New to homebrew

[aggieotis]

So pretty much, just play with it until you get what you like the best.....most likely it will be a mix of 3 or so GF grains just so that you can get the best of everything you are looking for. Does that sound about right?

You got it!

Personally I've found a ratio of about 1-to-1 rice-to-sorghum extract creates an excellent base for brewing. Then on top of that I malt or toast up some other GF grain to add some flavor.

Also, I've had some great success with even just going the all-extract route, so I would recommend trying that first and then branching out from there.


Barley:
87% Carbs
3% Fat
10% Protein
6% RDA Calcium
28% RDA Iron

1/1 ratio rice/sorghum extract:
90, 5, 5 and 5, 28
The ratios are really close, and the rice pulls down the mineral content of the sorghum to eliminate a lot of the 'off' or 'tang' tastes that people notice in sorghum-only beers.

 

[DKershner]

Just so you know I've only used liquid yeasts and none of the people that have drank any of my beer have had any problem. Using liquids gives you much more variety.

Personally I found that the time I used S-05 versus the time I used WLP001 the S-05 seemed to leave more of a yeasty flavor and the WLP001 was really clean.

If you harvest your yeast at the end of a batch that was using liquid yeast then you can have 2 ppm then diluted in 5 gal which means your next batch starts faster, tastes (arguably) better, and has undetectable levels of gluten.

Starters also dilute it quite a bit. I would also argue that many gluten-free foods have more gluten than the beer would.

That being said, I have only used dry yeast on my ladyfriend.

 

[dorklord]

You got it!

Personally I've found a ratio of about 1-to-1 rice-to-sorghum extract creates an excellent base for brewing. Then on top of that I malt or toast up some other GF grain to add some flavor.

Also, I've had some great success with even just going the all-extract route, so I would recommend trying that first and then branching out from there.


Barley:
87% Carbs
3% Fat
10% Protein
6% RDA Calcium
28% RDA Iron

1/1 ratio rice/sorghum extract:
90, 5, 5 and 5, 28
The ratios are really close, and the rice pulls down the mineral content of the sorghum to eliminate a lot of the 'off' or 'tang' tastes that people notice in sorghum-only beers.

Wow, that's pretty interesting to see...As just a base, what does the color come out to be on that?

I was actually going to put a whole big thing here, but now I'm thinking about it, and I might just end up starting a thread on this recipe idea...

 

[Lcasanova]

You got it!

Personally I've found a ratio of about 1-to-1 rice-to-sorghum extract creates an excellent base for brewing. Then on top of that I malt or toast up some other GF grain to add some flavor.

Also, I've had some great success with even just going the all-extract route, so I would recommend trying that first and then branching out from there.


Barley:
87% Carbs
3% Fat
10% Protein
6% RDA Calcium
28% RDA Iron

1/1 ratio rice/sorghum extract:
90, 5, 5 and 5, 28
The ratios are really close, and the rice pulls down the mineral content of the sorghum to eliminate a lot of the 'off' or 'tang' tastes that people notice in sorghum-only beers.

Thanks god someone else got around to doing this. I've been meaning to do a 1:1 ratio and see how it turns out. I thought a while back I saw people throwing around 5:1 but that just didn't make any sense to me....Thanks!

 

[DKershner]

Thanks god someone else got around to doing this. I've been meaning to do a 1:1 ratio and see how it turns out. I thought a while back I saw people throwing around 5:1 but that just didn't make any sense to me....Thanks!

Yeah, I was going to try more too, but found that BR extract is expensive as hell around here. I found a good cheap source though, so my next beer was going to be 50/50. Good to know in advance that it works.

 

[dorklord]

Yeah, I was going to try more too, but found that BR extract is expensive as hell around here. I found a good cheap source though, so my next beer was going to be 50/50. Good to know in advance that it works.

Is your source local...or?

Boy, looking at 5 bucks a bag for rice syrup solids, that would be pretty expensive...

 

[wolves63]

Alright, quick question about equipment and I should actually be almost done with all of my major questioning. I am looking to use a carboy for primary and secondary fermenting instead of a 5gal food grade bucket. With that being said I am looking at using a Breathable Silicon Carboy Hood instead of a airlock. Attached is a link so you can see it. Please give me your feedback.

 

[dorklord]

Alright, quick question about equipment and I should actually be almost done with all of my major questioning. I am looking to use a carboy for primary and secondary fermenting instead of a 5gal food grade bucket. With that being said I am looking at using a Breathable Silicon Carboy Hood instead of a airlock. Attached is a link so you can see it. Please give me your feedback.

I don't see a problem with the carboy hood, so long as it works as described, but if you are putting 5 gallons of wort into a 5 gallon carboy, or even a 6 gallon carboy, you might not have enough head space for the krausen, and that can present a problem, as krausen can easily plug an airlock (and I'm just guessing very easily plug that hood thing) and then you'll start building pressure, which can only end badly.

The nice thing about buckets is you can easily get a cheap 7.5 gallon bucket, primary in it, then transfer into a 5 gallon carboy for secondary.

If you wish to use a carboy for primary, it can be done, but you'll need something to use as a blowoff tube. There's all sorts of ways to do that, you could use a carboy cap with a bit of hose, a big enough tube to fill the opening, or use the 'cup' of a 3 piece airlock with a hose hooked over the inner part...

 

[wolves63]

main reason why i was thinking of going with a 6 gallon carboy was because of racking and the new little toy they had for quick and easy transfers. http://morebeer.com/view_product/18872/102286/

Plus most food grade buckets are 6 gallons.

 

[DKershner]

Alright, quick question about equipment and I should actually be almost done with all of my major questioning. I am looking to use a carboy for primary and secondary fermenting instead of a 5gal food grade bucket. With that being said I am looking at using a Breathable Silicon Carboy Hood instead of a airlock. Attached is a link so you can see it. Please give me your feedback.

Looks like a really expensive airlock/stopper. Not sure when you would ever want to use the open feature unless you were making a 5gal starter.

 

[DKershner]

main reason why i was thinking of going with a 6 gallon carboy was because of racking and the new little toy they had for quick and easy transfers. http://morebeer.com/view_product/18872/102286/

Plus most food grade buckets are 6 gallons.

IMO, autosiphon is better than this, and less expensive. Plus, I hate carboy caps.

You can ferment in whatever you want, as long as it's food safe. And size is less important than people think. I ferment in corny kegs, which are less than 6gal in size.

 

[DKershner]

Is your source local...or?

Boy, looking at 5 bucks a bag for rice syrup solids, that would be pretty expensive...

Portland, OR. www.brewbrothers.biz

 

[wolves63]

true true.

 

[aggieotis]

Wow, that's pretty interesting to see...As just a base, what does the color come out to be on that?

The color on this comes out pretty light, about that of Budweiser (not Bud Light). So if you want more color you'll need to toast a specialty grain. Another point to consider, sorghum LME is about 78% attenuation, and rice extract is almost 90-100% attenuation (this is a guestimate, as I can't find a real number anywhere).

I've only made one batch of beer with this ratio, but it fermented well, and the flavor profile was very clean (brewed an american light lager and it was dead-on). I'd let you try a batch, but my wife already drank it all.

Q: What does that mean for brewing?
A: Well, that means you're going to end up with a really dry beer unless you add in a few more non-fermentables (we tend to recommend using a corn-based maltodextrin).

Say the beer you're using needs 5 lbs of LME with 40 points per lbs, and an attenuation of 75%. That means before you start you have 200 points of sugar, when you're done 150 of those turn into alcohol and 50 stick around to provide sweetness, maltiness and gravity.

Well, if you're using this 1:1 ratio of rice:sorghum, then you'd be looking at

• 2.5 lbs of sorghum LME at 40 points per lbs = 100 points, 25 of which stick around.
• 2.5 lbs of rice LME at 40 points per lbs = 100 points, 10 of which stick around.
• 25 + 10 = 35...you still need another 15 points of sugar that aren't going to ferment.

That means for this ratio of rice:sorghum you'll need to add in another 15 points of maltodextrin. MD has 40 points per pound or so, which means you'll need to add about 15/40 of a pound aka 6 oz of Maltodextrin powder.

If you want to get super-technical, then the ratio of sorghum:rice:maltodextrin should be about 13:13:1 or further simplified add about 1.1 oz of maltodextrin for every pound of LME you use with a 1:1 ratio.

I hope that helps...sometimes the enginerd in me ends up confusing more than helping though.

 

[dorklord]

Portland, OR. www.brewbrothers.biz

I don't see it listed on their website

 

[Lcasanova]

IMO, autosiphon is better than this, and less expensive. Plus, I hate carboy caps.

You can ferment in whatever you want, as long as it's food safe. And size is less important than people think. I ferment in corny kegs, which are less than 6gal in size.

+1 on the autosiphon

I ferment in a bucket almost full and a carboy some headspace. I've put 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy and I've been fine. None of my gluten free beers have had the crazy krausen that others seem to have gotten...maybe that's just me or gluten free brewing in general, I don't know.

My advice is to start simple and go from there. Being new it's really hard to wait on your beer to be ready so go ahead and brew another beer immediately after the first one once you have an open fermenter. Try to build a pipeline up.

 

[dorklord]

The color on this comes out pretty light, about that of Budweiser (not Bud Light). So if you want more color you'll need to toast a specialty grain. Another point to consider, sorghum LME is about 78% attenuation, and rice extract is almost 90-100% attenuation (this is a guestimate, as I can't find a real number anywhere).

I've only made one batch of beer with this ratio, but it fermented well, and the flavor profile was very clean (brewed an american light lager and it was dead-on). I'd let you try a batch, but my wife already drank it all.

Q: What does that mean for brewing?
A: Well, that means you're going to end up with a really dry beer unless you add in a few more non-fermentables (we tend to recommend using a corn-based maltodextrin).

Say the beer you're using needs 5 lbs of LME with 40 points per lbs, and an attenuation of 75%. That means before you start you have 200 points of sugar, when you're done 150 of those turn into alcohol and 50 stick around to provide sweetness, maltiness and gravity.

Well, if you're using this 1:1 ratio of rice:sorghum, then you'd be looking at

• 2.5 lbs of sorghum LME at 40 points per lbs = 100 points, 25 of which stick around.
• 2.5 lbs of rice LME at 40 points per lbs = 100 points, 10 of which stick around.
• 25 + 10 = 35...you still need another 15 points of sugar that aren't going to ferment.

That means for this ratio of rice:sorghum you'll need to add in another 15 points of maltodextrin. MD has 40 points per pound or so, which means you'll need to add about 15/40 of a pound aka 6 oz of Maltodextrin powder.

If you want to get super-technical, then the ratio of sorghum:rice:maltodextrin should be about 13:13:1 or further simplified add about 1.1 oz of maltodextrin for every pound of LME you use with a 1:1 ratio.

I hope that helps...sometimes the enginerd in me ends up confusing more than helping though.

I'm thinking my next brew may be a strong belgian, with uh...6 lbs of sorghum and 6 lbs of rice extract. And a wee bit o candi sugar for color. I'm thinking, honestly, I don't want the beer to be dark (I'm aiming for a nice, golden color) so just a few ounces of amber sugar should do it.

Your math all makes sense to me, but I'll need to look at the expected attenuation of, say, the ingredients for a Trippel or a Golden Strong to determine what the target FG would be and work back from there...

 

[aggieotis]

I'm thinking my next brew may be a strong belgian, with uh...6 lbs of sorghum and 6 lbs of rice extract.

Just a heads up, the 1 beer I made aiming for this style ended up not working very well. I've read elsewhere too that some of the stronger belgian yeasts don't like sorghum all that much.

Then again, that batch was a 6:1 ratio of sorghum to rice, a 1:1 ratio might just trick the yeasties into behaving.

 

[DKershner]

I don't see it listed on their website

It's not, call em.

 

[dorklord]

It's not, call em.

I tried to cut the cord on my phone to make it one of those new-fangled "wireless" phones, and now it doesn't work.

 

[dorklord]

Just a heads up, the 1 beer I made aiming for this style ended up not working very well. I've read elsewhere too that some of the stronger belgian yeasts don't like sorghum all that much.

Then again, that batch was a 6:1 ratio of sorghum to rice, a 1:1 ratio might just trick the yeasties into behaving.

By the way, I've heard this a few times, what problem did you have with the strong belgian you made?

I've got a trippel that is aging right now, and I took a taste test a couple weeks ago, and my wife agreed that although it was still 'not ready' we both thought it was going to be great...

 

[wolves63]

haha that is funny

 

[aggieotis]

By the way, I've heard this a few times, what problem did you have with the strong belgian you made?

It turned out VERY winey. I know that it could be due to other things such as higher fermentation temperatures. Also it took a long time to get down, and even after sitting for a year never tasted better. Tasted watery, winey, and overcarbonated.

Of the 3 higher-gravity GF beers I've made, they've all been clones of non-GF beers, and they've all been vastly inferior to their clone siblings despite the fact that they were brewed around the same time under the same conditions. While the high-gravity-GF beers I brewed with WLP001 or WLP005 turned out alright, and actually tasted decent at the end. The one with the Belgian Trappist Yeast was pretty bad. Which made me sad too cause that's my fave style and the ingredients were $$$.

I'll probably give these guys another shot later this summer now that I have fermentation freezers and know about mineral ratios and amylase enzymes and maltodextrin and whatnot. But 2 years ago this forum didn't exist so I was flying pretty solo.

 

[DKershner]

It turned out VERY winey. I know that it could be due to other things such as higher fermentation temperatures. Also it took a long time to get down, and even after sitting for a year never tasted better. Tasted watery, winey, and overcarbonated.

Of the 3 higher-gravity GF beers I've made, they've all been clones of non-GF beers, and they've all been vastly inferior to their clone siblings despite the fact that they were brewed around the same time under the same conditions. While the high-gravity-GF beers I brewed with WLP001 or WLP005 turned out alright, and actually tasted decent at the end. The one with the Belgian Trappist Yeast was pretty bad. Which made me sad too cause that's my fave style and the ingredients were $$$.

I'll probably give these guys another shot later this summer now that I have fermentation freezers and know about mineral ratios and amylase enzymes and maltodextrin and whatnot. But 2 years ago this forum didn't exist so I was flying pretty solo.

Can you post your recipe? What size starter did you use? I made a 9ish% tripel that turned out great, although there isn't much belgian about it.

 

[aggieotis]

Can you post your recipe?

I'll see if I can find it tonight. Really just need to put it all into BeerSmith like you do. Just got my copy of VMWare's Fusion, so my Mac will finally be able to use it.

 

[stefan1011]

Sounds like you're looking for what's essentially a Budweiser clone. However, since you're new to homebrewing, then you probably don't have a full lagering system of chest freezers and temp regulators to make a real lager. As such I looked around the forums and found this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/i-want-brew-budweiser-23302/

Budweiser Clone (BYO) - Modified to be Gluten-Free
by Karl Glarner Jr.

This is a great, easy-to-make pilsner-style beer made with ale yeast — no lagering
required. Comes close to many commercial light pilsners, with just a bit more flavor. (5
gallons)

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Sorghum Liquid Malt Extract
• 1 5/8 lbs. light honey
• 1 oz. Cascade hops (6% alpha acid): 0.25 oz. for 60 min., 0.25 oz. for 30 min.,
0.5 oz. for steeping
• 1 tsp. Irish moss for 15 min.
• 1 tsp. gypsum
• Safale US-05
or
White Labs WLP001
(WLP001 will make beer that's 2 ppm of gluten, not enough to cause problems for most celiacs...see sticky thread for details)
• 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step:

Bring 2 gal. water to boil. Remove from heat and add dry malt, honey, and gypsum. Return
to boil. Total boil is 60 min. Add 0.25 oz. Cascade and boil for 30 min. Add 0.25 oz. Cascade
and boil for 15 min. more. Add Irish moss and boil for 15 min. more. Turn off heat, add 0.5
oz. Cascade hops, and steep for 2 min. Pour into fermenter and top up with cold, preboiled
water. When cooled below 70° F pitch yeast.

Ferment seven to 10 days in primary at 70° F or below, then transfer to secondary and
ferment another seven days. Prime and bottle.
/end

If you make this though, you have to tell us how it turns out. I doubt there's a single non-commercial beer that's been brewed more than a couple of times, so we'd be interested in your tasting notes.

I brewed this exact recipe yesterday and it is fermenting away as I type. I will post my notes when it is finished. Thanks for posting this recipe!

 

[wolves63]

looking forward to seeing your notes, by the time you get our notes out I should just be starting so that will work out perfectly for me!!

 

[stefan1011]

I checked the final gravity of this batch (Budweiser clone) after 10 days in the primary. It was 1.015 and the beer looks and smells great. I plan on bottling this upcoming weekend and giving it a week or two to bottle condition and then I will post my tasting notes.

 

[aggieotis]

I checked the final gravity of this batch (Budweiser clone) after 10 days in the primary. It was 1.015 and the beer looks and smells great. I plan on bottling this upcoming weekend and giving it a week or two to bottle condition and then I will post my tasting notes.

Can't wait to hear what it ends up tasting like. Make sure to check your bottles at least once per week. The FG is a little higher than I would have expected (expected somewhere in the 1.005 to 1.008 range) for this beer, so there's a chance that with enough time you might end up with some gushers or even worse some hand-grenades.

In the meantime though, bottle what you've got this weekend if the FG hasn't changed much or is closer to the expected range, and then start trying the stuff at least once a week until it's done! Hope it turns out just like you're wanting...and definitely give us some tasting notes so we can figure out if we want to try it too.

 

[stefan1011]

Thank you for the advice, aggieotis. I was surprised at how high the gravity was as well. I figured another 5 days or so and if it didn't drop I would go ahead and bottle.

This is my first batch using Safale US-05. It has been fermenting at 70 degrees F in my basement. If the gravity doesn't drop on its own, is there a possibility of a stuck fermentation? Should I add more yeast? Or is it best to do what you suggested and bottle anyway and check the bottles often?

 

[aggieotis]

There's a really minor chance of a stuck fermentation, but since you used honey, and honey varies from hive-to-hive, it could just mean that your batch of bees puke out long polysaccharide chains.

1.015 is a good finishing point for many beers, could be that the Safale crapped out, could mean you need a bit longer on the fermentation, could mean your honey had more non-fermentables, could mean you need to add some yeast nutrients. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to just shake your carbouy to rouse some of the yeast and see if you can get them going again. Then just wait until the weekend, take you FG reading, if it's at or near 1.010 then just bottle it and be happy, if not bottle it and be happy, Just make sure that if you notice the beer getting over carbonated vent and recap the batch and you'll be fine.

Out of curiosity what was your OG? I would have expected that for this beer you'd have started at about 1.035. Figure that 75% of the sorghum and 90% of the honey should have fermented I would have expected a FG of 1.008; however, this is beer, so anything could happen. And even if the FG is slightly off, chances are that it will still taste pretty awesome.

Enjoy it in a few weeks!

 

[stefan1011]

Thank you aggieotis! I will shake the carboy and give it until Saturday. I have only used Danstar yeast before and they fermented quickly and thoroughly. The Safale was different in that it fermented rapidly, but for only a few days. To be honest, I was surprised when I didn't see any airlock activity after only a few days. I have satellite fermenter that I use to check gravity with and I looked at it every day and it appeared to have gone through all of the usual stages of fermentation, just a lot quicker than I was expecting.

The OG was 1.039 and I used a light-amber honey blend from Northern Brewer. If it tastes half as good as it smells, it should be good. I will post an update before I bottle. Thanks again for your feedback. It is much apreciated.

 

[aggieotis]

The OG was 1.039 and I used a light-amber honey blend from Northern Brewer. If it tastes half as good as it smells, it should be good. I will post an update before I bottle. Thanks again for your feedback. It is much apreciated.

With an OG of 1.039, your FG should be 1.009 or so.

Fortunately you're well below the range of a bad-tasting stuck fermentation (1.025-ish), so while you might still have some slow-fermenting sugars in there, I bet it will taste great. And the good news is that it didn't over-ferment leaving you with a ciderey tasting beer in the 1.004 range.

 

[stefan1011]

With an OG of 1.039, your FG should be 1.009 or so.

Fortunately you're well below the range of a bad-tasting stuck fermentation (1.025-ish), so while you might still have some slow-fermenting sugars in there, I bet it will taste great. And the good news is that it didn't over-ferment leaving you with a ciderey tasting beer in the 1.004 range.

That is good to know. I did shake the carboy and I have some fairly active airlock activity which has been going on for several days. I decided to wait until this Friday or Saturday to bottle. I will post a gravity and my observations.

Thanks for the help!

 

[wolves63]

thanks for keeping us informed, look forward to your results.

 

[stefan1011]

Bottled the GF Budweiser clone today. Final gravity was 1.008 and it certainly looks like a BMC style beer. It spent 10 days in primary and 12 days in secondary. I am going to give it two weeks in the bottle before a taste test.

 

[aggieotis]

Awesome, looks like things ended up fermenting just fine.

Hope it turns out like you wanted.

 

[stefan1011]

It has been almost 4 weeks in the bottle now so I decided to try one of the BMC clones I brewed.

Carbonation was great, but not a lot of head retention. Not a real strong hop aroma at all, but I picked up a slight apple note.

It is clean and crisp with NO sorghum "twang" at all. Clean finish with almost a "sweet" taste. Refreshing indeed.

My wife thinks this is the best GF beer I have brewed as of date. She said it didn't taste like a GF beer at all. I have to agree with her, it is a good beer. Perfect for summer.

 

[aggieotis]

That sounds delicious...tempted to try that batch myself.

 

[Lcasanova]

That sounds delicious...tempted to try that batch myself.

Awesome, not to hard to modify a recipe to be gf and the successful ones are even better!