Brewing "Crafted To Remove Gluten" Beer

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by BRedd84, Mar 15, 2016.

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  1. BRedd84

    BRedd84 Initiate (0) Mar 14, 2016 Texas

    Hello all! Within the last year or so, a friend of mine who brews beer pretty regularly mentioned he found a gluten free recipe and, having Celiac disease, I jumped at the chance to make some. There are about 7-10 gluten free beers available to me in Texas so making my own is great. With all that said, at our local supply store, we were told about this "liquid" that would make any beer we brewed gluten free. After some research, I found out that "crafted to remove gluten" beer is made by using an enzyme to break down the gluten.

    My question is, has anyone had experience with the magic liquid (the name escapes me at the moment)? I'd love to try to brew other kinds of beer that can be somewhat gluten free.
     
  2. jeferobles

    jeferobles Initiate (0) Nov 22, 2015 California

    It's called Clarity Ferm. I have two different brews where I've used the enzyme - one bottled last weekend and one in the fermenter. I know folks who have gluten issues and would like to share my beer with them. Rumor is that it lowers gluten to less than 20 ppm. Stone apparently uses it for their "Delicious IPA". I've spoken to several people who have tried it. The consensus is that it does not affect flavor or other properties of the beer.

    I've got two or three gluten intolerant folks willing to act as test cases and will report back once they have given it a go.
     
  3. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    I've tasted a few beers made with clarity ferm at a brew club meeting. They seemed fine. I had nothing to A/B so I have no idea if it changed anything, or even if it removed the gluten for that matter. They guy who brought the beers swears by it though on both counts.
     
  4. chavinparty

    chavinparty Zealot (653) Jan 4, 2015 New Hampshire

    I'm doing a side by side 5 and 5 comparison in fermentation right now. Same batch citra Amarillo IPA curious to see if clarity ferm changes anything
     
  5. GormBrewhouse

    GormBrewhouse Pooh-Bah (2,111) Jun 24, 2015 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    I am very interested I. This cause I have attempted 3 gluten free beers using glutin free material. All were drain pours. Just god awful tastin swill.
     
  6. BRedd84

    BRedd84 Initiate (0) Mar 14, 2016 Texas

    I've brewed one batch with sorghum syrup but if I can use Clarity Ferm and brew what I want, that would be amazing. My tolerance to gluten is much lower than most so the "crafted to remove gluten" beers don't affect me at all. This can open up a whole new world to me!
     
  7. GormBrewhouse

    GormBrewhouse Pooh-Bah (2,111) Jun 24, 2015 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    Yep, I had used sorghum as well for some pals. This could be the cure.
     
  8. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I have a friend who has a son who is gluten intolerant. I have participated with my friend to brew two beers which were low in gluten so his son could drink it.Both beers were Porters.

    One batch the base grain was Sorghum and we used some dark candi syrup to provide some ‘character’. That beer was drinkable but not very good IMO.

    The second beer used barley malt as the base grain and we added Clarity Ferm. That beer was tasty and low in gluten so the son could drink that beer.

    Cheers!
     
  9. Jesse14

    Jesse14 Initiate (0) Jul 21, 2011 Massachusetts

    I have used it on 2 occasions to make an IPA for my wife and I to drink. She is gluten-intolerant. In both instances she had a tough time with them. She is not celiac yet still had some stomach discomfort. So much so that she will not try it again. She gets the same reaction from Stone's Delicious but not Glutenberg's IPA. Stone's uses the enzyme while Glutenburg does not brew with gluten. So maybe it was just my wife's sensitivities to something in Clarity Ferm but just wanted to caution you that it is not a perfect solution for everyone. On a positive note, I did not taste any change in the flavor of the beer as a result of using it.
     
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  10. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    That is indeed a good point to emphasize. Clarity Ferm does not result in a totally gluten free beer and whether an individual can drink a beer that was brewed using Clarity Ferm is dependent on the level of sensitivity.

    Omission produces gluten reduced beers and you can go to their website and enter a batch code to read the test results for that particular batch of beer.

    http://omissionbeer.com/

    Cheers!
     
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  11. MCBanjoMike

    MCBanjoMike Initiate (0) Aug 7, 2014 Canada (QC)

    I've used Clarity Ferm to make beer on three occasions, and two of those batches were tested by my very sensitive celiac friend. The details are in this thread, but the short version is that a double-dose of Clarity Ferm brought gluten levels down to about 5 ppm and didn't seem to have any negative impact on the flavor. I'm a big believer in the stuff now, and my friend is impatiently awaiting the next batch. I've never had a sorghum-based beer that even came close to what you can do with this enzyme, although I haven't tried them all (because they're usually really gross and I'm not allergic, myself).
     
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  12. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    @MCBanjoMike , thanks for posting the link to that other thread.

    @Mohican88 posted there:
    "OP, I feel as if I could've written this same post as I have a friend that will end up in the hospital for days if he consumes gluten. For our first clarity ferm batch we brewed 5 gallons of 10% RIS, obviously with a lot of grain.

    We sent a sample to white labs to ensure that the clarity ferm had worked, and the results showed <5 ppm. We now use at home testing kits just to make sure everything is as expected, but if it works on a beer with that much grain and gluten I have to believe any beer treated with clarity ferm will be essentially "gluten free."

    That sure does seem to indicate that Clarity Ferm is pretty effective at reducing Gluten levels.

    Cheers!
     
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  13. BRedd84

    BRedd84 Initiate (0) Mar 14, 2016 Texas

    I had no idea there were home tests for gluten testing. That's great to know. I appreciate all the input here and will get to brewing!
     
  14. MCBanjoMike

    MCBanjoMike Initiate (0) Aug 7, 2014 Canada (QC)

    They're really expensive! Like $50 for two tests.
     
  15. BRedd84

    BRedd84 Initiate (0) Mar 14, 2016 Texas

    Yikes. Although it may be worth buying it the first time just to have peace of mind.
     
  16. Mohican88

    Mohican88 Initiate (0) Jan 20, 2010 Ohio

    As an update to this previous post we have tested at least a dozen more beers at home and all have been below the 10 ppm threshold detected by the EZ-gluten. We've been purchasing them in the the 10 packs which are $110, which isn't all that much additional per batch for a some peace of mind. A 2 pack is $25, so the price has gone down in the last year or so.
     
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