Gonna brew me a gluten free beer. | Bitchin' Brews

Looks like I need a refill...

For all the years that I used to drink beer en masse with the masses I never once seriously considered brewing my own. I've been on numerous brewery tours, I see and understand the process, and hell, I even really like to bake and cook - there's no reason why I shouldn't really enjoy brewing. I should be one of those people that's all down to experiment with flavors and styles and drink beer with my buds. I should want to spend all my extra cash on homebrewing supplies and ingredients and concoct mysterious brews of delight. However, in all my life I've never been all that motivated. I mean, why try to reinvent the wheel that Foothills, Terrapin, and Dogfish have done so well? I mean, it ain't broke; I can get beer of all kinds and styles at my local beer store, why fix it?

But now that I'm still in this gluten intolerance limbo area, I really want to stop spending all my money on one beer at the beer store. And knowing people that I know, I have weaseled my way into a homebrewing group's somewhat regular brewing schedule. My goal through this manipulative manner of mayhem is to get some apprentice-like education on brewing and begin brewing gluten free beer for myself to enjoy. I want to be the person who can actually BYOB again to parties. I want to be able to go out to enjoy other beverages because I've got all the beer I could want to myself.

Plus, at some point I really want to make a gluten free sour or double IPA for myself. Because, if you do drink gluten free beer, the biggest problem with gluten free beer is the lack of variety (imho). I hardcore, vehemently believe that the best gluten free beer I've ever had is the New Planet Off Grid Pale Ale. We even did some taste-testing between it and the Tread Lightly they make and it's obvious the difference between the two. The Off Grid gives you more body and more flavor-memory of being a real beer while the Tread Lightly is sweet and thin. Tread Lightly ALMOST comes across as being a watered-down beer. And this isn't a ding to New Planet because I'm just happy to have options. But I do drink beer and that's my general thought of it. Plus, that's why brewers brew options...everyone's taste buds are different.

So prepare to read about the chronicle of me brewing a gluten free beer. The first step is getting the ingredients. I've reached out to New Planet and drank a bunch of beers (two important steps when trying to mimic a beer you like) and I'm waiting to hear back. I plan to head to Bull City Homebrew to talk with Kyle (my new brew buddy) about getting the rest of the ingredients, but as I just learned, the ratios are what's important. Not only do you need to know what hops & malts & stuff are in your beer, but the ratios of each too. That way you know how much you'll need of each.

I also learned something peculiar about yeast strains. Not all yeast strains are gluten free either. So, if you have celiac you need to make sure you have gluten free yeast too. Thankfully, I don't think I am a celiac, so I'll settle for what's most convenient. For the remaining ingredients in your beer that you can't get at the Homebrew store, you can always get off Amazon.

Are you a homebrewer? Do you have any other tips for a noob on brewing beer? Leave 'em in the comments!

Source: http://bitchinbrews.com/beer/homebrewing/gonna-brew-me-a-beer/

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