Let me begin by stating I am not a celiac. The question that would naturally arise is, then, why gluten-free beer?
Well, my girlfriend, her brother and his girlfriend are all celiacs. And we all live together. The entire house is celiac with the exception of yours truly.
As such, most of the products in our house are gluten free. My diet is primarily gluten-free, and for the most part there is no problem. A lot of gluten-free alternatives are popping up on the market, and the bulk of them are excellent alternatives.
Bread? Not so much - I stick to good-old wheat bread.
Beer? Definitely not. I've tasted a lot of gluten-free beer, and there is maybe 1 we've come across that is tolerable. I feel for my girl friend. I feel for her brother. And I feel for all celiacs with no good gluten-free beer on the market.
The solution, in our eyes, was to take the matter in to our own hands and work hard at brewing gluten-free beer that would not compromise on taste.
A lot of research and planning went in to our first brew, and we're very excited to have just begun brewing our first attempt at a Kolsch-style gluten-free brew.
The problem with brewing gluten-free beer is finding an equivalent alternative to the traditional beer grains. Our research showed the closest match to barley in terms of FAN, enzymes, and sugar content is Sorghum, both in raw form, syrup extract, and the syrup itself. Sorghum is the most commonly used ingredient in gluten free beer, however it imparts a tangy, bitter, or citrusy aftertaste. While we wanted to keep away from sorghum, making a light coloured beer is difficult without it. So for our first batch we decided to use Sweet Sorghum Syrup from Briess but to keep it as a minimal percentage of the grain bill. To do this, we incorporated Rice Syrup Solids in the wort, used to lighten the body of the beer and add alcohol. Hallertauer hops were used - a classic German aroma hop with a pleasant, mild, yet spicy flavor and aroma with some earthy notes. We used Honey and a touch of Pure Maple Syrup at the end of the wort for taste.
The batch is currently fermenting. After the primary fermentation period is over we will rack the beer in to a glass carboy for a second fermentation period of approximately 7-10 days. At this point the beer will be bottled and left for several weeks to carbonate, and then the fruits of our first batch will be sampled!
After sampling the product of the first batch, refinements to the recipe will surely follow until we are satisfied with the results, at which point we'll open sampling of the beer to friends and family for critique.
After we started this batch we learned of the apparently superior Bard's Malted Sorghum. Basically, the Sweet Sorghum Syrup we used (and which is widely available) is obtained from the unmalted grains of Sorghum. The Bard's Sorghum is malted and then the syrup extracted - we've read that this is far superior to the unmalted sorghum extract and eliminates the tangy, citrus aftertaste. Unfortunately it is only available from Bard's and they don't sell it as a stand-alone product - you have to buy an ingredient package for $47.99 US that contains 6lbs of the Malted Sorghum Extract.
We'll see how the first batch turns out and will update the blog then!
Cheers!
