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Gluten Free Lambic

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akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Hard on the heels of my first lambic attempt is the gluten-free version.

~5 gallons
4 lb dry rice extract
3 lb sorghum extract
1/2 lb quinoa
2 oz aged hops
split pitch US05 & WLP655
OG 1.060

The quinoa was soaked overnight, then cooked in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes and 400 for about 2 minutes. Cooked in boiling water for 25 minutes, strained. Brought to 145, then some amylase enzyme was added and it sat for about 10 minutes (not looking for much conversion here) before being brought to a boil again.

Wort boiled for 90 minutes with the hops. It's finishing cooling now, will pitch the yeast(s) very soon at around 70 or so. I've got another airlock/dowel ready to go for the bug portion.

Pitched at 66ºF. Color is nice right now.
 
Last edited:
I think I forgot to mention the gluten content of those liquid yeasts. I emailed White Labs to ask about using their product in GF stuff. They said that the residual gluten content should be around 2 ppm (one tube in 5 gallons). So, there will be a very small amount of gluten in this batch. I plan to try and save the bugs on some oak cubes; the next batch would then be essentially zero gluten.

Update on the batch: Primary yeast activity in both portions looks about complete. I will try to rack the US-05 part into the buggy part around the end of the month.
 
When you first posted this, I thought, "I'm pretty sure that yeast is grown on barley and not gluten free." However, I prefer to recheck my sorces when possible and went to their website and saw the 2ppm in five gallons and decided not to say anything. I'd still prefer to use a yeast that was completely gluten free, but that is pretty low. It's gluten free by EU standards and I'm not even sure you could test for that small of an amount.

If you like the yeast, you should keep some of it from this batch and the ppm would be even less.
 
Yeah, I initially balked at the idea of using the liquid yeast for the "there is more than zero gluten" reason. But I couldn't think of a good way to get these organisms otherwise. After talking to White Labs, I decided that 2 ppm would be close enough to zero for this first go. From here on, I will try to propagate this colony to render future batches literally gluten free.
 
The yeast portion of this batch was racked tonight into the bugs. Hopefully they play nicely. SG was 1.020 and the flavor had a very distinct caramel note. Hmm... Tons of yeast still in suspension too (it was not quite done fermenting). I also sucked some air in through the racking cane/tube junction. Worked fine last time. I did have the hose clamps slightly rotated from before, perhaps I should go back to the previous configuration.
 
Boiling 1 oz of oak cubes to de-flavorize them prior to throwing them into the lambic. I have changed the water out once so far, and this second bath has some cheap vodka in it to help with the extraction. I might do one more change of water before I throw them in, we'll see.
 
akueck said:
A thin white layer is growing on the surface. Progress. ;D
Click to expand...

heh, I unintentually got that on my amaranth quinoa ale. I racked under it and bottled. The first class at 2.5 weeks bottle conditioning had a lambic taste. I enjoyed it for being different, but um... it wasn't great. At 4 weeks, it's improved a little. There is still a twang, but you can taste what the amaranth and quinoa are contributing.
 
This was the second one you did?

I have some grains drying that I want to try out--a mix of millet, amaranth, and buckwheat. I'm hoping to have time to do the Convertase test tomorrow as well.
 
Yeah, this was my 2nd attempt. I've been meaning to start malting some millet. I'm moving next week, so hopefully I'll have some time to start malting again. Not to mention some space to do it in.
 
First tasting!

Not very sour. Not really sour at all.

But, after conferring with the other tasters, we have nailed down the aroma: acetone. Going to have to look up how that happened. :mad:

Back in the cabinet for now, we'll see what happens over time.
 
I pulled a sample a few weeks ago. Still acetone, but slightly less. I've decided to mess with it, since I figure it can't get much worse. Or, if it does, then at least I can toss it without guilt.

On Saturday I mixed in 1 lb of rice extract briefly boiled in 1 gal of water, pitched with Windsor yeast. I'm hoping some activity will kick up with the added sugars and blow off the acetone. Things are percolating now so maybe it will work.
 
akueck said:
But, after conferring with the other tasters, we have nailed down the aroma: acetone. Going to have to look up how that happened. :mad:
Click to expand...

Usually acetone is either high fermentation temp (which this wasn't) or spoilage organisms (like Brett, Acetic acid bacteria, and lactic acid bacteria)

Since you pitched in some mixture of these, I reckon some ethyl-acetate and acetone aromas aren't too surprising. I wonder if aging alone would mellow the odor out. I'm very curious to see if your second fermentation gets rid of it. If it does, the question is do you need to sulfite it to keep it from developing again?
 
Yeah I looked up acetone and got: wild yeast. D'oh!

It was slowly lessening over time. I got impatient though. :mad: I'm hoping it blows off and doesn't come back, but we'll just have to see what happens.
 
Tried a sample of this one again. Smells less like acetone, and tastes a lot less like acetone. But, it's still there. Guess I'll just leave it some more and taste again this summer.
 
BBBF said:
heh, I unintentually got that on my amaranth quinoa ale. I racked under it and bottled. The first class at 2.5 weeks bottle conditioning had a lambic taste. I enjoyed it for being different, but um... it wasn't great. At 4 weeks, it's improved a little. There is still a twang, but you can taste what the amaranth and quinoa are contributing.
Click to expand...

So that little bit of twang turned into outright awful. I bottled it with twang and ended up tasting like a bottle of vomit. I brought a couple bottles out as a joke once or twice and put the rest into the cellar and forgot about them.

I recently opened one up and it's now a lambic like twang. I actually like it.
 
Nice, time heals all! I do intend on pulling another sample of this one. Maybe this week I'll have time.
 
Thiefed a sample. It still smells a lot like acetone, though the flavor is improving. I'm torn. Bottling it all will be some work, and right now it is rather not so good, and it's been almost two years. On the other hand, throwing it out seems sacrilege.
 
Well, you could bottle it, then bring it by my place and I'll keep it for you whilst you and the missus go off on your great adventure. When you come back you can retrieve it and see if it's improved!

;)
 
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