Experimental Low-Gluten Beer #1

Posted: March 16th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Homebrew | No Comments »

Since I’m not having any serious arthritis reaction to beer or small quantities of gluten-laden products (lasagne, tasty bread), I figured I’d try making a low-gluten beer. Through taste-testing, I’ve already determined that a gluten-free beer isn’t going to be completely satisfying to drink. While Let’s Brew carries sorghum extract, it costs $30 for 5lbs. So I decided that the price-performer for experimentation was rice syrups.

I found a recipe online for gluten-free beer that uses rice syrup, corn syrup, and molasses.  But I also really wanted to make a maibock, and couldn’t see a bad reason to combine the two. The unique thing about the maibock recipe in Complete Joy of Homebrewing is the toasted malted barley. It calls for light malt syrup is damned expensive right now ($13/3.3lbs, and the recipe calls for 9.9lbs!). Rice syrup solids are only $2.50 a pound, and that’s dry weight. To make rice syrup solids match up to 9.9lbs extract syrup, I only needed 4 pounds of dry solids (I’m trusting the math of the guy behind the counter at FH Steinbarts). Awesome!

The Recipe
1lb 2-row malted barley
4lbs. rice syrup solids
2lbs corn syrup (beware the store-bought varieties that come with vanilla flavoring!)
1.5oz Mt. Hood hops
1.5oz Hallertauer hops
German Lager Yeast (or Yager Least, depending on your preference)
3/4 cup corn sugar for priming at bottling time
Putting it Together

1. Get 2 gallons of water heating up to 130-150 degrees on the stovetop. This will take a little bit to heat up, but it’s key to keep the heat at 130-150.
2. Heat your oven to 350 degrees and toast the 2-row malted barley for 5-10 minutes  so it turns carmely light brown. While it’s still warm, crack or grind the barley, whichever you can manage at home (try crushing it with a rolling pin).
3. Put the crushed barley into a grain bag (if you have one) and steep it in the 130-150 degree water for 30 minutes.
4. Bring the water up to a boil as you add the rice syrup solids and corn syrup.
5. When the water is boiling, add your Mt. Hood hops and boil for 30 minutes.
6. Add 1oz of the Hallertauer hops and boil another 15 minutes.
7. Add .5oz of Hallertauer hops and boil for the final 15 minutes.
8. Optional: add 1tsp. of Irish Moss to the final boil to help the proteins settle during fermentation and give a more clear beer.
9. In your clean, sanitized carboy, add 2 gallons of cold water
10. Strain all grains and hops out of the wort.
11. Pour wort into carboy, using strainer to catch any remaining grains or hops.
12. When the wort cools off to 76ish degrees, pitch your yeast.
13. Ferment to completion, lagering optional.
14. Siphon beer out of carboy into bottling bucket, add corn sugar, and bottle. I gather that lagers need to be kept cold in the bottle while conditioning for 4-6 weeks.

So, sounds good in theory! I’m only a the “I just pitched my yeast” stage, and I’m going to try lagering it in the garage where the temperature is in the low- mid-50s right now. Wish me luck with my LagerBock Mystery Beer!

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