Gluten free Bitter

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Ash_Mathew

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Decided to try to make a gluten free bitter. Basic recipe, but replaced grains with gluten free grains. It is a 3 Imperial gallon batch. Apologies for the mixing of Imperial and Metric measurements. But I am sure you can work it out. :)

1lb Medium roast buckwheat crystal
1lb Medium roast malted buckwheat
250g Plain oats (not toasted)
250g Flaked millet (not toasted)
1lb of dark brown sugar
1lb of golden syrup
0.5oz Goldings 30 minutes
1oz Fuggles 30 minutes
1 teaspoon Irish Moss 15 minutes

First time using a carboy, and I now love the fact I can see what my beer is doing, and what colour it is etc. Below is a picture of what it looks like this morning. Smells great. Really looking forward to tasting it.

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Basically threw everything in at the beginning. Held the water at 140f/60c for two hours. Pulled out the grains and washed them, then added that water back into the wort. Put in the hops and turned up the heat for a 30 minute rolling boil. Placed in carboy and topped up to 3.5 gallons with cold water. Placed in the sink and kept cold water around it to cool it quicker. Then threw in the yeast.
 
also do you happen to know the OG. I though you have to go to a higher temperature to gelatinise the grains. So I assume from this you were able to get a good amount of sugars out of the grains.
 
Hey man. No, sorry I don't. I can never be bothered. I know I should, but it's too much like hard work for me.


Tried a sample of it last night. Still quite sweet but that is to be expected after only 3 days. Tasted quite fruity though. A little like Timmy Taylor's. never done a beer with Golden Syrup in it. So wondering if that has helped the fruity flavours.
 
Turned out to be more like a Northern brown ale. Still happy with it. Has a nice fruity after taste. Still not fully carbonated, but couldn't wait to try it. Will up date on the head and stuff when fully carbonated.
 
Sounds good! Would you change anything in your recipe or did you like the fruity taste? How long did you ferment and bottle condition for?
 
Hey. Nope, wouldn't change any part of it. It all worked. The fruity taste is only slight and works with the beer. Thankfully it isn't citrusy, more peachy. Fermented for 10 days. Bottled and is still carbonating as we speak. Will report back when it is done. :)
 
Cheers, man. It smells like how beer used to smell. It also smells and tastes as good as it looks. Haha think I would probably try adding a 3rd hop next time. Maybe Challenger?
 
Oh yeah, man. If you use buckwheat, not only does making it 'crystal' get rid of the strange taste, I have found putting it in the water when cold at the start of heating the strike water can do it too. Strange, but it does.
 
I've got 25 lbs of malted buckwheat from Colorado Malting Company on the way, should be here next week. I might just go ahead and try this recipe to start with!
 
Yeah man. Instead of Golden syrup, you could use Amber Belgian Candi Syrup, if you find it hard to get hold of? Should still come out with a slightly similar taste. Just done a German beer too, using basically the same recipe but with caster sugar instead of brown. And using 2oz of Hallertau. Let me know how it goes. Mine are also 3 gallon batches, so you don't really need to adjust anything either, unless you want to. :)

Also, if you toast some of your 'Normal' malted buckwheat to a chocolate style, it SHOULD in theory turn out more like a bitter instead of a Northern ale like mine.
 
There's actually a store around the corner from my place that sells Lyle's Golden Syrup; it's a bit pricey, but I'm gonna try it for authenticity's sake. What's caster sugar?
 
Rough cut white sugar. Basically a normal bag of white sugar.

Let me know if it is way expensive. Could try to organise shipping you some over. It's about £1 a tin here. Or about £1.50 for supermarket brand, but you get more. So complete with the price for shipping, I'm sure it may be cheaper?
 
The difference a day makes. Cracked one open just now. Fully carbonated. It tastes amazing. Not to blow my own trumpet. I was trying for bitter, but it didn't fully work out. But what I did make would easily pass for a Northern Brown ale. Especially in taste. Still, I wanted an old fashioned style 'proper' ale, and that is still what I got. :)



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