Quinoa can it be used to make gf beer?

[brewtalk]

I'm looking for a way to make gf beer for a mates birthday in march, I've seen most recipes use sorghum syrup and I've been looking for alternatives? so I've been looking into gf grains, buckwheat,millet,oats etc and what adjuncts are safe for gluten sensitive people? its giving me a real headache.

The only way to achieve conversion is amylase, unless i use a small amount of malt (I am not sure if it will cause problems? it would have the needed enzymes needed to break down the starch to sugars) I recently found this gf grain Quinoa and is it a option for enzymes if its pre malted or i try to malt it myself?

I've been reading about Clarity Ferm is is this stuff really safe?
http://www.whitelabs.com/other-products ... arity-ferm

[jimp2003]

A good source of info is HERE

[jaroporter]

when i looked into this (but haven't yet tried it out) chesnuts seemed to be widely regarded as the best. the american forums (homebrewtalk in particular) have a lot of good discussion on this

[brewtalk]

Done allot of reading on homebrewtalk and made Google scream(my fire fox crashed twice ) and i have decided to do a take on the sorghum extract brews without sorghum cause is not really available in my area and online prices aren't very attractive.

so I'm going for flavour from chestnuts/rice, roasted gf oatmeal(colour) with cereal mashed quinoa and millet for some body? will it work. Then get fermentables from honey and molasses(added during the end of boil) with some brewers suger, hopped with fuggles for bittering and something else before flame out then dry hopped with challenger for aromer.

so it will look like beer and ferment out, gonna be a test run never made non grain beer unless I'm making cider or wine . Will this recipe fly or will it (probably taste of starch and nuts) fail?

I did find out if i use amylase i could get good results from millet/oatmeal and quinoa base for a beer, seems like allot of messing around to malt millet tho. Also some quinoa is pre sprouted for better nutritional value, so it just needs a small soak and oven roast to make it an option?

I found this site with nutritional information

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cer ... sta/5705/2 Guinoa

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/bre ... als/1597/2 Oats

grain
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cer ... sta/5795/2

cheers for the link to the gluten free recipe site was quite helpful.

[oldbloke]

Not tried quinoia or chestnuts. The sorghum syrup works but you want a few weeks aging for the "this is sorghum" taste to fade. The syrup is available from a few online suppliers now at around 12 quid a can I think - two cans for a 5gallon batch. Not cheap but at least you don't need to get into all kinds of other fancy stuff.
What I have done that tasted pretty much exactly like real beer was, malt some millet, roast it, and brew with that. Being malted it doesn't need amylase - or not as much - but I didn't get the OG I'd calculated on the back of an old envelope so had to add sugar. Only did a 1 gallon run though, malting enough for 5 would be trickier.

Also, you can get ClarityFerm in the UK (from TheMaltMiller) if you want to try using it to break up the gluten in a standard recipe. I'll be giving it a go over the next couple of weeks.

[brewtalk]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the alpha-amylase, diastatic power, and saccharification rates of malts from different types of grains after different germination temperature and time treatments. A total of 22 grains were placed in five groups: U.S.-grown barley, Kenyan-grown barley, U.S.-grown millet, Kenyan-grown sorghum, and Kenyan-grown millet. Grains were germinated for two, four, and six days at 14, 18, and 22°C and malts were made from each treatment (198 total). Grains and malts were analyzed for diastatic power, alpha-amylase activity, and saccharification rates. The grain groups 5(22)*1 and malt groups 5(22)*3*3 were analyzed using statistcal procedures. Of the grains, barley had the highest diastatic power and -amylase activity, followed by millet, and then sorghum. For malts, the diastatic power of the barley groups (116.50 diastatic power degrees [DP]° ASBC) was much greater than that of the millet groups (13.22 DP° ASBC) and the sorghum group (4.37 DP° ASBC), which were all different (P < 0.05). The sorghum group malt alpha-amylase activity was low (4.63 dextrinizing units [DU]) compared to that of the millet groups (23.00 DU) and barley groups (44.36 DU). Saccharification times for all millets and sorghums were >20 min, while barley malts had more favorable times of <15 min.

Here is the link to the source http://www.asbcnet.org/journal/abstract ... 04-01a.htm

Seems millet has more dp then sorghum? for the gf beer you made oldbloke what was the recipe and how much sorghum was used it would be helpful for reference.

How much millet did you malt for the og you got?

[oldbloke]

Apparently it was 12oz millet for a 1 gallon trial. ISTR I found a source somewhere suggesting that would give the OG I wanted, but it didn't in the end (rubbish millet and crap malting and mashing technique, probably) so I had to add 8oz sugar. Thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=49574&p=521184&hil ... et#p521184
It was very cheap millet from an Asian supermarket. The stuff I see pictured on ebay looks all round better so I will be trying it again sometime this year - even if I have to add sugar, it really does taste Just Like Beer.

The sorghum syrup comes in a can (well plastic) and 2 are reckoned enough for a 5gallon batch at about 4.5%. I did the Gone With The Wheat czech lager kit, brewed a bit short, not at all bad with a bit of age, and just recently I made a 2 gallon batch of ersatz mild using one can and a little bit of black treacle and caramel, which I'm not best pleased by but the coeliac in the family reckons is OK - and she was the big mild fan. I'm thinking it'll improve with more time.

I also tried malting some maize (to make chicha), but it was horrid cheap stuff sold for birdfood at the garden centre and the germination rate was appalling and it went mouldy very very easily. I might try again with some decent quality maize.

[oldbloke]

If you haven't started on the stuff for your mate yet, I can heartily recommend the ClarityFerm. A vial for 5 gallons will cost you about 2.50 but you can do any kit or recipe you like and It Just Works.
My wife is very very pleased - she was Ok with the sorghum stuff, and the millet made a decent pale ale, but now she has a decent mild again.