RECIPE: Gluten-Free Pale Ale (Extract with Grains)

This is a fantastic easy-to-brew recipe for new homebrewers that will help develop their skills, but still result in a delicious, gluten-free beer. If you are following a gluten-free diet, but still want to drink and brew your own beer, this is a great recipe to add to your routine.

Like any brewing recipe, the more you brew it, the more adjustments you can make to help perfect the taste over time. For example, you can tweak the final color and create stronger toasty flavors by toasting your specialty grains at a higher temperature. However, by doing this, you will subsequently reduce the sweetness. On the flip side, if you spend more time toasting your grains at a lower temperature, you will come out with a sweeter beer with fewer roasted notes.

This pale ale recipe uses Citra hops, but you can use whichever of the “C” hops you like. Just make sure to adjust the bittering addition for the alpha acid content of your hops. Choosing American citrusy hops will make your beer stand out more as an American Pale Ale.

Like many gluten-free beers, the final product will likely be crystal clear because you’re using less of the proteins that would cause haze.

Ingredients:

Recipe Specs
Recipe Type:	Extract w/ Grains
Batch Size:	5.0 gallons
Volume Boiled:	6 Gallons
Original Gravity:	1.043
Final Gravity:	1.010
SRM:	8.0
IBUs:	36
ABV:	4.4%

• 5.5 lbs Malted Sorghum Extract
• 0.5 lb Buckwheat groats (toasted)
• 0.5 lb Red Quinoa (toasted)
• 0.5 lbs Amaranth (toasted)
• 0.3 oz Citra Hops @11%AA = 3.3 AAU boiled 60 minutes
• 0.5 oz Citra Hops @11%AA boiled 30 minutes
• 0.5 oz Citra Hops @11%AA boiled 15 minutes
• 0.5 oz Citra Hops @11%AA at flameout
• 0.5 oz Citra Hops @11%AA dry hopped 10 days
• 1 tsp Irish Moss (clarifier)
• 1 pack Fermentis Safale US-05
• 5 oz. Corn sugar for bottling

Brewing Procedure:

Rinse the specialty grains thoroughly and drain all of the water out. Spread the grains onto one or more baking sheets and place them in a pre-heated oven. Toast them at 300° F for an hour and then at 350° for another 45 minutes until they look dark enough for you. Your oven may toast grains differently than mine did, so keep a close eye on them. Let them cool. Toasting your grains can be done ahead of time, but make sure you keep the grain in a cool, dry place until brewing time.

On your brew day, steep your grains in a cheesecloth or nylon mesh bag in 6 gallons of water (You can use as little as 2.5 gallons of water and then top up with pre-boiled and cooled water after the boil). Begin heating the water. Remove the grains before you reach 170° F. Turn off heat and stir in sorghum extract. Bring to a boil and add first hop addition. After 30 minutes, add second addition.

After 15 more minutes, add third hop addition and Irish Moss. After the last 15 minutes, add final hop addition and turn off heat.

Cool beer to 70° F as quickly as possible, pitch your yeast, and ferment. After 7-10 days, rack beer to secondary fermenter and add dry hops. After 7-10 days, bottle using corn sugar as primer.

Please Note: If you are serious about gluten-free brewing, you should note that dry yeast is cultivated in molasses, and some liquid yeasts may contain gluten. Check with your home brew supplier before assuming your yeast is gluten-free. Also, exercise caution when purchasing bulk grains for your gluten-free beers. You don’t want them to be milled with gluten grains or otherwise be contaminated with gluten.