Interesting to know, and really helpful, thanks! Have you roasted grains and then used enzymes? Does this approximate any kind of darker malt in a useful way?
We don't have any commercially available GF malts here yet beyond sorghum extract. I am solving for cheap base malt myself using a few different methods. We have one local commercial beer that is drinkable (O'Brien) and Glutenberg is available (expensively). The main question I have is whether a base malt extracted from unmalted grains is likely to be better than other options...Taste is obviously hugely subjective, I will ultimately give it a go myself but am trying to figure out what priority to put on various experiments.
After 9 months or so of homebrewing, my current state is -
- Extract base malt costs are around $4/kg and are tasting OK for certain styles of beer. They still take months of conditioning to be at their best.
- Cheapest grain I can get a base malt from is about $4 per kilogram and I will get around 50% of that as sugar. This tastes better quicker, but I am pretty time-poor so will need some automation around this at some point.
So the extract base is easy and cheap, but not a great finish in the beer. Am experimenting with different sugar mixes to see if I can improve things and dry the finish out. Grains make the beer much better, but are not a fit for every style.
So many experiments to do still