Whole Foods Bulk Bin

[sacandagabrewing]

Hello All! So I have been homebrewing for some time but one of my best friends who is extremely gluten intolerant asked me to make her an ipa. I was looking around at some of the gluten free suppliers online and they are crazy expensive. Any thoughts on using the Bulk Bin from Whole Foods? What would be good to use and what would be better to stay away from? The less I have to shell out money on the better!

 

[IslandLizard]

Not sure Wholefoods sells malted grains. If they do that would be excellent.

To make beer you need either (malted) grains that are gluten free, in the mash, such as millet, buckwheat, quinoa, maize, oats, sorghum, rice, etc. or use a gluten free malt extract, such as sorghum or rice (malt) syrup, there are probably others now too.
Nope, none are cheap, but shop around for a decent price.

https://beerandbrewing.com/gluten-free-craft-malt/
http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Malting101/Gluten_Free_Brewing.htm

From what you describe, your friend needs absolute gluten free foods and drinks, not gluten reduced.
It's very important to make sure the ingredients used are indeed 100% gluten free. That means produced in dedicated gluten free areas and processes.
Make sure they are not just 'gluten reduced' as those are allowed by the FDA to be labeled as 'gluten free' in the American market.

Using Clarity-Ferm or Brewer's Clarex will NOT produce gluten free beer, but merely a gluten reduced beer at best.

 

[FatDragon]

I've heard that for people who are seriously gluten intolerant, bulk bin grain can be an issue because of cross contamination across the bins. Just a thought.

 

[NGD]

I've heard that for people who are seriously gluten intolerant, bulk bin grain can be an issue because of cross contamination across the bins. Just a thought.

This was my first thought. You can go the grain route, but I think it might make life easier if you go with some type of extract. Also found this for recipe ideas https://www.glutenfreehomebrewing.com/recipes/findrecipe.php

 

[bracconiere]

i bought a bag of whole oats at the feeds store once when they were out of barley, made a batch of 100% oat malt beer....but it wasn't 100% pure oats, i suppose...apparently horses and chickens don't get gluten intolerance like people do....

 

[IslandLizard]

i bought a bag of whole oats at the feeds store once when they were out of barley, made a batch of 100% oat malt beer....but it wasn't 100% pure oats, i suppose...apparently horses and chickens don't get gluten intolerance like people do....

What else was in there? Oat kernels are really narrow, almost needle-like.

 

[bracconiere]

What else was in there? Oat kernels are really narrow, almost needle-like.

lol, odd balls. i get a few corn kernels in my barley too...and yeah. i had to tighten up my mill for the oat malt...still got bad efficiency....but decent at upper 60's according to beersmith...but the OP said cheap, and i can get a 50lb bag of whole oats for 12.99 at the feed store...and they have enough enzymatic power to self convert malted....

another option to the OP would be rice beer, i was making a 100% rice beer with 20lb $8 bags of white rice, i just threw it in a pot with mash water and let it gel. Added amylase, then a LOT of rice hulls. sparged...then added gluco to the fermenter and dry hopped to keep it from going sour....

 

[NGD]

..but the OP said cheap

another option to the OP would be rice beer, i was making a 100% rice beer with 20lb $8 bags of white rice, i just threw it in a pot with mash water and let it gel. Added amylase, then a LOT of rice hulls. sparged...then added gluco to the fermenter and dry hopped to keep it from going sour....

I don’t think the OP said cheap..just not crazy expensive. I’m starting to think you really could mash chicken feed and still get something drinkable. Gotta ask, how did the rice beer turn out?

 

[KeinGluten]

Another option in this case, since the requested style was IPA, is to use sorghum malt extract syrup. Sorghum has an odd flavor that comes out in something like a pale lager or a blonde ale, but I've had IPAs turn out fine based on sorghum extract, since the hoppiness covers for the 'twang', as it's described.

 

[bracconiere]

Another option in this case, since the requested style was IPA, is to use sorghum malt extract syrup. Sorghum has an odd flavor that comes out in something like a pale lager or a blonde ale, but I've had IPAs turn out fine based on sorghum extract, since the hoppiness covers for the 'twang', as it's described.

just be sure to tell them it's brewed on equipment that also handles wheat and barley! lol

I don’t think the OP said cheap..just not crazy expensive. I’m starting to think you really could mash chicken feed and still get something drinkable. Gotta ask, how did the rice beer turn out?

rice beer was 7% alcohol, and very light with dry hop flavor....(and i actually have come to prefer homemalted chicken feed....more malty, grainy then store bought malt)

 

[KeinGluten]

just be sure to tell them it's brewed on equipment that also handles wheat and barley! lol

yeah it is important to communicate what's touching what in terms of equipment. As far as equipment goes, anything hard (metal and glass) is good to go as long as it's cleaned well, but anything soft (wood and plastics) should not be shared between gluten batches and gluten free batches.

 

[LittleRiver]

My daughter has tested postive for Celiac, so she can't enjoy any of the beer I make. I looked into making some gluten free versions, but ended up making cider for her instead. That makes it easy to use separate equipment (fermenter), so there is no cross contamination.

 

[chaps]

I've heard that for people who are seriously gluten intolerant, bulk bin grain can be an issue because of cross contamination across the bins. Just a thought.

Can confirm. Bought some rice hulls from the LHBS and tried to be super careful of getting an unopened bag to get mine out of and a “clean” scooper. Didn’t work. Whole batch had to be scrapped.