Commercially, most gluten-free beers I’ve seen use sorghum as the base: sorghum is not only gluten-free but it is the fifth most important cereal grain in the world (used primarily in Africa—sorghum beer is commonly brewed in Africa also). Accordingly my local homebrew shop carries sorghum extract syrup in 7-pound containers along with regular barley-based malt extracts. So, theoretically you should be able to brew an extract GF beer pretty easily by substituting sorghum extract for the regular extract in your recipe.

Of course, to add any additional character, mouthfeel, and color to the beer, we need to use specialty grains: the problem is, you need to know what grains are gluten-free. Here’s a list (besides sorghum):

• Amaranth
• Buckwheat
• Corn
• Millet
• Montina (Indian rice grass)
• Oats
• Quinoa
• Rice (white/brown)
• Teff
• Wild rice

(Barley, wheat, and rye all contain gluten.)

A quick check through the available grains at the Brew Shop reveals the only gluten-free ones they carry are flaked corn and flaked oats—I suppose they could do special-order grains, but at the same time you can actually find many of these from other sources (grocery stores, specialty marts, etc.). For most extract beers you’d typically steep the specialty grains but in the case of GF beer you’d probably need to do a mini-mash to get the character you wanted from them. However the problem with mini-mashing is you’d need to find a GF grain that has enough diastase to convert the starches to sugars, which is ordinarily something you need barley or wheat for.

(Interesting corollary: it seems oat malt would do it—it has enough diastatic power to convert itself and some additional grains. This could be a viable GF beer base, but oat malt is pretty specialized and rare these days. It might make an interesting exercise to buy raw oats and try malting them yourself.)

For a GF porter, I’d think about using oats and maybe wild rice as grain additions. You could use rolled oats and toast them up in the oven, and for the wild rice I believe you’d have to cook it beforehand to gelatinize it. I might even consider adding both directly to the boil though I’m not sure how that would turn out.

Of course sugars and syrups should all be fairly safe to use in a GF beer—various shades of brown or raw sugars, molasses, honey, maple syrup, and so on. Molasses would be my first thought for a porter, adding color and strength to the beer; and to preserve the aromatics and more subtle character add it towards the end of the boil, or even to the secondary.

Other flavor components to consider: licorice is the first that springs to mind here, though I see no reason you couldn’t use coffee, chocolate, or more exotic flavorings and spices like juniper berries and chili peppers.

Part of why I’m thinking in terms of “flavoring” is that in my experience, most of the GF beers I’ve tried have a distinctive plastic, band-aid type character to them: I suspect the sorghum is the cause (since I’m pretty sure every one of those beers was sorghum-based), so you definitely want to try to temper that character. Of course, it’s entirely possible that the fermentation characteristics of sorghum (temperature, certain yeasts) cause this and finding the right combination could eliminate it. That would be worth looking into.

I’ll try brewing that GF porter soon and I’ll post the recipe and notes online. In the meantime, any brewers out there have any thoughts they’d like to share?

• The author recommends “small cheese pumpkins” as the best variety to use: a variety also called “Long Island cheese pumpkin” that is of the same family as the butternut squash. (I’ve seen another source recommending butternut squash as a better source of actual “pumpkin” flavor for use in a beer.)
• No mention of the pumpkin in the mash: this article advocates adding pumpkin directly to the boil instead, possibly the first article/recipe I’ve seen to do this exclusively. I brewed up my annual pumpkin beer a couple of weeks ago and I actually split the pumpkin between the mash and the boil (for the first time) so I found this interesting.

Incidentally, I brewed the beer on Monday (Labor Day) and it’s still fermenting with activity in the primary, five days later.

Both recipes use real pumpkin that you’ll have to roast and chop up yourself (which makes it even more special!).

Extract-based pumpkin ale recipe: I first published this back in 2004. It uses some specialty grains along with the malt extract.

All-grain pumpkin ale recipe: this is assuming a standard all-grain single-infusion mash setup, and I’ve included notes for batch sparging as well.

Both of these recipes should result in beers that are between 5.5 and 6% alcohol by volume.

The usual competition rules apply: two unlabeled bottles and $6 per entry, brewed according to BJCP guidelines, you need to fill out the official forms, etc.

But COHO has organized a really great Best of Show prize this year:

It is my pleasure to announce the winner in Best of Show for the 2011 COHO Spring Fling will be brewed at Silver Moon Brewing and will be served at Bend Brewfest, The Brew Shop, Abbey pub, Bend Brew Werks, and Silver Moon!

If you want to enter your beer, you have a deadline of this Saturday the 21st to turn them in (or May 27th if you’re in Bend and can drop it off at the Brew Shop).

…thinking of ingredients that taste similar to PB&J sandwich. At its base, these would be bread, peanuts, and fruit—the type of fruit you would typically find in a jelly: I’m thinking either berries or grapes. Along those lines my first thought would be something like a toasty, nutty ale with peanuts or peanut butter added somehow, and then fruit added to the secondary. Maybe a “nut brown” base using peanuts as the “nut”?

Quoting:

Once again thanks goes out to everyone that works so hard on getting this law changed.  In review SB 444 allows the following:

• Eliminates the restrictions on the transportation of homebrew
• Eliminates the restrictions on where homebrew can be consumed
• Eliminates the restrictions on where homebrew can be made
• Allow clubs to charge dues
• Allow entry fees and prizes at competitions
• Allow homebrew to be served at club meetings held at pubs or other licensed premises
• Allow homebrew club members to participate in small-scale professional brewing at pubs
• Allow people who teach homebrewing classes to be paid.

There’s no word on when that will happen, though in Oregon the Governor must sign (or veto) bills within five days of transmittal or they automatically become law. Since a veto is almost impossible to consider at this point, it’s apparent the law is as good as passed.

I saw the story locally first, though it’s hitting other news sites as well. Interestingly, the last line in the KTVZ story I linked to says (about the bill):

Additionally, home brewers and winemakers can receive a tax deduction or credit for donating beer, wine, or fermented fruit juice to a nonprofit organization.

That seems like a new wrinkle, one I’ll have to read up on a bit more closely. Imagine the possibilities, though!

Many of you are likely aware that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission determined last year that under existing Oregon law, homebrew cannot be consumed outside the home where the beer was produced.

The American Homebrewers Association is supporting an effort by the Oregon Home Brewers Alliance (OHBA) to resolve this issue. The OHBA has been working with Senator Floyd Prozanski, a homebrewer, on Senate Bill 444 along with the already filed amendments to SB 444. While there are other bills addressing homebrewing, the OHBA and the AHA support SB 444 as the most comprehensive of these in restoring to legality all of the activities homebrewers participated in prior to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s revision of their interpretation of homebrew law last year, including entering homebrew competitions and sharing homebrew at club meetings.

How Can You Help?
Senate Bill 444 is being scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Business, Transportation and Economic Development Committee Thursday, February 10. We ask you to take a few minutes to call or email the members of the committee and politely urge them to support the passage of SB 444 along with Senator Prozanski’s amendments to the bill. The committee members need to hear from you if this bill is to succeed. Contacting legislators is quick and easy, and every contact they get from homebrewers will help ensure our success.

Senate Business, Transportation and Economic Development Committee Contact Information:

Sen. Lee Beyer, Chair
sen.leebeyer@state.or.us
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1706

Sen. Jason Atkinson, Vice-Chair
sen.jasonatkinson@state.or.us
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1703
District Phone: 541-282-6502

Sen. Ginny Burdick
sen.ginnyburdick@state.or.us
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1718

Sen. Chris Edwards
sen.chrisedwards@state.or.us
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1707

Sen. Fred Girod
sen.fredgirod@state.or.us
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1709
District Phone: 503-769-4321

Sen. Bruce Starr
sen.brucestarr@state.or.us
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1715
District Phone: 503-352-0922

Thank you for your support of homebrewers, your action could make the difference in whether or not this legislation becomes law. Please forward this message on to any other Oregon residents that you feel would be interested in supporting this bill.