Using Unmalted Rice With Enzymes?

[kdw2pd]

Has anyone tried unmalted bulk white rice with enzymes for base grains for GF brews? My thought would be to do something similar to what Legume does with unmalted millet. The advantages of rice are that it's cheaper and easily available, and gelatinizes in the temperature range of both SebAmyl L and BAL100, so I'd be able to do a single infusion BIAB.

The idea would be to do this for beers where malt character isn't prominent (IPAs, Belgians), and supplement with crystal rice malt, GF oats, candi syrup/honey, and maltodextrin.

 

[Legume]

Hi there kdw2pd,

I have tried this a couple of times, both attempts (APAs) made decient but not outstanding beer.
The rice was just too nutral in flavor for me, but it might be a good fit for some styles (think Coors Light).
I believe that rice has a higher gelatinization temperature than millet (not lower), so it would probably be a poor fit for a BAL100 mash. My non-malted rice beers have also been very cloudy, even after chilling the keg for extended periods of time. I am not sure why this is.

You might try using instant rice as base malt, I have always wanted to give this a try. Instant (minute) rice is pre-gelatinized, I imagine it would convert quickly and would not require a high temp rest.

If you try this out, please share your results!

 

[JMath]

It might be a good way to make an economy product (Coors Light as Legume said). I think most of those macro brews use rice as a base anyway.

 

[Lefou]

Rice and corn is what makes up the adjuncts in Coors.
San Miguel and Asahi beers use rice and barley for the majority of fermentables so they can be very light, sweet, and sneakily strong. To properly mash rice, it needs to be boiled well and the starches turned to near mush consistency for a good starch conversion with amylase enzymes.