End the Beer-less Suffering of Gluten Intolerants – Brew Beer with Clarity Ferm!
by Matt Myerhoff of The Maltose Falcons Homebrew Club
Editor’s note: One of the great scourges of our time is increased gluten sensitivity. The diet of human beings has changed radically over the past 10,000 years, where we went from eating whatever we could to eating pretty much any damn thing we want. As a result of that, we eat a lot more cereal grains than our ancestors ever dreamed of, and there hasn’t been enough generations for our bodies to have evolved to handle all of this gluten. Fortunately there are ways to make gluten free beer. Most of them suck because they are barley free. But now, Matt tells us about an additive that can be added to beer during the brewing process that removes almost all of the gluten.
For years, my wife and I have enjoyed exploring the delicious world of craft beer together, visiting breweries and beer bars, and of course enjoying the rich rewards of my homebrewing activities. Recently however, she was devastated to learn she had a condition called FODMAPS sensitivity, and had to completely quit drinking beer to avoid terrible intestinal distress. Luckily, there is a solution: White Labs’ Clarity Ferm. Pun intended.
FODMAPs are Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides and Polyols, a grouped of short chain carbohydrates and related alcohols that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine, and sadly for those sensitive to them, are found in basically everything we eat: garlic, onions, beans, gluten, dairy, many types of nuts, stone fruits, many types of green vegetables, artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup.
We tried several kinds of commercial gluten-free beer, most of which are sorghum based and tasted awful. In fact, they didn’t really taste like beer at all.
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Widmer Bros.’ malted barley-based Omission Pale Ale (omissionbeer.com) was not bad, and Brunehaut Ambrée’s Organic Belgian Amber Ale, from Rongy-Brunehaut, Belgium, was really tasty, but not available anywhere. I did some research into gluten-free beer recipes for homebrewing, but most were also based on sorghum extract which has a very distinct, un-beerlike flavor. Brunehaut Ambree Belgian Amber Ale was the only gluten free beer we tried that was excellent and actually tasted like beer. Then Sean Fitzgerald at the Home Beer Wine and Cheese Making Shop recommended White Labs’ Clarity Ferm, a clarifying agent with gluten-reducing properties.
I immediately bought three vials of Clarity Ferm ($3.95 for a 10 ml vial, good to treat a 5-10 gallon batch of beer) and ingredients for three batches of beer that my wife would love – an American Brown Ale, a Belgian Blonde and a French Saison. I brewed them all and followed the instructions to the letter, adding the vial of clear liquid when I pitched the yeast. At bottling time, I pulled out a shotglass sized sample of the Brown Ale and gave it to my wife to taste. The taste was perfect, but it gave her intestinal distress all through the next day. I was extremely disappointed because I thought we had found a bright spot in her dark wasteland of dietary restrictions. Plus I had 15 gallons of beer on my hands.
Then I found a Sept. 2013 article in Beer and Wine Journal by Chris Hamilton, Associate Professor Chemistry at Hillsdale College in Michigan specializing in enzymes, documenting a thorough scientific experiment where he brewed several different types of beer using Clarity Ferm with several variations, including fermentation temperature, different mash conditions, carbonation and different amounts of Clarity Ferm.
According to Hamilton, Clarity Ferm is made from a product called Brewer’s Clarex (manufactured by DSM), a solution of purified prolyl endopeptidase derived from Aspergillus niger — aka black mold. DSM and White Labs initially marketed both products to reduce chill haze in beer. Proteins bind to polyphenols in beer to cause haze at low temperatures, and adding an enzyme that breaks down these proteins reduces the chill haze. Since this enzyme is a prolyl endopeptidase, a side-effect of using Brewer’s Clarex and Clarity Ferm is that the gluten is broken down as well. Only in the last few years has White Labs marketed Clarity Ferm a gluten reduction agent, Hamilton.
In 2009, Charlie Papazian did an experiment Brewers Clarex and the finished beer tested at less than 5 ppm of gluten, but there were questions about the reliability of the experiment, which is why Hamilton did his experiment. A gliadin molecule, a protein component of gluten which causes inflammation, malabsorption, and digestive upset in those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. 12 For Hamilton’s experiment, he brewed a partial mash Cream Ale, and an all-grain American Stout split up into several different mashing schedules. After three weeks of normal fermentation, as any homebrewer would do, all of the treated beers contained less than 5 ppm of gluten, and the samples with the largest amounts of Clarity Ferm had levels so low they could not be detected. There was no significant different in the beer that had protein rests or any other mashing variables. The European Codex Alimentarious Commission declares products with less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten to be gluten free, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has adopted nearly the same level for its labeling policy. Hamilton also rigorously taste-tested the beers, and no significant difference was found among the treated beers. (For more details on the experiment, read the three-article series at: https://beerandgardeningjournal.com/?s=clarity+ferm
After reading about the experiment, I convinced my wife to give the beer another try, because sometimes something eaten the previous day, stress, or some other factor can cause the intestinal distress. At this point, the beer had been bottle conditioning for four weeks. We poured her an 8 oz. glass of the Brown Ale, and it tasted spot on, and, by the way, was crystal clear. After 24 hours, she reported no intestinal problems, and we celebrated by popping champagne, ie, more gluten-reduced beer. The Belgian Blonde and the French Saison were equally delicious and produced no negative reaction.
We are ecstatic that we can enjoy beer together again. Since then I have brewed a gluten-reduced hoppy American Oatmeal Stout which is in fermentation. I am now on a crusade to tell other homebrewers who have gluten-intolerant friends and lovers to try brewing with Clarity Ferm so those poor beer-less souls can once enjoy the gift of the gods. It is probably wise to have them test a small glass first and see how they feel after 24 hrs., since people’s sensitivity to gluten in beer varies.
From Maltose Falcons newsletter 12/2014
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