There are a few folks in here that have brewed gluten free beers, I'm posting below the one that I made for my wife last summer:
Gluten-Free 'Wit'
6 lb liquid sorghum malt (NB is out at the moment, B3 I think has it, most local shops won't carry it)
8oz Belgian Candi (might try one of the lighter candi syrups next time)
6oz maltodextrin
2oz 3.1% aa Hersbrucker hops
4g grains of paradise (crushed)
0.4oz coriander (crushed)
1.5 oz fresh citrus zest (I used zest from a grapefruit, lime, lemon and 2 oranges. In the future, I'd likely cut the lime, reduce the grapefruit and bump up the oranges)
Irish Moss
@45 - 1 1/3 oz Hersbrucker
@15 - 2g grains of paradise, 0.2oz coriander, Irish Moss
@5 - Citrus Zest
@1 - 2/3 oz Hersbrucker, remaining gop and coriander
OG 1053
FG 1017
Make sure that the yeast you use is gluten free as well. I used one packet Danstar Nottingham and one packet Windsor.
While it is possible to go all grain in making gluten free beer, it will require a LOT of experimentation on your part with different grains, etc. The main issues involve lack of enzymes to convert starch, flavor contributions, ease of mashing/lautering, etc., as well as having to learn how to do the whole malting process yourself. Even most all grain homebrewers rely on the maltsters to take care of the germination, malting and kilning of their malts, while an all grain gluten free brewer needs to take over all those steps as well. If the idea of doing that gets you all hot in the
, then more power to you man! There are a couple of good resources out there on malting gluten free grains and the flavor contributions that you can get from that, I think they've been posted here before, if so I'll try to find the thread and redirect you there.
Sorghum malt does tend to have a bit of a twang to it from what I've seen a number of different places, which was one of the reasons I went with a wit when designing this recipe. The citrus and spice additions seem to work well with any malt based bite there may be.
