sorghum syrup in a stout...possible substitute?

[akiraadam]

So I found this recipe for an ale grain chocolate stout that I was going to try to do. In the recipe it calls for sorghum syrup. Now I know that they use sorghum syrup for gluten free beer but I was wondering if I could substitute the sorghum syrup with any other kind of sugar? Also is there any particular reason why they would use sorghum syrup the recipe itself didn't state that it was gluten free.

 

[akiraadam]

All not ale stupid auto correct.

 

[motorneuron]

Not sure why you'd use sorghum syrup in a normal all-grain stout--it does have its own taste, but the roasted grains in stouts tend to overwhelm the subtlety. I brewed a GF saison that included a good portion of sorghum syrup, and I know that in GF beers, people describe sorghum as having a "twang" that you can detect especially right when you first sip and on the finish. So I'm guessing it just added a little bit of complexity to this recipe. In my judgment, you can almost certainly sub any normal base malt and have minimal effect on the overall recipe. If you want a little complexity, you could use rye instead--not that the flavors are so similar, but it'll give you a little complexity of a different sort.

I would not, however, use sugar as a substitute. Sorghum is so good in GF beers because it has a lot of maltose and nourishes yeast well; in that way, it's like barley. Subbing in sugar will mess with your attenuation (since simple sugars will ferment almost 100%).

 

[akiraadam]

Ok cool. The recipe calls for 4oz of the sorghum syrup. How much extra base malt will I needed to add to make up the difference?

 

[motorneuron]

Man. Is this a 5 gallon recipe? If so, that is very little. It'd be fine to just leave it out, I think, but if you want to be very careful, you could use slightly more weight of grain--say, 6 oz. Wouldn't worry about it too much though.

 

[akiraadam]

Here is the recipe thread it is a 5 gallon batch.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/crazy-pumpkin-chocolate-stout-271972/

 

[motorneuron]

Yeah, you're fine just leaving that out. 4 oz of syrup won't even affect the gravity much. But no harm in adding a little base malt, or really anything with the same number of gravity points, if you want.

 

[TNGabe]

I would think they mean normal sorghum syrup or what is sometimes (wrongly) called sorghum molasses. It's pretty strong tasting, but not as strong or minerally as molasses.

 

[motorneuron]

I would think they mean normal sorghum syrup or what is sometimes (wrongly) called sorghum molasses. It's pretty strong tasting, but not as strong or minerally as molasses.

Ohhh. Good point! Yeah, you could use a smaller amount of molasses instead. Or a little agave.