Gluten free Belgian quad?

[rexbanner]

Some people want me to make a gluten free beer. I was going to just do a pale ale but I got a bunch of free candi syrup and realized I might be able to make a decent gluten free quad because all the flavor comes from candi syrup and I can use t-58 yeast.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Gluten Free Quad
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.73 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.074 SG
Estimated Color: 26.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Sorghum Syrup (3.0 SRM) Extract 1 83.3 %
2 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark (180.0 SRM) Sugar 2 16.7 %
1.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 21.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafBrew Specialty Ale (DCL/Fermentis #T- Yeast 4 -


Thoughts?

 

[igliashon]

You're going to need a lot more than 2 lbs of candi syrup to cover up the sorghum! I regularly use up to 2 lbs of candi syrup for non-Belgian styles, in 3 gallon batches, and the sorghum still often comes through.

Also, I've not had great success with T-58--though I suspect that's because of bad temperature fluctuations, if you can keep the temp below 68°F you might get better results. 3 of the 4 batches I've done with T-58 have been very phenolic in a bad way, kind of medicinal, and I've ruled out water and other ingredients as the cause. But I did brew them in the heart of summer, and my apartment has no A/C (doesn't usually need it, but beer is more sensitive to temperature than I am!). The one good batch was very mild in the yeast character, so it might work for you if you can keep the temps down. Don't use S-33, it's not Belgian at all, it's very British, very bready and dry in character. WB-06 I haven't tried yet, not sure if it'd be appropriate in a quad anyway. If you really want to go Belgian, you might try washing some liquid yeast. Otherwise, yeah, Belgian styles adapt well to gluten-free brewing; Green's makes a dubbel and tripel that are probably the best gluten-free beers on the market today.

 

[rexbanner]

You're going to need a lot more than 2 lbs of candi syrup to cover up the sorghum! I regularly use up to 2 lbs of candi syrup for non-Belgian styles, in 3 gallon batches, and the sorghum still often comes through.

Also, I've not had great success with T-58--though I suspect that's because of bad temperature fluctuations, if you can keep the temp below 68°F you might get better results. 3 of the 4 batches I've done with T-58 have been very phenolic in a bad way, kind of medicinal, and I've ruled out water and other ingredients as the cause. But I did brew them in the heart of summer, and my apartment has no A/C (doesn't usually need it, but beer is more sensitive to temperature than I am!). The one good batch was very mild in the yeast character, so it might work for you if you can keep the temps down. Don't use S-33, it's not Belgian at all, it's very British, very bready and dry in character. WB-06 I haven't tried yet, not sure if it'd be appropriate in a quad anyway. If you really want to go Belgian, you might try washing some liquid yeast. Otherwise, yeah, Belgian styles adapt well to gluten-free brewing; Green's makes a dubbel and tripel that are probably the best gluten-free beers on the market today.

Hmm, I am not sure I can make a beer with half the fermentables coming from sugar in good conscience. You seem like you're pretty experienced with this, can you reassure me that this will be OK? I will add another pound of syrup.

I have used t-58 before, it tasted fine when I kept the temp at 64 and rose to 68. I think it's sort of the poor man's Belgian yeast, nothing compared to 530 or 550.

 

[igliashon]

Let me put it to you this way: I entered 4 beers in a local homebrew contest, as the only gluten-free contender. The beer that scored the highest among my entries was my Russian Imperial Stout, which was 2 lbs of D-90 candi syrup, 3 lbs of rice solids, and 8 oz of molasses, plus 4 pounds of steeping grains that contributed maybe a trace amount of fermentables at most. It didn't win the contest, and no awards were given for 2nd and 3rd places, but around 3/5 of the judges gave it 5-out-of-5 for flavor and mouthfeel, and included effusive praise in their notes.

Now, I'm not suggesting you use 50% candi syrup for your recipe; you're making a belgian quad, not a stout. Dark candi syrup when liberally combined with dark-roasted steeping grains makes a very authentic gluten-free stout, but you're not looking for the same amount of roast character.

What I would suggest is keeping it at 2 lbs candi syrup, but doing 4 lbs sorghum, 5 lbs rice solids or rice syrup, and 1 lb of lightly caramelized honey (or some dark honey, like buckwheat, if you don't want to caramelize the honey). Include at least 8 oz of maltodextrin. You will do this beer a world of good if you use the proper yeast; washing the yeast and making a gluten-free starter isn't that big of a deal, and if you're going to the trouble why not give it the best chance of success? You may even end up with something you like drinking yourself!

 

[rexbanner]

I really don't know a whole lot about gluten free brewing. You can wash liquid yeast and it becomes GF? And roasted malts are gluten free?

 

[igliashon]

No, roasted malts are not gluten-free; I used gluten-free grains like buckwheat and rice and roasted them in the oven myself. As for the yeast, yeast itself is gluten-free, it's the substrate it's grown on that isn't. You can use White Labs as-is in gluten-free brew and end up under 2 parts-per-million gluten content, but that may still be too much for some. If you don't know how to wash yeast, the "Fermentation" sub-forum here has all the info you need. Just use something gluten-free to make the new starter.

 

[rexbanner]

No, roasted malts are not gluten-free; I used gluten-free grains like buckwheat and rice and roasted them in the oven myself. As for the yeast, yeast itself is gluten-free, it's the substrate it's grown on that isn't. You can use White Labs as-is in gluten-free brew and end up under 2 parts-per-million gluten content, but that may still be too much for some. If you don't know how to wash yeast, the "Fermentation" sub-forum here has all the info you need. Just use something gluten-free to make the new starter.

Thanks a lot. So with buckwheat, it doesn't need to be malted, correct? I guess I'd like to make some GF chocolate malt. Any tips?

 

[igliashon]

Buckwheat only needs to be malted if you want to get fermentable sugar out of it. If you just want to steep it for flavor, you can use it unmalted.

Chocolate malt normally has 0 diastatic power, so yeah, you don't need to malt to reproduce it...though some grains, like quinoa, become sweeter when they're malted, and that can impact their flavor when roasted.

I'd recommend using oats; see the recent thread here entitled "Oats!" for my instructions on toasting them. Oats are one of the best steeping grains for GF brews, because they add a lot to flavor and mouthfeel, and naturally have a slight sweetness to them (compared to quinoa or amaranth, which are naturally a bit sour, or buckwheat, which is naturally nutty but a bit bland).

 

[spaced]

Before heading down the path of making this beer, I highy recommend trying a proven recipe.

Dkershner, a gluten free contributor from a while back posted this recipe. I've brewed it exactly as is and it was great.

http://brew.dkershner.com/2009/gluten-free-tripel-blonde/

The first time you brew it, brew it exactly like the recipe and you should get a decent beer.