You do what with the buckwheat?

[silly yak nightmare]

Hi out there.

This may sound real dumb but I am trying to do a gluten free beer for a friend of mine. The problem is: I have created my own malt from buckwheat BUT the recipe calls:

Put crushed malted buckwheat into strainer bag, add to 1-1/2 gallons of water in brewpot. Keep buckwheat in brewpot, stirring, until water starts boiling. Remove buckwheat .............

Now from what I read, that is not much time for it to be "mashed"

I have attched the rest of the formula for your info.

add rice syrup, corn sugar and 1/2 oz. each of the Saaz and Hallertauer hops. Boil for 30 minutes and add 1/4 oz. each of the Saaz and Hallertauer hops. Boil for 15 minutes and add another 1/4 oz. of each type of hops. Boil for another 15 minutes to make a total boiling time of 1 hour, then let the remaining 1 oz. Hallertauer hops steep in the wort for 2 minutes. Strain into your fermenter, add cold water to make 5 gallons total, then pitch yeast when cooled to room temperature. It is important to chill the wort as quickly as possible before adding the yeast. Reference this page for some wort cooling tips.

This "beer" will ferment for longer than most ales, for about 10 days. Add 3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling, and let the beer age for at least 1 week before drinking.

Instructions for Malting Buckwheat:

Since as gluten-free homebrewers we can't just go to our homebrew supply store and buy malted buckwheat or millet, we must malt it ourselves in order to brew with it. Luckily, this is a pretty simple process. First, obtain raw (that is, uncooked and untoasted) buckwheat from a health food store or co-op. Rinse about and let it sit for 30-48 hrs completely submerged in water, rinsing it off every 8 hours or so. The buckwheat will expand as it soaks up some of the water and also produce a sticky oily substance which should be rinsed off. Now put the buckwheat into a strainer or fine-mesh colander and let it sit in the open air in a cool dark place, rinsing off every 8 hours to prevent mold. After 1 day you will see rootlets forming. Let the buckwheat sit in the open air for about 2 days, or until some of the rootlets are about twice as long as the grain bodies. Spread the buckwheat out in a thin layer on several cookie sheets and bake in a 200-250º oven until the buckwheat becomes hard and crunchy (and tastes remarkably like Grape-Nuts) At this point you may increase the temperature and make dark-roasted buckwheat, for darker-colored beers. Use a rolling pin or a glass jar to crush the buckwheat.



Does this sound right?

Cheers

Luke

 

[Janx]

Yeah that's just steeping the grains...kind of a pain to bother to malt the grain if you aren't then going to mash it.

I don't know the enzyme content of buckwheat, so I don't know what the particulars of mashing it would be, but there is lots of discussion of mashing and sparging on this site as well as other places on the web. You'll need a mash/lauter tun and you'll need to hold the grain at specific temperatures for specific times. Then you'll sparge the grain by rinsing it very slowly with hot water (sparging). Just look around for mashing/sparging techniques and you'll answer a lot of questions and come up with many more

 

[hawktrap74]

what other grains can you malt yourself.

 

[silly yak nightmare]

Yeah that's just steeping the grains...kind of a pain to bother to malt the grain if you aren't then going to mash it.

I don't know the enzyme content of buckwheat, so I don't know what the particulars of mashing it would be, but there is lots of discussion of mashing and sparging on this site as well as other places on the web. You'll need a mash/lauter tun and you'll need to hold the grain at specific temperatures for specific times. Then you'll sparge the grain by rinsing it very slowly with hot water (sparging). Just look around for mashing/sparging techniques and you'll answer a lot of questions and come up with many more

A Bit more research has turned up some info on buckwheat. Apparently it is very strong in flavour. It would seem the recipe is really only about imparting a flavour from the malt. I have found some info on mashing buckwheat on
another web site. I'll create a mash following that formula and make a wort from that.

Thanks

Luke

 

[pilkinga]

Hey Silly Yak,

http://www.fortunecity.com/boozers/brewerytap/555/gfbeer/gfbeer.htm


This is the best site I've seen for actual GF brewing. In most of their recipes they use sorghum as the main fermentable, and buckwheat is also used, but not in large quantities. I think the buckwheat lends to the color more than anything so that the GF beers look like regular beers.

My wife has Celiac (Gluten Intolerant) and I would be real curious to see how your beer turns out. Make sure you post about your results and final recipe and any other insights you may discover along the way.

 

[ryser2k]

Hmm I was just wondering yesterday what sunflower seeds would be like in a brew... at least now I know it has been done! I might have to give it a shot...

 

[silly yak nightmare]

Hey Silly Yak,

http://www.fortunecity.com/boozers/brewerytap/555/gfbeer/gfbeer.htm


This is the best site I've seen for actual GF brewing. In most of their recipes they use sorghum as the main fermentable, and buckwheat is also used, but not in large quantities. I think the buckwheat lends to the color more than anything so that the GF beers look like regular beers.

My wife has Celiac (Gluten Intolerant) and I would be real curious to see how your beer turns out. Make sure you post about your results and final recipe and any other insights you may discover along the way.

I'm about to half mash the malt as per instructions from www.sillyyak.com.au and will add this mash to the formula. And the web link above is quite good also but from what I've read, you have to take the plunge to see how it'll turn out. I'll advise how it turns out.

Cheers

Luke

 

[Genghis77]

Thanks pilkinga. I have been looking for some beer recipes using sorghum. Mainly, because I can get a sizable quantity free. Only thing I found is use in a lambic.

 

[Brau_Haus]

Hmm I was just wondering yesterday what sunflower seeds would be like in a brew... at least now I know it has been done! I might have to give it a shot...

Did anyone ever try this, and what were the results? I have a friend who is constantly eating those things.....

 

[BargainFittings]

I have tasted beer made with sorghum malt extract.

Several homebrew shops sell it including morebeer.
Sorghum Extract (3 Pounds) | MoreBeer

It makes a very decent base for beer. It is a 100% gluten free product.

It would be a challenge to make different styles with it.

 

[bensonellie]

I am about to start th buckwheat malting process. Wondering how yours turned out? I have made the Silly Yak recipe twice now. It's fine, but since it's mostly honey and rice, it's rather sweet. I found the same recipe above that uses malted buckwheat, so I'm curious how it turned out.

 

[starrfish]

Have you considered a cereal mash (boiling un malted ground buckwheat for 20-30 min before adding to main mash) for buckwheat. A South Carolina brewery uses buckwheat in one of their brews (RJ Rockers Brewing Company). Not sure of their process, but they seem to be helpful to home brewers.

 

[jman]

im still a little uncertain what the best form of buckwheat to use is. will groats work? or do i need to use unhulled buckwheat seed? i seem to have seen posts that say both.

i've been making some tasty sorhum-based GF beers for teh last two years, but i'd like to start malting different gf grains, so any help from those with experience is greatly appreciated.

and i'll try to remember to post my gf clone of McMennamin's Ruby ale when i get home.

 

[mloster]

Nope. You can malt buckwheat groats. They've always work fine for me and are one of the easiest grains to malt in comparison to millet or quinoa (they're so damn small).

 

[BBBF]

You can malt hulled buckwheat. I have done it several times. I have also malted amaranth and quinoa.

Millet needs to be unhulled.

 

[bensonellie]

Cereal mash? That would cut down on my prep time if I don't have to malt! I may investigate how it will change the final taste.

 

[starrfish]

I'm trying a cereal mash for some un malted pearled barley in another brew. not expecting much utilization out of it other than body & head retention, and maybe some flavor. Buckwheat has a strong sharp slightly sour addition to flavor, thought you may get same by using the cereal mash technique to gel starches to a some what usable adjunct.

Not a gluten free guy but pop over here for some interesting ideas... like I said RJ rockers here in SC may be able to help with a simple as a email. I had a question about one of their brews as a home brewer and they promptly responded.

 

[J8D]

This will not help you much.

 

[joewalkrd]

It seems like, based on my reading of research in the last few days, malted buckwheat doesn't have very good converting potential on its own and exogenous enzymes are needed. With this in mind, is it really worth going through the trouble of malting the buckwheat if some exogenous enzymes are needed? It seems like a brewer could just roast the unmalted buckwheat groats, lightly crush, and mash this with added enzymes?