New Gluten Free Beer Kit

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

My gluten free honey ale beer kit just arrived today from Home Brewer’s Outpost.

The kit includes:

- Two containers of BriesSweet gluten free white sorghum syrup
- One jar of Mountain Top Honey Co. Flagstaff Wildflower Honey
- One packet of Nottingham gluten free ale yeast
- One packet of bittering hopes
- One packet of finishing hops (German Hersbrucker)
- Priming sugar
- 50 bottle caps
- Two muslin bags

The whole kit was about $50, including shipping.

The instructions included look pretty clear, and easy to follow. I haven’t found any reviews of the kit yet, but I’ve got high hopes that it’ll produce a nice ale. Home Brewer’s Outpost also offers a dark ale kit, so I’ll be trying that one next!

Look for more on the Honey Ale soon!

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Gluten free food (and beer!) in the Czech Republic

December 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Just saw a review of a new gluten-free restaurant called Na Zlaté Křížovatce in the English-language version of the Prague Post. Not only does the restaurant serve gluten-free versions of Czech classics (like spaetzle and gulasch – one of our favorites!), it also serves Celia, a gluten-free lager brewed by Žatec Brewery – and the first gluten-free Czech beer.

The beer is based on Czech malt, but, according to Žatec Brewery, the patented methods and technology they use has made it safe for celiacs. The mash is malted in a special way and then double-fermented using a patented process. It is regularly tested by the Research Institute of Brewing and Malting (RIBM) to confirm that there is no residual gluten left in the batch, though we haven’t been able to find information on any actual gluten level found in the beer.

The lager was created to give Czech celiacs the taste and feel of a real Czech beer, rather than just the imports based on alternative grains such as buckwheat and corn. Though many celiacs do not trust any beer made using barley, Celia may be an important option for some. The beer appears to be widely available in the Czech Republic, so if anyone has tried it, please send in your comments below.

Also – what is your opinion of barley-based, gluten-free beers? The GFBeerGirl has only tried Daura beer from Spain, which gave her an unpleasant reaction. But others seem to drink these brews just fine. Do you consider these beers to be truly gluten-free?

Filed Under: Gluten Free Restaurant, Travel

NYT: Should we all Go Gluten Free?

November 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s a shame that the article in this weekend’s New York Times Sunday Magazine fails to answer (or even address) the question posed in the headline. Though it’s great to see the rising awareness of celiac disease and gluten intolerance, articles such as this one can be a bit maddening. Though the headline seems to point to an alarmist, anti-gluten stance, the article is anything but. Instead, it’s pretty much a ‘thank you’ to all the large corporations (especially General Mills) that have deigned to finally make some gluten-free choices for those who need them.

It’s unfortunate that the author chooses to represent celiacs as a group of people with nothing good to eat, waiting around for corporate America to make palatable gluten-free junk food for them. While it’s nice to have more options, our experience with gluten-free eating and gluten-free eaters is entirely different. Sure – it’s nice to be able to buy rice chex and gluten-free bread at the supermarket like everyone else, but who wants to eat that all the time? And better yet, who can afford to spend the extra money to purchase all that processed gluten-free food?

Most celiacs we’ve met choose instead to eat a variety of naturally gluten-free foods – with the occasional gluten-free treat thrown in. Or they’ve learned to make their own, superior baked goods and breads, if that’s what they like. And it shouldn’t be any different with gluten-free beer. Though there’s many great gluten-free beers out there to choose from, home-brewing is a natural fit for the celiac beer drinker. Most celiacs are familiar with making complicated dishes with lots of specialized ingredients and equipment. For us, beer making should be easy!

If you’ve been thinking about experimenting, look for recipes online – or make it even easier and order a gluten-free homebrewing kit. There’s several available, including one developed by Bard’s. Equipment is the same as for any other type of beer – though if you used to brew gluten-y beers, you may want to buy new stuff so you don’t accidentally contaminate your gluten-free brews. Let us know in the comments section if you’ve tried a gluten free home-brew kit!

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What can you put in a Gluten Free Beer?

November 22, 2011 By 1 Comment

No wheat, no rye, no barley – but almost anything else can go in a gluten free beer. Many commercially available gluten free beers are based on sorghum (the usual substitute for the traditional barley) – and many also have other gluten-free grains, such as rice and corn. But there’s no reason to stop there.

The GFBeerGirl has been reading up on the possibilities, and there are tons of recipes out there for home brewers interested in adding a little more zing to their gluten free brews. Just the other day, we came across the Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer-making Book: 52 Seasonal Recipes for Small Batches. In addition to being an entertaining read that makes the brewing process very accessible, the book includes one gluten-free beer recipe for each of the seasons.

The recipes are adapted versions of some of their traditional beer recipes, and all feature seasonal fruits and other interesting ingredients. Spring is a Gluten-Free Carrot Pils; Summer features a very Russian-sounding Beet-Buckwheat Ale; for Fall, the ubiquitous pumpkin is the star of a Pumpkin Dubbel recipe; and the choice for winter is a Gingerbread Ale with plenty of spice to it.

The authors are careful to explain the differences in brewing a gluten free beer versus a traditional one. They choose not to base the recipes on sorghum, which, they claim, is “thin, watery and sour,” but rely instead on grains like quinoa, basmati rice and buckwheat. They take the time to explain the malting process for the different grains, which is especially important in gluten-free brewing due to the lack of availability of malted gluten-free grains.

It’s clear that the folks at the Brooklyn Brew Shop understand what ‘gluten-free’ really means. They add a tip, for example, advising gluten-free brewers to stay away from liquid yeasts, which are cultivated from beer and may contain gluten.

The recipes are nicely scaled for the home brewer, with each designed to make a single gallon of beer, rather than the usual five gallons. This gives you only about 10 bottles – enough to get started with, but not so many that one batch will take up your entire kitchen.

Though the book doesn’t fill in for a gluten-free brewing manual, there is enough of interest to the gluten-free brewer to make it worth taking a look at. All in all, the GFBeerGirl is looking forward to trying out these seasonal recipes. Check back to see us get started on the GF Gingerbread Ale this winter!

What are some of your favorite gluten free beer recipes? Have you ever tried using more exotic ingredients? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section!

Filed Under: Home brewing

Are Restaurants with Gluten-Free Menus Safe for Celiacs?

November 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you’ve been eating gluten-free for awhile, you’ve probably come up against this problem: a restaurant claims to have a gluten-free menu, but when you ask a few questions, it’s clear they don’t know what they’re doing.  Or maybe you eat at a new restaurant and get sick – even though you were careful to order a dish marked ‘gluten free.’  With the current trendiness of the gluten free diet, it’s not surprising that many restaurants would jump on the bandwagon – and not all of them do a good job.

There’s a great post today over at AllergyEats, warning celiac and gluten intolerant diners not to trust a restaurant just because it marks something gluten free.  It’s a good reminder to all of us, especially considering the high-profile failure of chains like California Pizza Kitchen to make safe, gluten free food that is appropriate for celiacs and the gluten intolerant.

Last summer, California Pizza Kitchen rolled out gluten-free crusts at restaurants around the U.S.  Which was great – except that it wasn’t.  It quickly became clear that the company didn’t understand cross-contamination, and was not able to guarantee that any of their dishes were, in fact, truly gluten free.  They didn’t realize you had to use dedicated cooking utensils and dishes, and they didn’t understand how to  keep the chance of cross-contamination down.  Luckily, in the case of California Pizza Kitchen, it seems that they are willing to learn.  According to a post on the Gluten Free Glutton, they’ve implemented new procedures and are making an effort to limit cross-contamination and make their food safer for celiacs.

It’s a steep learning curve for any restaurant that decides to enter the gluten free market, and diners have to figure out for themselves just who they can trust.

 

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