New to homebrew

[dorklord]

Just a heads up, the 1 beer I made aiming for this style ended up not working very well. I've read elsewhere too that some of the stronger belgian yeasts don't like sorghum all that much.

Then again, that batch was a 6:1 ratio of sorghum to rice, a 1:1 ratio might just trick the yeasties into behaving.

By the way, I've heard this a few times, what problem did you have with the strong belgian you made?

I've got a trippel that is aging right now, and I took a taste test a couple weeks ago, and my wife agreed that although it was still 'not ready' we both thought it was going to be great...

 

[wolves63]

haha that is funny

 

[aggieotis]

By the way, I've heard this a few times, what problem did you have with the strong belgian you made?

It turned out VERY winey. I know that it could be due to other things such as higher fermentation temperatures. Also it took a long time to get down, and even after sitting for a year never tasted better. Tasted watery, winey, and overcarbonated.

Of the 3 higher-gravity GF beers I've made, they've all been clones of non-GF beers, and they've all been vastly inferior to their clone siblings despite the fact that they were brewed around the same time under the same conditions. While the high-gravity-GF beers I brewed with WLP001 or WLP005 turned out alright, and actually tasted decent at the end. The one with the Belgian Trappist Yeast was pretty bad. Which made me sad too cause that's my fave style and the ingredients were $$$.

I'll probably give these guys another shot later this summer now that I have fermentation freezers and know about mineral ratios and amylase enzymes and maltodextrin and whatnot. But 2 years ago this forum didn't exist so I was flying pretty solo.

 

[DKershner]

It turned out VERY winey. I know that it could be due to other things such as higher fermentation temperatures. Also it took a long time to get down, and even after sitting for a year never tasted better. Tasted watery, winey, and overcarbonated.

Of the 3 higher-gravity GF beers I've made, they've all been clones of non-GF beers, and they've all been vastly inferior to their clone siblings despite the fact that they were brewed around the same time under the same conditions. While the high-gravity-GF beers I brewed with WLP001 or WLP005 turned out alright, and actually tasted decent at the end. The one with the Belgian Trappist Yeast was pretty bad. Which made me sad too cause that's my fave style and the ingredients were $$$.

I'll probably give these guys another shot later this summer now that I have fermentation freezers and know about mineral ratios and amylase enzymes and maltodextrin and whatnot. But 2 years ago this forum didn't exist so I was flying pretty solo.

Can you post your recipe? What size starter did you use? I made a 9ish% tripel that turned out great, although there isn't much belgian about it.

 

[aggieotis]

Can you post your recipe?

I'll see if I can find it tonight. Really just need to put it all into BeerSmith like you do. Just got my copy of VMWare's Fusion, so my Mac will finally be able to use it.

 

[stefan1011]

Sounds like you're looking for what's essentially a Budweiser clone. However, since you're new to homebrewing, then you probably don't have a full lagering system of chest freezers and temp regulators to make a real lager. As such I looked around the forums and found this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/i-want-brew-budweiser-23302/

Budweiser Clone (BYO) - Modified to be Gluten-Free
by Karl Glarner Jr.

This is a great, easy-to-make pilsner-style beer made with ale yeast — no lagering
required. Comes close to many commercial light pilsners, with just a bit more flavor. (5
gallons)

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Sorghum Liquid Malt Extract
• 1 5/8 lbs. light honey
• 1 oz. Cascade hops (6% alpha acid): 0.25 oz. for 60 min., 0.25 oz. for 30 min.,
0.5 oz. for steeping
• 1 tsp. Irish moss for 15 min.
• 1 tsp. gypsum
• Safale US-05
or
White Labs WLP001
(WLP001 will make beer that's 2 ppm of gluten, not enough to cause problems for most celiacs...see sticky thread for details)
• 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step:

Bring 2 gal. water to boil. Remove from heat and add dry malt, honey, and gypsum. Return
to boil. Total boil is 60 min. Add 0.25 oz. Cascade and boil for 30 min. Add 0.25 oz. Cascade
and boil for 15 min. more. Add Irish moss and boil for 15 min. more. Turn off heat, add 0.5
oz. Cascade hops, and steep for 2 min. Pour into fermenter and top up with cold, preboiled
water. When cooled below 70° F pitch yeast.

Ferment seven to 10 days in primary at 70° F or below, then transfer to secondary and
ferment another seven days. Prime and bottle.
/end

If you make this though, you have to tell us how it turns out. I doubt there's a single non-commercial beer that's been brewed more than a couple of times, so we'd be interested in your tasting notes.

I brewed this exact recipe yesterday and it is fermenting away as I type. I will post my notes when it is finished. Thanks for posting this recipe!

 

[wolves63]

looking forward to seeing your notes, by the time you get our notes out I should just be starting so that will work out perfectly for me!!

 

[stefan1011]

I checked the final gravity of this batch (Budweiser clone) after 10 days in the primary. It was 1.015 and the beer looks and smells great. I plan on bottling this upcoming weekend and giving it a week or two to bottle condition and then I will post my tasting notes.

 

[aggieotis]

I checked the final gravity of this batch (Budweiser clone) after 10 days in the primary. It was 1.015 and the beer looks and smells great. I plan on bottling this upcoming weekend and giving it a week or two to bottle condition and then I will post my tasting notes.

Can't wait to hear what it ends up tasting like. Make sure to check your bottles at least once per week. The FG is a little higher than I would have expected (expected somewhere in the 1.005 to 1.008 range) for this beer, so there's a chance that with enough time you might end up with some gushers or even worse some hand-grenades.

In the meantime though, bottle what you've got this weekend if the FG hasn't changed much or is closer to the expected range, and then start trying the stuff at least once a week until it's done! Hope it turns out just like you're wanting...and definitely give us some tasting notes so we can figure out if we want to try it too.

 

[stefan1011]

Thank you for the advice, aggieotis. I was surprised at how high the gravity was as well. I figured another 5 days or so and if it didn't drop I would go ahead and bottle.

This is my first batch using Safale US-05. It has been fermenting at 70 degrees F in my basement. If the gravity doesn't drop on its own, is there a possibility of a stuck fermentation? Should I add more yeast? Or is it best to do what you suggested and bottle anyway and check the bottles often?

 

[aggieotis]

There's a really minor chance of a stuck fermentation, but since you used honey, and honey varies from hive-to-hive, it could just mean that your batch of bees puke out long polysaccharide chains.

1.015 is a good finishing point for many beers, could be that the Safale crapped out, could mean you need a bit longer on the fermentation, could mean your honey had more non-fermentables, could mean you need to add some yeast nutrients. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to just shake your carbouy to rouse some of the yeast and see if you can get them going again. Then just wait until the weekend, take you FG reading, if it's at or near 1.010 then just bottle it and be happy, if not bottle it and be happy, Just make sure that if you notice the beer getting over carbonated vent and recap the batch and you'll be fine.

Out of curiosity what was your OG? I would have expected that for this beer you'd have started at about 1.035. Figure that 75% of the sorghum and 90% of the honey should have fermented I would have expected a FG of 1.008; however, this is beer, so anything could happen. And even if the FG is slightly off, chances are that it will still taste pretty awesome.

Enjoy it in a few weeks!

 

[stefan1011]

Thank you aggieotis! I will shake the carboy and give it until Saturday. I have only used Danstar yeast before and they fermented quickly and thoroughly. The Safale was different in that it fermented rapidly, but for only a few days. To be honest, I was surprised when I didn't see any airlock activity after only a few days. I have satellite fermenter that I use to check gravity with and I looked at it every day and it appeared to have gone through all of the usual stages of fermentation, just a lot quicker than I was expecting.

The OG was 1.039 and I used a light-amber honey blend from Northern Brewer. If it tastes half as good as it smells, it should be good. I will post an update before I bottle. Thanks again for your feedback. It is much apreciated.

 

[aggieotis]

The OG was 1.039 and I used a light-amber honey blend from Northern Brewer. If it tastes half as good as it smells, it should be good. I will post an update before I bottle. Thanks again for your feedback. It is much apreciated.

With an OG of 1.039, your FG should be 1.009 or so.

Fortunately you're well below the range of a bad-tasting stuck fermentation (1.025-ish), so while you might still have some slow-fermenting sugars in there, I bet it will taste great. And the good news is that it didn't over-ferment leaving you with a ciderey tasting beer in the 1.004 range.

 

[stefan1011]

With an OG of 1.039, your FG should be 1.009 or so.

Fortunately you're well below the range of a bad-tasting stuck fermentation (1.025-ish), so while you might still have some slow-fermenting sugars in there, I bet it will taste great. And the good news is that it didn't over-ferment leaving you with a ciderey tasting beer in the 1.004 range.

That is good to know. I did shake the carboy and I have some fairly active airlock activity which has been going on for several days. I decided to wait until this Friday or Saturday to bottle. I will post a gravity and my observations.

Thanks for the help!

 

[wolves63]

thanks for keeping us informed, look forward to your results.

 

[stefan1011]

Bottled the GF Budweiser clone today. Final gravity was 1.008 and it certainly looks like a BMC style beer. It spent 10 days in primary and 12 days in secondary. I am going to give it two weeks in the bottle before a taste test.

 

[aggieotis]

Awesome, looks like things ended up fermenting just fine.

Hope it turns out like you wanted.

 

[stefan1011]

It has been almost 4 weeks in the bottle now so I decided to try one of the BMC clones I brewed.

Carbonation was great, but not a lot of head retention. Not a real strong hop aroma at all, but I picked up a slight apple note.

It is clean and crisp with NO sorghum "twang" at all. Clean finish with almost a "sweet" taste. Refreshing indeed.

My wife thinks this is the best GF beer I have brewed as of date. She said it didn't taste like a GF beer at all. I have to agree with her, it is a good beer. Perfect for summer.

 

[aggieotis]

That sounds delicious...tempted to try that batch myself.

 

[Lcasanova]

That sounds delicious...tempted to try that batch myself.

Awesome, not to hard to modify a recipe to be gf and the successful ones are even better!

 

[DKershner]

Awesome, not to hard to modify a recipe to be gf and the successful ones are even better!

A budweiser has hardly any gluten to begin with. I would say a mostly Brown Rice syrup beer combined with Willamette hops and lagered for awhile would get you very, very close.