Beyond Barley Brewing – BeerSmith Podcast #13 – BeerSmith™ Home Brewing Blog

This week I interview popular brewing author Randy Mosher and veteran brewer Dan Listermann about brewing with grains other than barley. We explore the full range of alternatives – everything from common grains like wheat and corn to more exotic options like gluten-free beer, unmalted grains, sorghum, oats, rice, rye, and even cicada beer.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (39:53)

This week’s guests are Randy Mosher and Dan Listermann. Randy is the author of the popular books “Radical Brewing” and “Tasting Beer”. Dan Listermann runs the Listermann Brewing Company and also a large homebrew shop.
Randy talks about some of the wide variety of alternative grains available to the average homebrewer – and tells us how you can brew beer with just about any of them.
Dan talks about brewing beer with rice, and Randy discusses how to use corn.
Dan talks about his experiments with high portions of sugar in malt extract – including debunking the myth that a lot of sugar introduces a cidery taste. Dan instead argues that the cider taste in many extracts is caused by stale extract rather than sugar additions.
Randy explores some other alternatives including buckwheat, spelt, quinoa and other off beat grains.
Dan talks about making 100% oat beer from malted oats. He reports it made a boring beer.
Randy talks about malted vs unmalted grain versions and the differences between these.
Dan explores his experiment with malting grains at home.
Randy talks a bit about what to use for making gluten-free beer – as may people are gluten intolerant today.
We go on to explore rye beers, roasting and smoking malts, and other alternatives.
Dan finishes with a description of his once every 17 year Cicada beer (made with bugs).