbs Flaked Corn (mash temp 150°)
4.5 AAU of mild, German hops like Tettnanger or Hallertau
½ oz Tettnanger pellets for 5 minutes
White Labs 940 Mexican Lager Yeast

Original Link/Recipe: http://www.freewebs.com/kenlenard/recipes.htm

The biggest question is what grains to use. I was thinking a mixture of sorghum and malted buckwheat, but am not sure if this would the best choice and I'm not sure the best ratio/amounts to use. Any recipe suggestions are welcome.

Thank you. Thanks to all the posters, I have already learned quite a bit from this forum.

 

[igliashon]

I'd recommend using Briess Brown Rice Syrup instead of sorghum, and just steep about 3-4 pounds toasted gluten-free oats in place of the Vienna malt. You could maybe do 75% rice syrup and 25% sorghum extract if you want to. Keep the hop schedule, and feel free to sub Saflager S-23 dry yeast instead if you don't want to wash the White Labs to make it truly gluten-free. And as with any lager, make sure you have good temperature controls in place to keep the ferment below 60 degrees F. Or else sub your lager yeast for a clean ale yeast like Safale US-05.

 

[KevinM]

I'd probably use sorghum syrup in place of the barley and rice syrup in place of the corn. You could use corn syrup if you could find stuff that doesn't have vanilla added to it. (I haven't been able to.)

Lagering temps are key more than anything else when it comes to gluten free lagers. I did a 100% sorghum lager before and tasted fine, no sorghum twang.

 

[fostee]

Thanks igliashon and Kevin,

Igliashon, a question about the steeped oats, are they adding any fermentable sugars or is it simply for flavor/texture?

You recommend keeping the corn right? I was thinking the corn and yeast strain would help get the flavor I was looking for.

Thanks for the sorghum/rice syrup recs, will try that.
Thanks for the yeast recs as well.
Thanks for the lager temp recs, I have a wine refrigerator to maintain temp

So I have this as the recipe (for 2.5 gallons)

1. Toast (in oven 350F for 30 mins) and then steep 2 lbs oats with 0.75 lbs flaked cord (Temp 150 deg F)

2. Boil the steeping water and add
2.8 lbs Sorghum Syrup
0.5 lbs Brown Rice Syrup
for a 60 minute boil with hops schedule
4.5 AAU of mild, German hops like Tettnanger or Hallertau
½ oz Tettnanger pellets for 5 minutes

3. Cool to lager temp and pitch Saflager S-23 (or similar yeast)

This sound ok? Thanks again!

 

[igliashon]

Neither the corn nor the oats will add fermentables. Grains that aren't malted and mashed won't ever add more than trace fermentables. The corn won't give you any flavor, especially not in that small of a quantity; it's in the original recipe as a source of flavorless sugar (corn is added to lagers to dry them out by adding flavorless fermentables; sugar gives a similar effect). If you're going with a predominantly sorghum base, add all but 0.5 lbs of it at flame-out; you'll get a cleaner taste that way. However, I'd strongly recommend doing more like 1.8 lbs sorghum and 1.5 lbs rice syrup, with all the sorghum added at flame-out. You want it clean and dry, and rice will help accomplish that.

Also, I'd recommend soaking the oats before toasting; that seems to help give them a maltier taste, and also seems to make them less goopy in the steep.

Otherwise it all looks good!

 

[fostee]

Awesome, thanks so much for the advice. Can't wait to try it out. Will post results when the time comes. Cheers