Wheatless brew?

[Oakwood]

Does anyone know of a recipe that has not wheat in it. I have a friend who wants me to brew a batch of beer for him but his wife has a wheat allergies. Any response to this is a good response. Thanks in advance.

 

[cweston]

I'm a little confused: the vast majority of beers do not contain any wheat.

Any all-barley malt extract (i.e "regular" LME or DME) will not contain wheat.

 

[magno]

There are plenty of recipes that dont use wheat. Did you use wheat in the summer ale, stout, or pilsener in your sig?

What kind of beer do they like?

- magno

Edited to fix spelling. Give me a break, it was early in the morning.

 

[Oakwood]

I never looked at the recieps as they all say assorted grains and well that would lead me to think that there might be some wheat strains in there. I wouldn't have asked unless I was concerned about hurting his wife with a slight bit of wheat in the beer. They are very very carfull with what they eat and where they eat so I don't want to pass along beer that would counter act that is all.

 

[cweston]

I never looked at the recieps as they all say assorted grains and well that would lead me to think that there might be some wheat strains in there. I wouldn't have asked unless I was concerned about hurting his wife with a slight bit of wheat in the beer. They are very very carfull with what they eat and where they eat so I don't want to pass along beer that would counter act that is all.

You could contact the manufacturer of the extract you use, just to be sure that there is no trace of wheat. But any barley extract should be wheat free.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Yea, you should be in the clear with most recipes. Unless they specifically say "wheat" in the recipe it won't have it in it.... now, cweston has a good point. You might want to contact the manufacturer because they might use the same machines for wheat that they do for barley so there would be traces. Also, if buying grain, you might want to make sure they came in NO contact of wheat grains.

 

[Moonpile]

It was my understanding that some people with wheat allergies or sensitivities are ok with barley and some are not. I'd ask this lady if she knows. If she's ok with barley, it should be no problem to brew her a wheat free beer. That said, double-checking with the producers of extract would be a good idea.

Papazian's "The Homebrewer's Companion" (did I get that right?) has some tips on brewing for people who can't handle barley, and has some more information on wheat intolerance in general. These procedures involve malting alternative grains, and are probably a good bit more involved.

If she's patient you can make her a mead! Cider would also be an easy bet.

Moon

 

[david_42]

If this "wheat" allergy is really Celiac Disease, what is needed is a gluten-free recipe. Barley is not gluten-free, but grains like sorghum and rice are, and they can be used to make beer. Your friend needs to check.

If it is a wheat allergy, you'll have to contact the extract manufacturer to find out if wheat is processed in their plant. Most malt extracts don't have wheat added, but unless the plant exclusively processes barley, contamination can occur.

 

[FatMonsters]

Does anyone have any good glue-free recipes? My friend can't handle gluten, so I want to make some beer she can handle. Any recipes for say a blonde ale? I'm not sure it could work for darker beers like ambers or porters.

 

[FatMonsters]

GLUTEN, not GLUE! That would be gross!

 

[david_42]

This comes up every couple months, but as yet we haven't had any reports back. If you search on "gluten-free", you'll find other references and sites. This is a source of Sorghum extract,
http://www.undergrounddigital.com/sorghum.htm Also, if you have a LHBS that carries Northwest extracts, they have a gluten-free rice extract. You should be able to make a blond or APA without too much trouble. If you want more color or darker flavors, you have to start malting millet, buckwheat or sorghum.

Redbridge by AB is a sorghum-based GF beer and it's fairly good.

 

[magno]

GLUTEN, not GLUE! That would be gross!

At least you were looking for glue-free, not recipes with glue.

 

[scottthorn]

This site is devoted to gluten-free brewing. It's the project of the current president of my local homebrew club.

 

[FatMonsters]

Hey thanks for the links!

 

[skeeordye11]

Also, BYO magazine just ran an article on gluten-free brewing. I didn't look to closely at it, but I will include a link if you'd like to check it out.

http://www.byo.com/

 

[Paperface]

Both my mother and brother have Celiacs. I recently brewed a G-free beer for them. It was a wit-bier of sorts, with coriander and orange peel, etc.

My homebrew store carries American Classic Sorghum Extract. You can get it here: http://www.americanbrewmaster.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1487
It ferments drier than what I'm used to, but the resulting beer still tasted ok. It definitely tastes different, but my mom and brother absolutely loved it (consider that they havent been able to have beer in ages).

A couple things to note:
1. You MUST use a dry yeast. Dry yeasts are cultured on molasses and cane sugar, which is ok. Liquid yeasts are cultured in barley, so they are no good. Danstar assures me that all their dry yeasts are 100% gluten free (and kosher).

2. Cross contamination must be avoided. Replace all the soft plastics in your gear: hoses, stoppers, etc. They can absorb gluten from previous batches. Glass and metal and your buckets should be ok given you clean the bejesus out of them before you use them.

3. You must carb with sugar, NOT DME. Obviously, DME has barley, which in turn has gluten, so it's out.

There are other options for things to use as well. For the next batch I do, I think I'll steep some toasted buckwheat grains (also gluten free) to get a darker color and nuttier flavor. Buckwheat can be found at many nice grocery stores (Whole Food here has it). Rice is also ok to use. Fruit beers would also be mighty tastey. If you use something other than real fruit (extract or whatever), just be sure there aren't any gluten additives added (for thickening or whatnot. Not likely, but check to be sure).

PM me if you have any questions. I researched this extensively before I did my first batch.

 

[jarrid]

Hmm. I'm finding this subject fascinating, not because I know anyone with wheat allergies or Celiac's, but because I'm interested in the unique flavors possible from brewing with different grains. There are so many of them!