New to Mr. Beer, 4 Gluten Free Recipes! We have been making brewing easy for years and we decided to add gluten free recipes to the mix. Check out this episode where we break down the new recipes and discuss gluten free beer in general.

This episode pertains to our 4 new Gluten Free recipes that we are releasing this week. Ashley has been the leader for us in this move design all these recipes for us. So, I thought it would be great to have her on the show to take about the Gluten Free brewing and then at the end we will get into the recipes we have.

Why gluten free?

Well Robert, Believe it or not an estimated 31-40% of the world population carries the HLA-DQ genes associated with the predisposition for Celiac disease, Celiac is an autoimmune disease in which the sufferers immune system attacks the body as a result of gluten exposure, the results can range from minor discomfort and pain to being down right life threatening. Now of course, not everyone with the gene will develop Celiac disease but many people with this disposition will develop a genuine intolerance. That being said, approximately half of the world population, consumes alcohol … so given those statistics, you can bet more than a few celiac and intolerant people, miss beer terribly. Up until fairly recently your choices for Celiac friendly beer have been pretty limited. As someone with a deep love for beer and also the owner of some active HLA-DQ genes, I relate to this plight very personally and so do many of my fellow no- gluten people. Quite simply, we want to drink good beer despite our disease. Aside from celiac and gluten intolerance, there are also cases where people have other diseases primarily auto immune in where the consumption of gluten containing food and drink causes additional complications/ and or inflammation.

The trend in gluten free beer seems to be getting more popular, how long have you been brewing and drinking gluten free beer?

I have been brewing in total for nearly 9 years. I have been brewing gluten free beer for almost 5 years. I’ve been drinking it for the better part of a decade, whenever I could find it. The problem is finding it, which is why I started brewing it.

How has gluten free brewing changed over the last few years? Or has it not changed?

The brewing process hasn’t changed too much, at the end of the day we are still producing a “beer product” through means of fermentation. What HAS changed is the accessibility of gluten free brewing ingredients as well as more of an access to commercial knowledge from dedicated gluten free breweries such as Ground Breaker, Ghost Fish and Glutenberg. This has greatly widened the possibilities for producing GF beer at home.

What are some of the ingredients that are used in gluten free brewing?

Some of the most common fermentables and adjuncts used in gluten free brewing are, Sorghum, Rice, Millet Rice, Buckwheat, Belgian candy sugar, Corn syrup, And quite a few more.

What are some of the benefits to using Sorghum?

Sorghum is awesome for making gluten free beer and it’s one of only 2 commercially produced gluten free extracts, making it very easy to work with. Sorghum ferments well and is generally enjoyed by most yeast strains. If handled properly, sorghum can lend a very familiar “beer” flavor.

So, lets dive into the 4 new recipes we have. I am going to let Ashley take over here to talk about these recipes.

Vacation IPA

This is one of my favorites. If you have been watching or have any familiarity with me, you know I LOVE HOPS and I really enjoy beer with a bitter backbone. This beer delivers. With a combination of azaaca and simcoe hops, this one had a lot of ripe stone fruit aroma and juicy haziness, rounding out with a strong and delicious bitter note.

Grapefruit Crush Pale Ale

OK so maybe I like bitter AND citrus in my beer. That sounds a lot like grapefruit doesn’t it… well out of that, Grapefruit Crush was born. This was a beer we could not keep in the keg, from all corners of the building, the masses arrived to drink it until it was empty. If you don’t like grapefruit as much as I do or you have a particularly large one, you can adjust the amount of zest as per your preferences.

Acushla Red Ale

This is one of the very first recipes that I created specifically for Mr. Beer. You see, I like my reds a little hoppy and VERY Crushable. I want to be able to drink a lot of it, easily. This red does that. Acushla means “darling” or more literally “my pulse”. This beauty is sure to get you wrapped around it’s finger.

Mocha-Choca Oatmeal Stout

This was a “challenge accepted” moment. The wonderful people at Mr. Beer asked “hey Ash, can you make us a stout? “ say no more fam… I am so proud of this beer. Stout kits are UNHEARD of in the realm of GF beer when it comes to extract based kits. I used coffee bean and cacoa nibs to create that dynamic and layered stout flavor without a whole bunch of specialty malts. This beer took quite a few renditions to get it to be what I was looking for and I hope you enjoy drinking it as much as I did creating the formula.