Brewing with Unmalted Sorghum – #365papers – 2017 – 10

#365papers for January 10, 2017

Holmes, Casey, and Cook, 2016, Mashing with unmalted sorghum using a novel low temperature enzymes system: Impacts of sorghum grain composition and microstructure: Food Chemistry, v. 221, p. 324-334.

What’s it about?

Sorghum is a grain that can be used to make gluten-free beer. By using un-malted sorghum, you can save the step of malting, but you need to use high temperatures and add enzymes to get the sugars (which are later fermented) from the starch in the grain. This paper discusses a low temperature alternative to get sugar from the starches in sorghum grain.

Why does it matter?

Any time temperatures can be reduced in a process, energy is saved and therefore money. This is one potential way to reduce the cost of gluten-free beers.

Why did I read this?

I’m interested in brewing with grains other than barley. Part of this is because barley might be hard to grow here on our one-day-gonna-be farm. The other part is just sensitivity to people who can’t enjoy beer because of sensitivity to gluten.