My first all-grain gluten-free beer.
I’m very excited. I’m brewing my first all-grain gluten-free beer today. I’ve brewed a few extract versions with sorghum as the base extract with so-so results. Sorghum has an aftertaste that I describe as metallic. These gluten free attempts were ok, but I want a gluten-free beer that measures up to the craft beer and homebrews that my lifestyle has become accustomed to.
Our best attempt so far, an extract brew we named S.O.B. Bitter
Our last attempt was our best attempt so far. It was a min-mash. Dave used sorghum syrup, malted oats and roasted buckwheat. He made an English bitter that we named S.O.B Bitter. It is very drinkable but don’t drink a real English bitter anytime close to drinking the gluten-free version or you’ll suddenly become very depressed and realize gluten-free beer sucks.
The malted oat grain that Dave used in the S.O.B. Bitter is great because oats have a lot of husk material. And by “a lot” I mean “A LOT”. This allows me to use other malted grains that don’t have as much or no husk material. I guess I could use rice hulls if I need to but this makes it easier. I’m using two other malted grains that I found while shopping at Whole Foods, Quinoa and white rice.
The Quinoa and rice are labeled as “sprouted” which basically means the grains have been germinated and then dried before the grains have fully sprouted. This essentially is the same definition as malting with the exception of kilning the grains. For those not familiar with all-grain brewing, grains have to be malted in order to make beer. Unmalted grains don’t have the enzymes needed to convert the starches into sugar. Finding “malted” Quinoa and rice should add more complexity to the beer and I’m excited to try them.
From what I’ve read Quinoa has a nutty mild flavor. The oats add a flavor that is close to a malty character. Rice should help create a crisp finish. I’m also adding toasted buckwheat for added nuttiness and dark candi syrup to add color and caramel notes. My goal is to create a beer that is close to an amber or brown American ale.
This is the mash of our first all-grain gluten-free beer.
Here is my recipe:
5lbs Malted Oats
3 lbs Sprouted Quinoa
3 lbs Germinated Rice
1lb Toasted Buckwheat
1lb Dark Candi Syrup
1oz Cascade Hops (60 minutes)
1oz Amarillo Hops (15 minutes)
0.5oz Amarillo Hops (5 minutes)
0.5oz Amarillo Hops (Dry Hop)
Lets cross our fingers and hope this beer tastes great!!!
Cheers,
Desiree Knott
High Gravity Homebrewing & Winemaking Supplies
7164 S Memorial
Tulsa, OK 74133
(918) 461-2605
desiree@highgravitybrew.com
http://www.highgravitybrew.com
About The Author
Well, an update on my first all-grain attempt.
First, I need to cook the rice first even though they were “sprouted”. Just too hard and dense for the enzymes to do their thing so the gravity was lower than expected.
The beer is still VERY light in color so I’m adding another pound of dark candi syrup to bump up the gravity and color. I’m also going to add half a pound of malto dextrin to give it some body.
Fingers are still crossed!
That actually does sound like a tasty recipe. Do, let us know how the finished product turns out.
I’ve been wanting to make my own GF beer, haven’t brewed in a very very long time though! Please let us know how it turned out and let me know how I can fin out more!
thanks!
Hello, I started brewing Gluten Free last year, in fact my beer was the 1st I had tasted for 18 yrs…I haven’t stopped brewing since! Anyway…I have just finished up malting about 5-8LBs of Millet and I am working on some more Buckwheat at the moment. I too am longing for a total grain brew, versus working with Briess Sorghum syrup. I just wish to say I can do it! Anyway…I have never been able to get any of my partial mashes to pass the Iodine starch test before adding to the brew pot. Have you ever tested using Iodine to see if your mash is ready to brew with? It’s simple to do,
I’m anxious to hear how your all grain batch turns out! I have searched and searched for other brewing Gluten Free…there has to be more of us? Surely!
I have several recipes that all of my friends love, Blackberry beer, Pumpkin Beer and a Coffee Beer. All Gluten Free.
Thanks,
Greg Tabor
S.W. Missouri
Greg,
I did do an Iodine starch test and it looked like all the starch converted. We are looking into trying Briess’ Brown Rice Syrup. I’m hoping it doesn’t have the after taste that the sorghum has.
I’d love to see your recipes. The coffee beer sounds good. I love porters and stouts.
..Desiree
[...] My first all-grain gluten-free beer. [...]
Hello, I wouldn’t know what I do if I couldn’t purchase Briess Sorghum syrup? I love it, but I don’t use it alone, I have to do a partial mash with Oats, or Buckwheat or something else. I usually use at least 7 lbs of it per batch. As for the coffee…I add 4 double shots of espresso (8 O’clock Brand) at bottling time along with my priming sugar or honey. In about 4 months…it is fantastic! As with the pumpkin and blackberries I add when I rack over to the secondary and give it about 21 days, then bottle. Again in about 3-4 months it tastes wonderful! With the 3lbs of blackberry puree I add about 2 inches of licorice stick crushed to the carboy. My favorite yeast is White Labs English Ale (which is gluten free). I recently made my first lager using Wyeast 2206 (which is gluten free) using just sorghum syrup. At bottling time I wasn’t impressed you could say, but I’ll give it a few weeks and then try it. Would love to come visit your store! Not too far away for me. Another favorite of mine is Apple Cider! Can’t wait until Apple season comes again! Greg
Thanks for letting me know about the starch test results, not sure what I am doing wrong there?
reading through homebrewtalk and the cream of 3 crops thread they use minute rice since it has already been cooked. but they also say that you will need rice hulls. BTW i need to stop and pick up the ingredients for creme of three crops. going to use it for my first all grain. cant wait to read how this turns out though, i do have a friend that would love a GF beer.
Hi Desiree,
Curious to know how this beer is shaping up or recommendations on tweaks.
I would love to brew a GF for a friend.
Thanks
Tim,
I’ve been really lazy and just now got my GF beer in the keg last Thursday. It should be carbonated by the end of the week and I will give it a taste. Going into the carboy I took a taste and thought it was a bit thin but that is because I’m used to brewing ten gallon batches and I added too much water to the boil and ended up with 6.5 gallons instead of 5 gallons of beer. I’ve calibrated my mash paddle now so I can measure how much liquid is in the boil. That won’t happen next time!
Hi Greg,
Would you be willing to share some of your recipes for GF beer?
Thanks
I entirely love brewing beer at home! It has been such a fun hobby. My family has been supportive, but most especially while its time to try my latest recipe. I was surprised to learn that it is actually the deep hoppy brews that I prefer. Just wanted to say thanks for the tips you’ve left along the way, its been helpful.
Hi Desiree,
So, how has that beer shaped up? I am really curious!
Thanks
Tim
It turned out great! The amarillo hops really stand out and using candi syrup added the caramel quality that I was trying to get. The malted oats REALLY added to the head retention. I was targeting an American Amber, one of my favorite styles and I have to say that if I didn’t tell you it was gluten free, you wouldn’t notice anything odd about the beer. As a certififed beer judge I would score it at 29-32 in the American Amber Category, which is in the upper end of good and lower end of very good. Not bad for a gluten free beer.
I over sparged though and ended up with 7 gallons instead of five so I added a pound of dark candi syrup to adjust the gravity and color. I usually make ten gallon batches and I kept looking at the brew pot thinking. “That just doesn’t seem like 6 gallons…” I have since calibrated my mash stick to measure the volume of the boil kettle. That won’t happen again.
I plan on brewing another all-grain next week (this time with the correct volume). If it turns out well I’m going to make a kit out of it. I’m also getting some brown rice syrup from Briess so I can make an extract version to test and sell as a kit.
I’ll write a new post when I make the next batch.
Cheers,
Desiree Knott
desiree@highgravitybrew.com
http://www.highgravitybrew.com
http://www.examiner.com/x-16115-Tulsa-Home-Brewing-Examiner
http://www.facebook.com/highgravitybrew
Desiree,
So I thought I would give your recipe a try (at least pretty close). I found the (5 lbs) malted oats on line at rebelbrewer, and the (3lbs) of Sprouted Quinoa at Whole Foods along with the (1lb) of Toasted Buckwheat (also called Kasha). I couldn’t find sprouted rice, so I used (3lbs) of Flaked Rice from my homebrew shop instead. I ground the toasted buckwheat and then pre-cooked it (used 1.5 qts of water, but this ended up pretty thick, so next time I’ll probably pre-cook it with at least 3qts). I ground the malted oats and this gave me some husk material, but after also grinding the Quinoa and Rice it didn’t look like it had enough husk material to sparge well, so I also stirred-in 2 lbs of Rice Hulls. Mashed all the grains (including the pre-cooked buckwheat) at 154F for an hour then lautered — even with the added Rice Hulls, I still had my sparge stick a couple of times; but it sparged out pretty well to about 7.5 gals for 1.044 (after adding in the 1 lb of Dark Candi sryup), which after boiling for an hour, cooling and draining into fermenter gave me 5.25-5.5 gal at 1.052 OG. Aerated and pitched a pack of dry American Ale yeast and fermentation was going well within 12 hrs. At 12 days, I transferred to my secondary today, the SG is down to 1.019 and it seems to taste pretty good; however, I did have a full gallon of sediment that I left behind, giving me a bit under 4.5 gal in my secondary. I’ll let this settle out for a few more days before priming and bottling.
My questions — did you have this much sediment in your fermenter? Have you experimented to see which of the ingredients is the major contributor to this sediment?
John
John,
If memory serves, I did have quite a bit of sediment but it didn’t seem like a lot more than I usually have. I honestly haven’t had the chance to brew another batch. I’m hoping to brew another one in a few weeks after our homebrew competition is over.
Cheers!
Desiree