Gluten-Free Brewing Experiment - Notes On the First Batch

Sorry for the delay, folks, but I do have some notes on that first batch of gluten-free pale ale. 

The beer was well received by both celiacs and non-celiacs alike, which means it must have been pretty a pretty decent beer, regardless of its lack of gluten.  That's important to me, as I wanted to make a gluten free beer that didn't taste unusual due to its nature.

Grain after toasting for a bit.  I should have
let it go longer for more color.

The beer itself is crystal clear and light in color, despite the toasted grain.  I probably didn't let it toast enough to get a significant color contribution, but it was my first time trying to toast grains, so I'm not overly disappointed.  Besides, color is just cosmetic, anyway.

In the end, I used East Kent Golding hops and an early hopping schedule, which differs from the original recipe somewhat.  I altered my recipe on brew day because I was concerned the American hops would not blend well with the bready, spicy flavor I expected to get from the sorghum syrup and toasted grains.  When I reviewed the finished product, however, I decided my original recipe would have been the way to go, with the possible addition of a little bit more syrup or maybe some sugar to dry out the beer a bit.  Overall, the original recipe would be a great session beer.

First, I'd like to note that toasting your own grains is kind of fun, but very labor intensive.  I couldn't locate Amaranth in my local health food store, so I substituted millet.  I then mixed all the grain together, rinsed it all off, and toasted it while it was still wet.  I used a 250 degree oven and toasted it for an hour before raising the temp to 300 and toasting for another 45 minutes.  Please note that your results will probably vary, and if you decide to use toasted grains, make sure to check on them often for the appropriate level of toasting for your needs.  Next time, I'll toast them a bit longer and use a higher temp, maybe 350 F for the second stage.  I'd like to see a bit more color.

Using the syrup is really very simple.  It's just like using any other malt extract, as the malted sorghum ferments very similarly.  Remember to go by your hydrometer when determining whether fermentation is complete, though.  I made the mistake of thinking it had to wait longer in the fermenter and probably left it in the fermenter for a week or two longer than I needed to.

I'll probably be doing another batch soon, and will follow the original recipe I posted back in December.  I'd like to see how the beer works out with some nice citrusy hops in it.  I don't know for sure that I will elect to toast more grain, though.  I would if I thought it had made a significant flavor difference, but I'm not sure that it did.  Instead, I'll make a batch without and see if I notice a huge difference in the malt's flavor profile. 

If you decide to brew the recipe at home, let me know how it goes.  If you make changes to the recipe and they work for you, post them in the comments or email them to me, and I'll post more information about gluten-free brewing in the future.