Malts for Gluten-Free Beer – #365papers – 2017 – 15

#365papers for January 15, 2017

De Meo, Freeman, Marconi, Booer, Perretti, and Fantozzi, 2011, Behaviour of Malted Cereals and Pseudo-Cereals for Gluten-Free Beer Production: Journal of the Institute of Brewing, v. 117, p.541-546.

What’s it about?

One of the reasons why other grains aren’t used so much as barley for making beers is that they tend not to yield as much fermentable sugar as does barley. This paper investigated various techniques for malting gluten-free grains to be able to get enough sugar for good fermentation.

Why does it matter?

For celiac patients, beer is something they cannot consume, but many request beer. These experiments get us closer to being able to produce gluten-free beers at around the same cost as barley-based brews.

Why did I read this?

This paper “jumped in the cart” because I am interested in brewing with grains other than barley. Barley does not grow in many part of the world and perfectly acceptable beers are made with other grains, and many of these are gluten-free.