Gluten Free Hefeweizen

[jschnyderite]

I've removed gluten from my diet and really missing a nice hefeweizen this summer. I've been toying with brewing beer for a while, buying parts of a system over time and I think I'm ready to give it a try.

I am thinking I will try to work from this recipe: Successful Witbier Recipe

Many questions come to mind:

1. I haven't found tapioca syrup in bulk -- are there sources I should try locally, or can it be substituted well in this type of beer?
2. There is no mention of yeast -- would Lallemand Munich be a good choice?
3. What enzymes would I need if any? and where in the process are they added
4. Just to confirm I understand the buckwheat process -- soak, dry, toast, then mill? Should I buy a grain bag to steep?
5. Anything else I should ensure I have in my setup while I'm ordering?

 

[videojunkie1208]

I am a total n00b for beer brewing, but am getting ready to brew my first beer as soon as my orders arrive...

I posted a GF Blue Moon clone recipe recently. (2.5 gallon batch). There are also several recipes on Gluten Free Home Brewing Online Store

You're going to need enzymes. If you're on Facebook, check out the Zero Tolerance Homebrew club, TONS of info. I chose to order Ceremix from Novenzymes as they are offering a $25 coupon on your first order through June 30. (Search the ZTHB page for it). If you order through GFHB, they remind you to order enzymes, and have recommendations for several that you need.

Welcome to the wild west of brewing... it gets a little unorthodox out here....

 

[jschnyderite]

the ceramix seems like a huge amount -- do teramyl and sebamyl work well with GF beers?

 

[videojunkie1208]

Yes, those are the staples of a GF homebrew.

the big advantage of the ceremix is you don't have to pre-cook the grains first.

 

[JMath]

Not to throw you off course, but that is an extremely old recipe considering the rapid pace things have changed in the gluten free brewing world. I'm not sure anyone uses tapioca syrup anymore or would recommend it.

First you should decide if you want to use extracts/syrups or jump into all grain and enzymes. If you don't want to mess with enzymes and the somewhat complicated mash process yet, look for some newer posts about sorghum syrup based recipes. I recommend using yeast nutrient in that case.

If you want to jump into all-grain and enzymes, it's highly recommended to have a mill that can go down to 0.5mm and mashing equipment where you can control temperature easily.

Let us know which direction you want to go.

 

[jschnyderite]

I bought a mill -- so I'm committed to going to All Grain. If there is a good extract that I could use for a GF hefeweizen, I'd certainly consider it, especially on my first solo brew though.

If you have all grain recipes that you could point me toward, or adjustments I could make to the one posted (substitute tapioca syrup?) I would also appreciate it.

 

[videojunkie1208]

Waiting for shipments to arrive, but this is my first stab at a hefeweizen style: GF Blue Moon Recipe (?)

you could also probably use this as a starting point: Berliner Weiss (guava/mango) - All-grain - Gluten Free Homebrewing

hoping my shipments show up shortly, I was hoping to do this over the long weekend...

 

[JMath]

If you just subbed in sorghum syrup for the tapioca syrup, you'd be in a good spot. However, if you're going to have to mash the buckwheat, you might as well just go all grain. Gluten free grains are a massive improvement in flavor and body over sorghum.

Here is a Belgian White recipe I published on glutenfreehomebrewing that turned out to be one of the best beers I've ever made. This was back before the Ondea Pro craze, so feel free to sub the millet with pale rice or even the new 4L biscuit rice, or a mix of the two, if you are using Ondea.

The next question is what mashing equipment do you have? That affects how complicated of a mash schedule you can adopt and how accurately you can hit temperatures. Millet will likely be more forgiving than rice if you don't have a high level of control. Many of us are using electric systems like the Grainfather, but others do fine with more manual methods in standard cooler mash tuns.

As for enzymes, read this. Basically everyone is using Termamyl as their liquefaction enzyme. For saccharification you have a lot more options. If you buy from glutenfreehomebrewing you're going to want SEBAmyl-L. Personally I am using those two along with Ondea Pro right now.

 

[jschnyderite]

If you just subbed in sorghum syrup for the tapioca syrup, you'd be in a good spot. However, if you're going to have to mash the buckwheat, you might as well just go all grain. Gluten free grains are a massive improvement in flavor and body over sorghum.

Here is a Belgian White recipe I published on glutenfreehomebrewing that turned out to be one of the best beers I've ever made. This was back before the Ondea Pro craze, so feel free to sub the millet with pale rice or even the new 4L biscuit rice, or a mix of the two, if you are using Ondea.

The next question is what mashing equipment do you have? That affects how complicated of a mash schedule you can adopt and how accurately you can hit temperatures. Millet will likely be more forgiving than rice if you don't have a high level of control. Many of us are using electric systems like the Grainfather, but others do fine with more manual methods in standard cooler mash tuns.

As for enzymes, read this. Basically everyone is using Termamyl as their liquefaction enzyme. For saccharification you have a lot more options. If you buy from glutenfreehomebrewing you're going to want SEBAmyl-L. Personally I am using those two along with Ondea Pro right now.

A few questions come to mind

1) would sorghym syrup for tapioca be a 1:1 substitution?
2) With buckwheat, would Termamyl and Sebamyl-L be good enough -- or would it require Ondea too? They only sell ondea in bulk so it's a pretty hefty investment for an occasional brewer.
3) Are there benefits to millet over buckwheat? My body doesn't like rice so I'm trying to steer clear of that.

I am going to be brewing on an IC3500 induction stove. I've got a cooler to use as a mashtun. Pretty basic setup.

 

[JMath]

Not sure about the substitution, I've never used tapioca so I can't say. From what I'm reading, tapioca doesn't add any flavor or color, whereas sorghum does. So with sorghum you'll probably end up with a darker more flavorful beer.

Termamyl and SEBAmyl-L should be fine, although in my anecdotal experience of two batches with that combo, I had under attenuation. For many batches previously I used a combo of Termamyl and AMG-300L, and had good results. Some people instead use Diastase enzyme in place of SEBAmyl-L or AMG-300L.

Millet and buckwheat do different things. Personally I use buckwheat in every batch for body and head retention, but only 1-2lbs. I don't think many people use a large amount of it. However, if you're doing a partial syrup batch, maybe a lot of buckwheat would be a good idea, to counterbalance the thinness from the syrups. Experiment! Millet is more of a standard workhorse available in many roast levels, that people tend to use as the bulk of their grain bill, if they aren't doing so with rice.

 

[xflibble]

The Mangrove Jacks Bavarian Wheat yeast isn't bad...Can definitely get a lot of Schofferhofer style banana notes if you want German wheat yeastiness. The best of the wheat beer yeasts I've tried. I have a beer bottled currently which uses an Angel brand Wheat yeast. It seems promising from what I could smell, but can't give a definitive thumbs-up yet. https://www.keg-king.com.au/angel-yeast-wa18-15g.html

 

[xflibble]

I should have mentioned originally, the Mangrove Jack Belgian Wit yeast is also good and I've made a tasty wit from this also.

 

[Silly Yak]

Let the wiki guide you to the light: Zero Tolerance Gluten Free Homebrew Club

 

[xflibble]

Let the wiki guide you to the light: Zero Tolerance Gluten Free Homebrew Club

Nice work on the yeast page, I have a similar spreadsheet I maintained for my own experiements Is it derived from this page? Dried Yeast Guide - English & American ale

It would be good if we had a space to share yeast experiences in an organised way.