Gluten Free has two issues

Northern Brewer General
1

Greetings brewers
This is my first post on the forum. I’ve been extract brewing for about 2 years now with very good success. So far haven’t made a “bad” brew. Even what follows I wouldn’t grade as a failure by any means, quite drinkable.

So a few folks I know always have a dissappointed look when I open the cooler and they cannot partake, thus my first crack at Gluten Free. The recipe was very simple; 6 lbs Sorghum, 0.5 lb. corn sugar, about 2 oz Nugget hops for bittering, and 1 oz Kent Golding split in the final 10 minutes of the boil.

So in the end my two issues are; 1. The beer is cloudy, 2. No head retention. Cloudy I can live with but it certainly does take away from first impressions. The beer carbonated nicely but the head just fizzes off in seconds, again more aestetics (sp?) than anything, but hey, beer is supposed to have a head.

Like I said the beer is very drinkable but I’d like to do better if I try this again. Any info you can share to help me improve on this (shouldn’t take much) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
PB

2

I wonder if oats would help with head retention. Oats, themselves are GF, but you’ll have to look to find oats that are packaged as such. Usually, they are processed in the same facilities as wheat, barley, etc., and therefore cannot be labeled GF.

3

You might look into an enzyme called Clarity Ferm, its supposed to work to reduce gluten.

Otherwise you could add some maltodextrin to your brew to improve the body.