basic taste differences in gluten free beer?

[razyrsharpe]

sorry if this has already been brought up, but what would be the basic differences in gluten free beer vs. regular beer as far as taste? my bro-in-law is a brewer and my sister (his wife) has the household on a gluten free diet. i thought about getting him an extract kit for gluten free, but i want to be able to describe what he is likely to experience with the taste. also, are there any other glaring differences of note? thanks!

 

[Yooper]

While I think gluten-free beer is a great alternative to those on a gluten restricted diet, I've never once tasted a gluten free beer that tasted as good as a regular barley beer. Sorghum is commonly used, and while it still makes beer it just doesn't taste like a "regular" beer.

I'd try a couple of commercial gluten free beers to see how you like them before diving into the GF brewing area.

 

[Legume]

Sorghum extract beers tast oddly tart, I get notes of sour apple.
in the best examples this flavor is tolerable, but for me it is preaty objectionable.

the best GF beers I have had are made from millet and or rice.

If you want to do all grain, you might do a millet and rice ale with grouse and eckert malts.
if you want extract, use rice extract, and do a partial mash with 4+ lbs of Eckert rice malt.

As for tasting comercial examples of GF beer, the broadly distributed GF beers are not very good...if you tast them dont get discouraged, you can do better at home.

 

[Osedax]

As for tasting comercial examples of GF beer, the broadly distributed GF beers are not very good...if you tast them dont get discouraged, you can do better at home.

I like Green's. It has gotten better since they changed their recipes. They use less sorghum than they used to. Although, their IPA is gross and all of them are expensive.

Like Legume said, you can do better than mostly all at home. Steeping grains with rice syrup as a base is a good start.

 

[refluxologist]

First thing to consider is that by replacing almost all of the ingredients with the GF sort and holding on to the expectation that its going to taste like a barley based beer is kinda silly.

So with that said they have a good flavour; sometimes the sorghum twang is pretty pronounced and other times not so much. I prefer the millet/rice variety myself with chestnuts and other seeds closing the gap pretty quickly.

I think as we learn to brew with these ingredients we can get closer to mimicking the barley style flavours people oh so love.

 

[mergs]

Sorghum beers are usually going to present a "twang" or as some describe a metallic taste. I get a sourness on my palate.

I offset this with brown rice syrup extract (substitute BRS for about 50% of the sorghum bill) and by also adding sorghum to late boil.

I've also used honey and sometimes raw sugars in the fermentables list.

The other big difference I get is mouthfeel. All my GF homebrews taste relatively thin and I use 4-8oz of maltodextin per 5 gal batch. Many of the commercial ones do too. I like Harvester's beers but they are also a little thin (and they're arguably at the top of their game now). I am hoping that Ghostfish will be able to fool everyone and be as good as barley beers.

Also, I think the style to start with is an IPA. You can mask a lot of twang with some nice hops. There's an awesome Grapefruit IPA recipe on Ghostfish's website.

I just did a GF clone of Ithaca's Flower Power that so far tastes fantastic (its carbing in the keg now) but my Amber Ale and Manny's clones were good but not great (I've given some away and got decent reviews but you never get the honest truth from friends ). I liked the Manny's actually, it was too thin but the sourness of the sorghum actually worked ok.

I am gearing up to start doing all grain millet mashes in the future because I think I've gone as far as I can with extracts.

 

[d3track]

I think sorghum tastes like cider. I want to try clarity ferm, I was listing to a podcast that reported good results with it.

 

[mergs]

I think sorghum tastes like cider. I want to try clarity ferm, I was listing to a podcast that reported good results with it.

If you're a celiac, careful with that

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/clarity-ferm-gluten-testing-gluten-sensitivity-354908/

 

[d3track]

If you're a celiac, careful with that

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/clarity-ferm-gluten-testing-gluten-sensitivity-354908/

Not at all, just have people who are trying to lower gluten in their diets.

 

[mergs]

Not at all, just have people who are trying to lower gluten in their diets.

Yep, just checking... clarityferm is controversial.

Come to think of it, I have had some folks tell me that some of my lighter fruit beer batches (all using varying amounts of sorghum, honey and BRS) taste or "drink like cider".

 

[Psylocide]

Not at all, just have people who are trying to lower gluten in their diets.

Ugh, sucks to be your bro-in-law.

Biggest crock ever.

 

[bernardsmith]

Sorry if this seems to be hijacking this discussion but brewing with millet: do you need to malt your own millet or is millet available already malted or do you simply add amylase enzymes to break down the starches into fermentable sugars?.

 

[Legume]

http://www.glutenfreehomebrewing.org/store/

you can order malted millet and rice here.

 

[mergs]

http://www.glutenfreehomebrewing.org/store/

you can order malted millet and rice here.

I just ordered some millet from them yesterday. they carry grouse's line.

There is also colorado malting that is sold thru boulder fermentation supply for homebrewers:

http://www.boulderfermentationsupply.com/coloradomaltedgf.html