It's my understanding that the brewing process reduces cyanide levels back down to "trace". Definitely don't eat raw malted sorghum though. I believe it is the heating (kilning + boiling) that removes the cyanide.
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Gluten Free Beer: Good News & Bad News
- Thread starter BBBF
- Start date
I haven't seen any documentation that definitively shows a reduction in cyanide due to processing with heat, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Still, I'd like to see an authoritative source citation before I'd feel comfortable working with any malted grain that is as high in cyanide as sorghum. Got any references?? ;D
They make "spit beer" (seriously) instead of using malt. Or if you mean African commercial beers (I don't know of any) maybe they use barley malt with sorghum adjunct.
They apparently use malted sorghum, though the variety may be somewhat different. In this short reference to it in HBD, they describe it as follows:
I'd be interested to see the Zymurgy article, and to learn if the brewing eliminates those cyanide compounds. Otherwise "cherry red ale" could take on a whole new meaning.
I'd be interested to see the Zymurgy article, and to learn if the brewing eliminates those cyanide compounds. Otherwise "cherry red ale" could take on a whole new meaning.
This is true, the cyanide is supposed to be concentrated in the growing shoots, not the remaining germ/hull/starch/stuff. Wayne--I have a horrible habit of remembering all sorts of things, but never knowing where I heard them. Why question my obviously universal truths?
I will see what I can come up with when I get home. In any case, folks do and have made beer with malted sorghum so it's probably not too poisonous. FWIW, the sorghum extract from Briess is (exogenous, I assume) enzymatically converted sorghum, not extract of malted sorghum. They have two ways of doing it which result in different "glucose equivalent" sugar concentration, or some such oddball measurement.
Why question my obviously universal truths?
Доверяй, но проверяй!
:icon_thumright: :laughing6:
Alright Mr Proverb (good thing Google speaks Russian!). Along with this thread appearing on the first page of the results for "sorghum malt cyanide brewing heat reduction", here is your evidence:
Tada! Told you I am always right. You know, except for that 80% of time when I am not.
Now go make some sorghum beer!
which says brewing makes it good and here is one that says degerming the malt is enough to reduce cyanide to acceptable levels even without turning it into beer:
and lastly from the WHO, see page 24 for the "brewing reduces cyanide" conclusion.
Tada! Told you I am always right. You know, except for that 80% of time when I am not.
Now go make some sorghum beer!
Buckwheat malting is going very well. I started Saturday morning and I'm already about ready to start drying the grain. The millet is still lagging behind, but I can see a few shoots starting to show. I really would have expected the buckwheat to take longer than the millet and amaranth because the larger grain should take longer to absorb water. I'm not sure if those grains take longer because that is the nature of the grain, my malting temps being closer to the required temp of buckwheat and quinoa than millet or amaranth or if the hulled buckwheat absorbes water faster because of it's lack of a hull.
BBBF, that really is a pretty pic!
And thanks, Aaron! I guess I'll have to incorporate some malted sorghum into a future recipe...
And thanks, Aaron! I guess I'll have to incorporate some malted sorghum into a future recipe...
Thanks. Unfortionatly, I didn't have as good of luck with the millet. I'm going to try malting a larger sample of buckwheat next (that I'll brew with) and work on some smaller samples of millet to figure out the procedure.
I decided to take advantage of the 4 day weekend and get back to malting. I tried another pound of millet and 5 more of the buckwheat.
I still can't get anything out of the millet. It might be that my basement temps are too cold for a grain that's used to a warmer climent, but I'm beginning to think it might be Whole Food's millet.
The buckwheat did malt, but it wasn't ready when I left for work Monday morning and after needing to work some overtime, I came home and it had definatley gone too far. Also, that resulted wet grains that didn't get rinses or moved around for 13 hours. There was a weird, buttery popcorn smell. I went ahead and kilned it. I don't think I'll put any real effort into making beer with this, although I will mash it and see if there is any conversion.
I still can't get anything out of the millet. It might be that my basement temps are too cold for a grain that's used to a warmer climent, but I'm beginning to think it might be Whole Food's millet.
The buckwheat did malt, but it wasn't ready when I left for work Monday morning and after needing to work some overtime, I came home and it had definatley gone too far. Also, that resulted wet grains that didn't get rinses or moved around for 13 hours. There was a weird, buttery popcorn smell. I went ahead and kilned it. I don't think I'll put any real effort into making beer with this, although I will mash it and see if there is any conversion.
Hehe, I co-malted some millet and buckwheat over the weekend too. ;D The buckwheat sprouts much faster than the millet. Mine is already drying, I liked my last go-around with undermodified millet so I'm going to try it again. I will be adding enzymes to mine though, since I know they won't convert on their own.
First, you blind the grain with the lye. Then you sneak up on it from behind and turn it into beer. ;D
You can use lye as an anti-fungal during malting. I have personally had better luck so far with K-meta (higher germination yield), but the lye did keep the mold at bay and my 3 data points are hardly conclusive.
You can use lye as an anti-fungal during malting. I have personally had better luck so far with K-meta (higher germination yield), but the lye did keep the mold at bay and my 3 data points are hardly conclusive.
Hefe Buchweizen
Last weekend I finally used by buckwheat and brewed a hefe weizen.
3 Gallon Recipe
4.5 lbs of Buckwheat Malt
1.5 lbs of Dry Sorghum Extract
14.9 oz of Rice Hulls
.5 oz Liberty Hops (60 minutes)
Danstar Munich Yeast
Even though I malted the buckwheat, I'm added some Convertase and some alpha amyase to the mash. As much as I'd like to say my malt fully converted itself, I'd also like to have some beer when this is done.
It was a looooooong brew day. My decoction procedure was perfect. I had to add more water when I gelatinized the grains because they ended up having the consistancy refried beans. I'm not sure if that's a buckwheat problem or if I'll have to include that step in my procedure. I ended up mashing for 2 hours and then sparging was impossible. I had a stainless braid, with a colander over it, I lined my MLT with a 5 gallon paint straining bag and I added 14.9 ounces of rice hulls. I could get a cup of clear, yellow wort an then nothing. After screwing around for way too long, I ended just sqeezing the bag. It wasn't clear and pretty, but I did get a 3 gallons of 1.030 wort
I normally do not secondary, but a lot of trub, hop pellets and flour made it into the primary and I was worried about it causing off flavors. Yesterday, I racked two gallons of clear liquid to the secondary and left a gallon of sludge. I'm going to hold onto the sludge for another week or two to see if it settles at all.
Last weekend I finally used by buckwheat and brewed a hefe weizen.
3 Gallon Recipe
4.5 lbs of Buckwheat Malt
1.5 lbs of Dry Sorghum Extract
14.9 oz of Rice Hulls
.5 oz Liberty Hops (60 minutes)
Danstar Munich Yeast
Even though I malted the buckwheat, I'm added some Convertase and some alpha amyase to the mash. As much as I'd like to say my malt fully converted itself, I'd also like to have some beer when this is done.
It was a looooooong brew day. My decoction procedure was perfect. I had to add more water when I gelatinized the grains because they ended up having the consistancy refried beans. I'm not sure if that's a buckwheat problem or if I'll have to include that step in my procedure. I ended up mashing for 2 hours and then sparging was impossible. I had a stainless braid, with a colander over it, I lined my MLT with a 5 gallon paint straining bag and I added 14.9 ounces of rice hulls. I could get a cup of clear, yellow wort an then nothing. After screwing around for way too long, I ended just sqeezing the bag. It wasn't clear and pretty, but I did get a 3 gallons of 1.030 wort
I normally do not secondary, but a lot of trub, hop pellets and flour made it into the primary and I was worried about it causing off flavors. Yesterday, I racked two gallons of clear liquid to the secondary and left a gallon of sludge. I'm going to hold onto the sludge for another week or two to see if it settles at all.
