Gluten Free beer that anyone can make

[Driftless Brewer]

Here is my recipe for a GF American Pale Ale
This recipe does not involve malting your own grains or buying exotic ingredients over the internet. All the sugars in this recipe are ones that you can find in your kitchen (if you can find sorghum syrup you can just substitute with more dark corn syrup).

GF Cascade APA

2.50 lb Light corn syrup
1.50 lb Sorghum syrup
1.00 lb Clover honey
0.50 lb Dark corn syrup
0.50 lb Corn sugar
0.25 lb Dark brown sugar

1.00 oz Cascade hops (60 min)
1.00 oz Cascade hops (30 min)
0.50 t Irish Moss (15 min)
6.00 oz Malto-Dextrin (5 min)
1.00 oz Cascade hops (0 min)
1.00 oz Cascade hops (dry hop)

1 pkg Nottingham yeast

OG: 1.042
FG: 1.006

Brew it up just like an extract brew. Heat up 2 gallons of water. Add sugars and bring to a boil then start your 60 min hop schedule. Cool the wort and dilute up to 5 gallons and pitch your yeast.

You can expect this beer to have a hazy orange color with a nice citrusy hop aroma and flavor. Really the only thing lacking from this beer is good mouth feel. Maybe more malto-dextrin is needed.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Are oats gluten free? I haven't a clue.. but they add mouth-feel....

Did you taste this? What's it taste like? I am extremely curious, but pardon me for being a little afraid as well.....

 

[Hemi]

Was actually gonna make a similar AG Andean Maize/Chicha beer. May try this extract recipe first to see how I like it.

 

[Driftless Brewer]

Are oats gluten free? I haven't a clue.. but they add mouth-feel....

Did you taste this? What's it taste like? I am extremely curious, but pardon me for being a little afraid as well.....

Oats are up in the air. They contain gluten, but it's a different kind of gluten than barley and wheat have. Generally it should be avoided unless you know that you can tolerate it. I really should have my boyfriend (he's the one I make the beer for) try eating oatmeal for a awhile because that could open up a lot of recipe possibilities.

As far as taste - besides the light mouth feel, you wouldn't taste a difference between this beer and any other hoppy beer. The hoppy style choice is the trick here. I haven't found a good way to mimic maltiness so I choose styles that don't rely on that characteristic.

 

[ModlrMike]

My wife is celiac, and the problem with oats is not so much the gluten in the oats, but that they may have come in contact with wheat. You may want to try "certified" celiac oats that guarantee no contamination with wheat.

 

[david_42]

Much as I suspected, put enough Cascades in anything & you have an IPA! All humor aside, it makes sense to focus GF efforts on styles where maltiness is secondary.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

My wife is celiac, and the problem with oats is not so much the gluten in the oats, but that they may have come in contact with wheat. You may want to try "certified" celiac oats that guarantee no contamination with wheat.

Maybe contact that company that makes malted oats. If they are certified GF, that could really take you a lot closer to a good GF beer, possibly with some maltiness.

 

[Glibbidy]

I have been doing some research in coming up with a GF beer made with White Sorghum, as well as trying several commercial examples of GF beer....which all seem to lack BODY.

How much more MD would one consider using to improve the mouthfeel for a beer like this?

 

[olllllo]

Every example I've tasted tends to be cidery (Sprecher’s Shakparo Ale and New Grist to name two). Finding a recipe that does not have that characteristic would be the first order of business for me. How does this recipe taste in that respect?

 

[chillHayze]

That is great you brew GF for your BF. The world needs more women like you!
Cheers and thanks for the recipe!

 

[Glibbidy]

The examples I have tried are the Bards tale- Dragons gold, AB- Redbridge, and the Ramapo Valley Brewery Honey beer.

Dragons gold had some sour notes, but not cidery
Redbridge was dry, lacked body, slightly sour
Ramapo Honey beer- cidery too sweet, virtually undrinkable.

 

[olllllo]

I found the Sprecher’s Shakparo Ale to be superior to the New Grist (less cidery), but IIRC Lakefront's New Grist won the GABF gold.