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Gluten-free test brew

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akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Ok, gearing up to make a test batch of GF beer. I don't think I'll make it to Concord to pick up sorghum (or will I?), so I'm wondering how horrible this sounds instead:

1 gallon test batch

1.25 lbs rice extract
1/4 cup molasses
2 oz quinoa, toasted
2 oz quinoa, roasted
Fuggles hops ~15 IBU + aroma addition
US-05 or Nottingham yeast
OG/FG 1.050/1.005 maybe?

Still have to check with the LHBS guys that the rice extract they sell is indeed gluten free. They're supposedly going to get into "real" GF products soon, but not yet. If this sounds nasty please tell me soon and I'll try to get the gumption to drive to Concord tomorrow instead for the sorghum extract. Either way I'd love to get this one started. :toothy10:
 
Well I did make it to B3 and got the sorghum extract. So here's the recipe as it will go down tomorrow:

1.25 lbs sorghum extract
2 tbsp molasses
2 oz quinoa, toasted
2 oz quinoa, roasted
1/4 oz Fuggles 30 mins
1/4 oz Fuggles 5 mins
US-05 yeast

I've got some quinoa soaking in water now for the "roasted" stuff. We'll see how that goes, maybe I'll try it tonight. I'll also put up a taste test of the sorghum, since I've never had that before and I'll have extra (enough for another batch!).

Also I got a response on another forum (gasp!) that the rice extract recipe would probably be just fine as well. So those who don't have sorghum can try the rice instead, but I might suggest adding something else with flavor since the rice will contribute almost nothing but sugar.
 
Ok, the results on the grain roasting are in!

For the "roasted" grains, I first soaked them in water for about 18 hours. Then I spread them on a sheet (in approximately a single layer) and baked at 350 for 13 minutes. Smells really good. Then I stirred and increased the temperature to 450. I baked for 15 minutes, stirring a few times for even cooking. These grains have a nice deep brown color and taste toasty. So much for "roasted".

For the "toasted" grains, I just spread them on a sheet in a single layer and baked at 350 for 15 minutes, stirring once. These grains picked up a slightly toasted color. Turns out these taste a little more "roasted" than "toasted". Go figure. I guess in the future I'll swap the names.

More results tomorrow! I'm excited.
 
Ok, it is brewed.

The quinoa grains didn't add too much color, but they brought a little flavor to the mix. The sorghum extract is quite pale, but the addition of molasses has this one looking fairly brown right now. The wort was surprisingly not very sweet tasting. It was sweet, but less sweet than barley wort. Same goes for the sorghum extract (makes sense I guess)--sweet but not as much as barley (same SG per pound though).

Hopefully this will turn out sort of like a brown ale. The hops were a bit overpowering in the finished wort (though I tasted the leftovers in the kettle, which might be extra-hoppy).

I've got almost 2 lbs of the sorghum left, so if it turns out good (or terrible), I can try again later. Will keep the updates flowing. :icon_thumleft:
 
Very slow activity has started. Just a few bubbles coming up the sides, no krausen yet. 72 F.
 
68 F. Activity picking up, but....

Color me befuddled. :confused2: There is a yeasty layer at the bottom of the jug, which is emanating bubbles. The top 2/3 or so is pretty clear, and no krausen. I double-checked the yeast packet and it definitely says "US-05 dry ale yeast". Swirling the jug disturbs the layer but not for long. Very odd.

Either way it is fermenting, or something that looks reasonably like fermentation. No funky smells to report. Whatever, I'll see how it's going in the morning.
 
Leonora said:
Thanks for keeping us in the loop! There are a number of GF in my life. I am not a beer brewer so I am looking forward to learning from you!

Leonora
Click to expand...

Hey Leonora,

Thought I might expand my process notes for you and others who haven't done the beer thing before. Pretty easy really.

I toasted the grains like I said above. Then I cooked them briefly like you would to eat them. (not a standard brewing process but these are non-standard grains. next time I'll use flaked and won't cook them.) Then I added almost a quart of warm (160ish) water and stirred. Let stand for a few minutes, then strained the grains, collecting the water in the brewpot. I returned the grains to their little pot and added another almost quart of warm water, stirred, let stand, and strained that water into the brewpot. The grains are now done (though useful for munching on, taste a little weird at this point though).

I already had 2 quarts of warm water in the brewpot, and the grain water makes just about a gallon. I added the molasses and sorghum with the heat off and stirred to dissolve (heat off is to avoid scorching). Then I heated to boiling, added the hops and started the timer. Hops boiled for 30 and 5 minutes per recipe. Heat off when the timer hits zero, then into a sink of cold water. Stir, stir, stir for a few minutes to cool as rapidly as possible. Once it gets below 165, pop the lid on and circulate the water around the pot. Cool until it's cool, then transfer to jug and pitch. Voila!

I did pitch a little warm (78), but ah well. A little fruity quirkiness might be ok in this beer.
 
Hey I'm really glad to see you doing this!

I'm waaaaay busy but I'll be watching this thread with baited breath.
You said next time you'd use flaked grain and not cook it--why? And how would I flake grains?

Thanks dude, good luck

~Z
 
Update: all of 5 bpm in the airlock, slow and steady. Still has the bottom fermentation thing going on. Smells like hops. 64 F.

I cooked the grains because I needed to solubilize the starches. Flaked grains are sort of cooked already (rolling adds heat), so the starches will come out without much help. With flaked grains I should be able to just put them in some warm water and be done with it, versus having to cook them first. Either works fine.

I can get flaked quinoa at the store. Not sure how you'd do it at home. I guess you probably wouldn't unless you had a heavy duty grain rolling mill.
 
Ok, more updates: 62 F now (the average temp in the closet is 62), down to 4 bpm. Unless it went crazy the first night, this feels very odd. On the plus side, the entire liquid is now cloudy at least, so the yeast must have decided to take up residence in the sorghum.

I added 1/4 tsp generic nutrient, just in case that's part of the problem. I'll see if anything changes substantially.
 
Well, 63 F and still 4 bpm in the airlock. But, there are now yeasty bubbles living on the surface which were not there before. I'll say it's progressing nicely. Though it's only going about the same speed as the cyser which is at least a week old now. Strangest brew ever!
 
Alright, last update for awhile as I'm going out of town tomorrow. 63 F and now 6 bpm! There's even a high water mark, so I think I can stop worrying now. I guess the GF beers may need a little extra nutrient push??
 
This batch is plugging along pretty slowly now. Temperature matches ambient throughout the day (60-63). Most of the yeast has settled towards the bottom into a fairly thick layer, but the entire volume is still opaque. I will wait for this to settle some more and hopefully clear a little before bottling. If it looks good in the next few days, I might convince myself to bottle over the weekend. More likely, it will be around New Year. I will however sneak a taste in the next couple of days when I taste test my cyser. Cross your fingers!
 
Actually the bulk section of my local market has "flaked quinoa", $2.09/lb. Looks like little quinoas all flattened out. Cereal works too though, I've heard of people using it with success (they're always after my Lucky Charms Ale!).

You know you don't have to cook the grains when you put them in water and the water gets cloudy (like oatmeal). If the water stays clear, the starches need to be pulled out via cooking.

I'm also hoping that the flaked grains are easier to toast/roast. I think I did ok, but the results of my little toasting experiments did not come out exactly the way I had imagined. We'll see soon if the flavors came out ok. I'll go get dinner ready and see if I can sanitize the thief.
 
Didn't actually mash. I've heard the sorghum ferments out pretty dry, so the grains will contribute mostly starches (for body). Hopefully there will be some long sugars in there too, plus the molasses.

If this experiment doesn't turn out horrid, I might get some amylase and try again, this time breaking down the starches a bit. I would aim for 154-6ish, to promote the longer sugars since I'll still be getting all my fermentables from the sorghum. 20 minutes should be more than enough.
 
Alright, the moment you've all been waiting for: taste test!

If you've read my other taste tests, you know I'm not very good at this. But here goes...

Appearance: cloudy brown. It might never clear due to starch haze, but we'll see.
Aroma: smells a bit like hops, with what I guess I'll call a "malty" aroma behind that.
Flavor: more or less tastes like a thin, weak, brown ale. It's got a bit of a sour-ish tang (I hear the sorghum ferments like that), and some hoppy flavors. There's even something heading towards "roasty" which makes it taste a little like a brown. It is, however, very thin (carbonation should help).

Overall, I'm fairly pleased. I would have liked a more pronounced roasty/toasty set of flavors, but the fact that it tastes drinkable at all is pretty good in my book. At least it's a baseline for these ingredients, which I should be able to work more with in the future.

Right now, possible modifications include more molasses (should add some flavor and body) and more roasted grains (the ones that actually tasted roasted, not the ones I thought I was roasting, hehe). But the hop level is pretty good right now for this style (we'll call it a brown). Next year I'll try to put together another batch with the remaining 1.75 lbs of sorghum I have. :cheers:

Thoughts on priming with molasses? Too unpredictable? How about maple syrup?
 
Bottled today. I primed with 16 g of sugar: 8 g of cane sugar, 1 tsp molasses, and 1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp maple syrup. Should be interesting, hehe. The priming solution did smell & taste like what I think will help the beer out, so we'll see how it goes. I got 8 12oz bottles plus half a glass of spillage. Tastes pretty good actually, I hope it carbonates ok. (it's cold and nothing has been carbonating right for me the last month or so.)

I'll crack one open in a few weeks to see how it's coming along.
 
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