I have a couple of friends that are gluten intolerant and would like to try a gluten free brew. I have seen some recipes on this forum, is there any hints, do and don't s that i should be aware of when buying my ingredients or for the brew process? Any help appreciated. :fro:
Wanting to brew a Gluten free, Any tips.
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Lots of tips and hints. Best to check out the gluten free section of the forum. It goes over the list of ingredients and reiterates the necessity of sanitation to exclude cross contamination of gluten ingredients.
Beyond the ingredients that are being tested, ranging from extracts to all grain, most of the process seems to be similar to brewing normally. (Although the all grain seems to have some difference due to the lack of beta, and temperature requirements, but that's beyond me at the moment.)
Oh, and choosing a yeast thats gluten free, or understanding that if you don't use a gluten free yeast, to reduce the amount of gluten to a tolerable level. The level will depend on your friends if they can have under 20ppm, or if they're on a complete restriction that even the smallest bit will react with them.
Beyond the ingredients that are being tested, ranging from extracts to all grain, most of the process seems to be similar to brewing normally. (Although the all grain seems to have some difference due to the lack of beta, and temperature requirements, but that's beyond me at the moment.)
Oh, and choosing a yeast thats gluten free, or understanding that if you don't use a gluten free yeast, to reduce the amount of gluten to a tolerable level. The level will depend on your friends if they can have under 20ppm, or if they're on a complete restriction that even the smallest bit will react with them.
Good article by Charlie Papazian in this months Zymurgy (Jan/Feb 2011), with a recipe for a gluten-free IPA, made from normal barley malts and a normal yeast.
He uses a White labs product called Clarity-Ferm, a "protien-reducing enzyme". It is added with the yeast. He tested the resulting beer with an "EZ Gluten Test" kit - "no detection of any gluten".
He uses a White labs product called Clarity-Ferm, a "protien-reducing enzyme". It is added with the yeast. He tested the resulting beer with an "EZ Gluten Test" kit - "no detection of any gluten".
I would be wary of that. If a gluten free person wishes, they may be willing to test it out, but I would not advise saying that it is gluten free, or if you do, let them know that it was produced from a gluten source and that the gluten proteins should be reduced to a lower level, not that all gluten is 100% gone. The strips are only 99% accurate and only measure down to 10ppm. The strips can also give false positives and negatives (see ketchup and mustard).
There are people who can let a few proteins slip by and there are people who get a reaction from any tiny bit of gluten, even under the 10ppm.
It seems that someone has on several occasions tested Corona and the test gave less than 10ppm, but I don't know if they tried the beer to see if it gave them a reaction.
I would advise creating a totally gluten free beer, not using gluten sources so that all your gluten free friends could have some, not some of the friends and leave the others out.
See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/lazy-mans-gf-beer-187412/ regarding the EZ test and several things about Clarity Ferm.
Edit: Also, from that thread, it appears that several people did a drink tests with separate beers with clarity ferm and each of them had a reaction, although reduced, to the beer so it's not completely free of gluten.
Edit2: Additionally, it does appear from the AHA website that Papazian does call it Gluten-reduced. Not Gluten free.
There are people who can let a few proteins slip by and there are people who get a reaction from any tiny bit of gluten, even under the 10ppm.
It seems that someone has on several occasions tested Corona and the test gave less than 10ppm, but I don't know if they tried the beer to see if it gave them a reaction.
I would advise creating a totally gluten free beer, not using gluten sources so that all your gluten free friends could have some, not some of the friends and leave the others out.
See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/lazy-mans-gf-beer-187412/ regarding the EZ test and several things about Clarity Ferm.
Edit: Also, from that thread, it appears that several people did a drink tests with separate beers with clarity ferm and each of them had a reaction, although reduced, to the beer so it's not completely free of gluten.
Edit2: Additionally, it does appear from the AHA website that Papazian does call it Gluten-reduced. Not Gluten free.
Thanks for the very good information. I'm mostly ignorant of celiac desease. Although I passed on as much information as was practical, I did not also pass on all sorts of warnings that accompanied the article. Anyone wanting further information should do their research (including contacting White Labs) and also read the full article.
Yeah, a lot of people don't have to worry about it. It's a pretty good idea for people who just want to reduce gluten but aren't necessarily allergic. Unfortunately, those of us who do have reactions get to know all this stuff and have to be aware unless they wantn to have one of the various types of reactions. Resturants are better about it and I'm glad that I live now rather than a while ago when there wasn't gluten free things in every store.
Would you take a moment and educate me on this? I have always assumed it was similar to lactose-intolerant people, who get the sh1tz when they drink milk.
I could easily google it, of course, but I'd really like to hear it from you. Thanks.
Here's the hard part. It's vastly different from person to person.
My chiropractor has a gluten allergy of sorts, but it doesn't seem too severe to him. Whenever he has any, he gets a migrane throughout the next day and it will then pass with no other ill effects.
One of my coworkers has had to go gluten free to alleviate arthritic pain since it causes immflamation of his joints.
As for me, well. From what I've determined so far, it causes issues with my digestion so that I don't seem to absorb nutrients leaving me constantly hungry and the food itself seems to pass through without being digested. (I call it the carrot test. If I eat a carrot and don't digest it, I'm having problems.) It's not quite the runs, but 75% there. This lasts for a week. Then for the next two weeks I go into, I guess a sort of chemical withdrawl where I'm hazy, easily irritated, and have a lot of trouble concentrating.
I've also had light ezecma (dry skin rashes) frequently prior to being gluten free which may be connected since they didn't go away permanently until I cut it out of my diet. And I may have had tooth enamel problems during the time, but that's harder to tell. I used to get cavities almost every checkup despite frequently brushing and flossing. These past few years I've been forgetting to brush a bit, but haven't had significant problems like before.
Some people have also said that there was some bloating and that my face doesn't seem as swollen, despite not having much of a weight loss based on excluding gluten. (Many gluten free foods are more processed and have a higher Glycemic index too).
I'll see if a thyroid problem was related the next time I have a blood test, but that may be a separate item.
I've only been gluten free for about 3-4 years now, (Which does mean I miss Guiness and other stouts and red ales terribly.) I was self diagnosed in that I had stomach issues, including lactose intollerance (which wasn't too bad since yes, I had the runs for that, or the next day, but nothing much worse than the gluten thing). I was ramping up some whole wheat baking. (Bread every other day, cakes etc) and kept getting worse so when I moved and got a different job, I switched my diet and went "Crap. It's working." Having to deal with a month of issues and not just a single day means I avoid it more than say... my chiropractor does.
Some of the others in the Gluten free forum have different symptoms and have to either be gluten free, or make gluten free beer for others (usually the SWMBO).
http://www.csaceliacs.org/celiac_symptoms.php is a good symptom site to see some of the other issues some people have.
My chiropractor has a gluten allergy of sorts, but it doesn't seem too severe to him. Whenever he has any, he gets a migrane throughout the next day and it will then pass with no other ill effects.
One of my coworkers has had to go gluten free to alleviate arthritic pain since it causes immflamation of his joints.
As for me, well. From what I've determined so far, it causes issues with my digestion so that I don't seem to absorb nutrients leaving me constantly hungry and the food itself seems to pass through without being digested. (I call it the carrot test. If I eat a carrot and don't digest it, I'm having problems.) It's not quite the runs, but 75% there. This lasts for a week. Then for the next two weeks I go into, I guess a sort of chemical withdrawl where I'm hazy, easily irritated, and have a lot of trouble concentrating.
I've also had light ezecma (dry skin rashes) frequently prior to being gluten free which may be connected since they didn't go away permanently until I cut it out of my diet. And I may have had tooth enamel problems during the time, but that's harder to tell. I used to get cavities almost every checkup despite frequently brushing and flossing. These past few years I've been forgetting to brush a bit, but haven't had significant problems like before.
Some people have also said that there was some bloating and that my face doesn't seem as swollen, despite not having much of a weight loss based on excluding gluten. (Many gluten free foods are more processed and have a higher Glycemic index too).
I'll see if a thyroid problem was related the next time I have a blood test, but that may be a separate item.
I've only been gluten free for about 3-4 years now, (Which does mean I miss Guiness and other stouts and red ales terribly.) I was self diagnosed in that I had stomach issues, including lactose intollerance (which wasn't too bad since yes, I had the runs for that, or the next day, but nothing much worse than the gluten thing). I was ramping up some whole wheat baking. (Bread every other day, cakes etc) and kept getting worse so when I moved and got a different job, I switched my diet and went "Crap. It's working." Having to deal with a month of issues and not just a single day means I avoid it more than say... my chiropractor does.
Some of the others in the Gluten free forum have different symptoms and have to either be gluten free, or make gluten free beer for others (usually the SWMBO).
http://www.csaceliacs.org/celiac_symptoms.php is a good symptom site to see some of the other issues some people have.
Thanks. It's your call whether you try the White Labs stuff or not. You need to determine if the possibility of the symptoms appearing is worth the test of the stuff. If you try it, please make sure to post here or (better) in the gluten-free forum.
Good luck!
yamincornor
New Member
One of the most difficult things about being diagnosed with Celiac is the negativity- our mind seems to run constantly on what we can't eat. We've found that one of the most helpful things that we can do for our self is to sit down and make a list about the things that we can eat. Some of the regular foods that we can still eat, without doing any gluten free baking at all. We have to try it and then try it again and must not use a regular recipe by exchanging hours, Use recipes those are moist already , If we have any problems with lactose, use the recipes free from lactose including buttermilk rather than milk.
