Gluten Free Update
I should have posted this a few weeks ago, but forgot. Unfortunately, the GF batch got infected at some point in the fermentation process. I opened it to keg it and was greeted with some pretty sour beer and a nasty film on the top. This is the first batch I’ve brewed that was infected on the whole…I’ve had infected bottles before but that’s about it.
We’re going to try again, but this time I want to do a belgian. This recipe was decent, and the hops did come through well…hard to say if what I tasted when I took the FG was representative or if the infection was already affecting the flavor though.
Blue's Brews 
i’m disheartened as i have been waiting for the final taste. I am in the process of a GF beer. the color is a little green right now and i am not sure why. maybe th hops did it. i am racking it tonight and adding some peach puree. we’ll see.
FYI, mine also looked green during fermentation. The hop particulate seemed to suspend much more readily even with a rapid chill and a whirlpool than in normal malt batches I’ve done. The sediment at the bottom of the fermenter was VERY thick, and very green from hop particulate. An interesting experience…we’ll be doing it again soon, but I’ll be experimenting with something a bit different.
I actually have been reading that a sour taste is common with sorghum…but this stuff just didn’t’ look right.
Post here when yours finishes and let us know how it turns out.
Sorry it’s been so long since I have checked my blog…see my above reply about making all-barley or wheat GF beers!
Hey, I just discovered a few months ago that I have Celiacs, what a life change!… Anyway I want to make my own beer over the next year or so but I was wondering If I can get some basic info from you guys? Keep in mind i just used to drink beer never thought about how it was getting made. Is Gluten Free brewing equipment much different than standard beer equipment? Its stupid I know but no one seems to be able to tell me. I am trying to Make an IPA and if you or anyone has any tips on that I appreciate it. Once again thank you for any information you can give me, I dont just want to waste money and beautiful hops and fail horribly..
Thanks
Hey,
The equipment is the same, any homebrew equipment kit should be fine. You can get sorghum extract through Northern Brewer, and they have equipment kits also. Midwest Supplies also has some nice starter equipment kits.
Sorry it’s been so long since I have checked my blog…see my above reply about making all-barley or wheat GF beers!
I’m interested to know if you did brew this again. It may not have been infected. I’ve made two GF beers, and both have been very sour and had a film on top. I think this is more about the character of sorghum than any bad brewing process (it would be ironic given that all the other beers I’ve done, only one was infected, and there was no sour taste or film.
I’m still looking for GF beers that don’t taste disgusting. 😦 There is a good GF facebook group that has many recipes (including yours) but does not often post follow-ups on results.
I didn’t end up brewing this one again, but I did make an all-barley GF beer using the White Labs product, Clarity-Ferm. It is a clarifying enzyme…but in addition to breaking down haze-forming proteins it also breaks down the gluten, making the beer clock in at right around 2ppm (way under the threshold of 12ppm products must meet to be considered Gluten Free).
I did some tests with various folks I know who range from Gluten intolerant to full-blown celiac. None of htem had a bad reaction to the beer, even after having a full growler.
While this isn’t conclusive, I did recently learn that some commercial breweries are also using this product to produce all-malt (barley and wheat) gluten free beers.