I live in the soybean capital of the world and I was thinking of making a beer with soybeans as the base malt. I can’t find much about it. Has anyone done this? Is it even possible? Recipes?
Thanks
They’re a bean not a grain. High fat content, high protein content, only around 1/3 starch and I don’t know if they would contain amylase at all. Plus they have some toxic enzymes that require cooking before they can be used as food.
About the only thing I’d do is maybe add a little edamame to a beer. Better yet eat the edamame and drink a beer.
I’m sure you could ferment soy milk (and it would be sour) but it wouldn’t be anything like beer.
I’ve heard of soy beers being sold in Japan, but supposedly mostly as a way of getting through a tax loophole. I think this was one of them
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As I read your subject line “soybean beer” I threw up in my mouth a little. :x
I remember reading about someone doing this maybe 15 years ago. IIRC, the results were not good.
You live in Decatur ot Norborne? We drive through Decatur now and then and can always smell the soybeans cooking at ADM.
Decatur. That’s the smell of money!
I’m surprised anyone knows about Norborne! My wife grew up there and yes they claim to be the soybean capital of the world! They even have a soybean festival every summer. I remember years ago watching the soybean parade and the announcer introduced the Banquet Foods float by saying how many soybeans they used in there meat products. I was quite shocked and amused but no one else seemed to think it was funny!
Honestly, I googled “soybean capital” and Norborne and Decatur both came up. I’d never heard of Norborne before that. I figured Decatur might be the spot.
Theres a brewpub in Decatur run by a guy I met through this forum. Its McGorray’s Golf and Grille. I have yet to go there but its on my list. The owner is a retired firefighter, and the place has an indoor driving range or something along those lines.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]Honestly, I googled “soybean capital” and Norborne and Decatur both came up. I’d never heard of Norborne before that. I figured Decatur might be the spot.
Theres a brewpub in Decatur run by a guy I met through this forum. Its McGorray’s Golf and Grille. I have yet to go there but its on my list. The owner is a retired firefighter, and the place has an indoor driving range or something along those lines.[/quote]
I’ve been to McGorray’s several times for the beer selection. By far the best one in Decatur. Food is pretty good too.
I see its not a brewpub but they do have a nice selection of beer. I thought Charlie was going to have a brewpub but it might not have fit in the business plan when all was said and done.
I too am looking to possibly use soy to brew. I have recently learned that gluten free diets really do make a drastic difference with Rheumatoid arthritis. The sorghum beers are not my favorite substitute. It make sense to me that you could use soy beans since several products are made from fermenting them, soy sauce and miso for starters. I know in Japan all the major brewers have developed a line of soy beer. If anyone has links to home brewing with it I would be grateful. I’ll still brew but it kind of stinks not being able to drink my own concoctions.
It’s a different kind of fermentation, though, that uses mold instead of yeast. In sake production, the rice is first fermented with the same mold to convert starches to sugars. So in a way that fermentation is more similar to the mashing step in making beer. Afterward a second fermentation with brewer’s yeast is needed to convert the sugars to alcohol.
NB is selling Clarity Ferm, an enzyme thats supposed to greatly reduce the gluten content of beer. I’ve heard from one gluten-sensitive brewer that says this stuff works great.
I came across this forum trying to glean tips on soy-based beer myself. “Third Beer” products have been succesful in Japan, I dont’t think it would be too great of a stretch to craft a soy/pea based beer perhaps blended with sorghum for additional color and flavor. I ran Jabroni’s here in Decatur for the last 4 years, but we just sold to new ownership, who have all but killed what it was. I am really looking into pursuing a license to brew and open a Chicago/StLouis themed blues/jazz restaurant/brewpub. Charlie is interested, or was, if we can get the numbers right, and so is Jim Skeffington. I’d love to get together at McGorray’s sometime and chat about ideas…
Supposedly a lot of the success of third beer isn’t about it being good so much as that its special tax status makes it much more price-competitive than it would otherwise be. In Japan, the tax alone on a can of cheap beer is significantly greater than the total retail price that similar beer goes for in the USA. Third beer came about as a way to avoid those taxes by specifically avoiding ingredients that would get it legally classified as beer.
That’s true, the tax benefit lops about 1/4 of the price off, I think. But, if feasible, it seems it provides a relatively clean base you could work with, and coupled with a few other ingredients might give people stuck on a gluten free diet some additional options…also, those of us from the “Dirty D-town” might find it fun/amusing/civic-minded to make a Soy City soy beer, for better or for worse…
