First off, I'd like to thank all of you for even having this section of the forum, it's been incredibly helpful.
I had just begun to get into tasting decent beer when I found out that I had gluten reactions so I have trouble with the different styles. Pre-Gluten Free, I prefered reds and stouts, as far as I knew, and pretty much just hit one microbrewery a month to go for a sample set to try to find what I liked, what I didn't like, and the differences between them. I then had to stop, only drinking new grist or redbridge and not finding either really to my taste, recently a resturant (Jolly Pumpkin) here offered a gluten free beer (Belgian style IPA?) comprised of sorghum, rice, tapioca and chestnut. I also found that the local supply shop carried sorghum syrup and the safale/saflagers line of gluten free yeasts.
I'd like to attempt some gluten free styles, and I've been reading through the wealth of information both in the threads and the wiki, but I'm having trouble finding where a good starting point would be. Someone had suggested to create a simple ...ESB..? with WGV, or WVG... Golding hops and the Saf-ale T-58. And I'm trying that, though I think I diluted it too much and wound up with a lower OG that I needed, perhaps because I scaled down the recipe to create a gallon at a time and somehow added too much water. At this point, it's been bottled for over a week, and while alcoholic, it's lacking taste, body and enough carbonation, so I'm just using it for cooking.
Now, I'm having trouble with a great deal of the style terminology, and while I'd like to try to make the chocolate-coffee stout at some point, I'd like to start off easy and practice with one style that comes close to something I'd like to drink. Would there be any recommendations? You'll probably have to explain it to me pretty slowly.
I'm also wondering about both DKeshner and Lcasanova, how did you begin your gluten free brewing? Was it starting off gluten free or did you have prior experience to know what you were aiming for?
I had just begun to get into tasting decent beer when I found out that I had gluten reactions so I have trouble with the different styles. Pre-Gluten Free, I prefered reds and stouts, as far as I knew, and pretty much just hit one microbrewery a month to go for a sample set to try to find what I liked, what I didn't like, and the differences between them. I then had to stop, only drinking new grist or redbridge and not finding either really to my taste, recently a resturant (Jolly Pumpkin) here offered a gluten free beer (Belgian style IPA?) comprised of sorghum, rice, tapioca and chestnut. I also found that the local supply shop carried sorghum syrup and the safale/saflagers line of gluten free yeasts.
I'd like to attempt some gluten free styles, and I've been reading through the wealth of information both in the threads and the wiki, but I'm having trouble finding where a good starting point would be. Someone had suggested to create a simple ...ESB..? with WGV, or WVG... Golding hops and the Saf-ale T-58. And I'm trying that, though I think I diluted it too much and wound up with a lower OG that I needed, perhaps because I scaled down the recipe to create a gallon at a time and somehow added too much water. At this point, it's been bottled for over a week, and while alcoholic, it's lacking taste, body and enough carbonation, so I'm just using it for cooking.
Now, I'm having trouble with a great deal of the style terminology, and while I'd like to try to make the chocolate-coffee stout at some point, I'd like to start off easy and practice with one style that comes close to something I'd like to drink. Would there be any recommendations? You'll probably have to explain it to me pretty slowly.
I'm also wondering about both DKeshner and Lcasanova, how did you begin your gluten free brewing? Was it starting off gluten free or did you have prior experience to know what you were aiming for?