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Gluten Free Sorghum Syrup/Extract

pcollins

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Is anyone using this for doing GF brews? I'm not seeing anything in the search function on BS and there certainly isn't anything in the ingredients list.

Thoughts?
 
We have yet to try brewing a GF beer. However, It is on our docket for 2013 as we have friends & Family who are intolerant to Gluten. When we brew, we will use will design our own with the help of our BS software and ideas we get from BYO mag and the many Homebrew forums online. Excited to see more posts on this thread....

Brewing 'Brookside Skunk Piss' American IPA on Earthday! Cheers!

www.Facebook.com/CandSBrewery
 
I have samples a number of gluten free beers this last year and a half.  So far, I found all sorghum based beers to range from icky to meh.    My wife is very sensitive to gluten.  sadly she also love big, hoppy beers.  I plan to come up with a drinkable, hoppy, balanced beer that she can drink.

The two commercial gluten free beers I thought were the best are Omission Pale Ale and Harvester IPA.

Omission is brewed with a low protein barley and employ enzymes to remove the gluten.  I think Clarix or Clarex is added after primary fermentation to cleave up the gluten.  It still has some level of gluten but is below the level needed to be considered gluten free. 

Harvester was made with a variety of ingredients including oats, nuts and  sorghum and was nicely hopped.  This was my fav as it was pretty hoppy.  Unfortunately it is  not sold in CA yet. 
 
I don't know if Rice is "gluten free" or not - but I have made some very nice, well hopped Rice IPAs out ot the brown rice syrup you can find in health food stores. Just thought I would throw that out there.

Seems I used 4 jars (3.3lbs each  I think) and a normal hop schedule I use for my low end (IBUs) IPAs and it is quite good!
 
88Q said:
I don't know if Rice is "gluten free" or not - but I have made some very nice, well hopped Rice IPAs out ot the brown rice syrup you can find in health food stores. Just thought I would throw that out there.

Seems I used 4 jars (3.3lbs each  I think) and a normal hop schedule I use for my low end (IBUs) IPAs and it is quite good!

Do you have a recipe and brew notes?  I might give a 2G batch a try.
 
Since it was an extract batch it was quite simple. After the boil started up, I added 
60 min    1 oz Cascade
60 min    1 oz Citra
60 min    .5 oz Chinook
7 min      .5 ozCascade
7 min      .5 oz Citra
7 min      1 oz Simcoe
0 min      .5 oz  Cascade
0 min      .5 oz Citra
0 min      .5 oz Simcoe

Dry hopped for three days after ferm stopped with .5 oz ea Citra Cascade & Simcoe

Like I said I don't know if brown rice syrup is gluten free so check that out first if this is important!

(I have also used noble hops with brown rice syrup and produced some very nice lager type beers!)
 
88Q said:
Like I said I don't know if brown rice syrup is gluten free so check that out first if this is important!

Thanks 88Q!
We have 2 friends and a family member with Celiac disease. That's why I am interested in this recipe ;)
I found this on the net (source http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/your-plate.php click brown rice syrup).

I copied the text below from their site (after cross checking this with other sources) since it explains well how it is produced and what brands there are on the US-marked.

Regards, Slurk

"Q. Is brown rice syrup gluten free?
A. Brown rice syrup is a sweetener made by fermenting brown rice with enzymes to disintegrate the starch content,
according to manufacturer AG Commodities Inc. Then the fermented liquid is strained and cooked until it becomes syrup.
The enzymes are the key to whether the brown rice syrup is gluten free. Barley enzymes, which are often used, make brown rice syrup that is not gluten free. However, if fungal enzymes are used, then the brown rice syrup is gluten free.
Several brands are labeled gluten free, including Lundberg Farms’ Sweet Dream, Nature’s Flavors’ organic brown rice syrup and Suzanne’s Specialties’ Genmai organic brown rice nectar. Lundberg Farms purposely switched from a cereal enzyme to a fungal enzyme to make their brown rice syrup gluten free.
You will sometimes see brown rice syrup listed as an ingredient in processed foods. If it’s used in a product that is labeled gluten free, like Erewhon brown rice cereal or Enjoy Life Foods’ Cocoa Loco snack bars, you can assume it is gluten free.
But if brown rice syrup is used in a mainstream product, it can be harder to tell. Some companies note the use of barley or barley malt in their brown rice syrup, but the allergen labeling law does not require them to. If you see brown rice syrup on a mainstream label, but the source is not listed, the only way to be sure is to check with the food maker."

 
Is there any ingrendient that compares to sorghum extract. I'm trying to create a recipe for a very basic gf recipe and I don't believe sorghum is in the ingredient list. ANy ideas?


Dan
 
No ideas to contribute yet, but I'll be increasingly interested in GF recipes.  My daughter is sensitive to gluten as well as nuts and milk products.  She's 18 now, but by the time she's 21 I'd like to know what I'm doing for gluten-free brewing.
 
boulderbaybrewing said:
Is there any ingrendient that compares to sorghum extract. I'm trying to create a recipe for a very basic gf recipe and I don't believe sorghum is in the ingredient list. ANy ideas?


Dan

I have used the Briess CBW Sorghum LME before with some success.  The stats should be pretty darn close to the CBW Pilsen light LME, just the Sorghum is more fermentable in my experience (finishes with a FG=1.006ish).  for 5 gallons, I use 2 cans of the sorghum extract, buy some quinoa that is certified gluten free at the store (comes in 12oz boxes, so 2 boxes would be 1.5lbs for 5 gallons) and toast it at 350F for 30-45 minutes, then add amylase powder to it (LD Carlson sells it through my LHBS) with a high mash temp (156ish) to create some unfermentable sugars.  I'll also use the Simplicity candy sugars 90L or 180L for color and flavor in decent amounts (target a color and see what it comes out to).  I target about 15-20 IBU with Saaz or Styrian Goldings.  The yeast I use is the WLP530 Belgian and I let it free rise from 70F-80F and hold at 80 until fermentation is done.  This gives some fruity and mild haylike tones to it.  I notice a mild green apple note from the sorghum, but can't quite get rid of it...  In something with hop character, it would likely be hidden pretty well (Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River talks about covering equipment flaws with hops in an interview question about Blind Pig IPA).

White labs says their yeast will finish below 5ppm of gluten if pitched into a gluten free wort.

On gluten sensitivity:  I have some friends that are severely sensitive, and this 5ppm might be too much for them.  I ran my yeast through several cycles of gluten free beers before I would use it with them in mind.

On ingredient sourcing:  some ingredients, such as brown rice, are naturally gluten free.  However, if you are dealing with someone that has a high sensitivity, you have to ask if it was processed on equipment shared with gluten products (wheat and barley are the big ones).  Many times the equipment is shared.  Think peanuts and shared equipment.

 
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