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trufflehunter

gluten free alternatives to wheat/barley in wine recipes

What are reasonable alternatives to wheat or barley in wine recipes? I get the impression they add "body" to certain wines (I'm thinking damson at the moment) but what else could be used? another grain of some sort?
sean

I've never used wheat or barley in a wine recipe. If you want to add body/vinosity then grape juice seems like the way forwards to me.
trufflehunter

thanks - i think you're right. I was looking at a carrot wine recipe which also asked for wheat, but I think you could use buckwheat for that. Anyway, I'll follow your advice for the plum wine!
sally_in_wales

we did a wheat and rowanberry wine once, years back. it was very good but took a couple of years to be ready.

Just out of curiosity, if a wheat containing wine is properly cleared, is there much gluten remaining in it?
gil

I've never used wheat or barley in a wine recipe. If you want to add body/vinosity then grape juice seems like the way forwards to me.


Agree with Sean. Damson is a fruit that already has a fair bit of body, and grape juice will give that extra richness, vinosity and mouthfeel.

I've also used ripe banana, but only one per gallon, for wines from fruit with very little body but a fair acidity, like orange. Plus grape juice.
trufflehunter

thanks everyone,
it'll be a few days before I get back out for the rest of the damsons - it's absolutely pouring down here!!
BTW, what are the advantages of using grape concentrate?
jamanda

we did a wheat and rowanberry wine once, years back. it was very good but took a couple of years to be ready.

Just out of curiosity, if a wheat containing wine is properly cleared, is there much gluten remaining in it?


I think there would be. People with coeliacs cannot drink beer or whisky. sally_in_wales

we did a wheat and rowanberry wine once, years back. it was very good but took a couple of years to be ready.

Just out of curiosity, if a wheat containing wine is properly cleared, is there much gluten remaining in it?

I think there would be. People with coeliacs cannot drink beer or whisky.

Ah, I was vaguely thinking the gluten might clear away given that its the stretchy bit, but a bit of further reading gives:
Quote:
Gluten is the composite of a gliadin and a glutelin, which is conjoined with starch in the endosperm of various grass-related grains. The prolamin and glutelin from wheat - gliadin, which is alcohol soluble, and glutenin, which is only soluble in dilute acids or alkalis - compose about 80% of the protein contained in wheat seed.


so it sounds as if the acohol makes the wheat bit even worse as the gliadin dissolves in it. Learn something new every day gil

thanks everyone,
it'll be a few days before I get back out for the rest of the damsons - it's absolutely pouring down here!!
BTW, what are the advantages of using grape concentrate?

It takes up less space in your kitchen cupboard and demijohn ?
I just use an ordinary 1 litre carton of grape juice from the supermarket. Would prolly use red for Damson (and also Bramble, Elderberry or Sloe). White for everything else. derbyshiredowser

As a coeliac I drink cider or wine however Asda have started selling
Estrella Daura a gluten free lager. I was suprised to see it contained barley however it says the barley is hydrolised to remove the gluten down to the 6ppm to make it codex alimenteris gluten free. Its not cheap at £7.20 for 4 bottles but it is an exceptionally nice continental lager. fatbloke

You wouldn't use any kind of grain in a wine to give it body. If you did, then you'd have to use some amylase to get rid of the starch haze.

The problem with using grape juice or grape juice concentrate, is that you must ensure that the wine has fully finished fermenting, that it's been stabilised and cleared, because if you haven't and there's any space in the alcohol tolerance, there's a strong chance you will get a restart of fermentation.

At least, you'd end up with yeast slurry in the bottom of the bottle, at worst, you've made a nice array of bottle bombs, that have a habit of exploding without warning (you might be lucky and get a little bit of indication if the cork gets partially pushed out under pressure - I don't chance that myself......)

So, to add body/mouth feel/viscosity to a wine, get some glycerine. It does have a little sweetness, but you'd want to start by adding no more than about 1 teaspoon per gallon to start with. It needs mixing in gently as you don't want to cause any possible oxidation of the wine. 1 tsp, then taste/test. I seem to recall that it's a max of something like a 1/2 tsp per bottle max - which is 3 tsp per gallon of finished wine. trufflehunter

Re. gluten:
I have coeliacs, and from what I've read, whiskey and other spirits are ok because they are distilled - the gluten is long gone. I've never tried gluten free lager, but I'm glad I can if I want to!

I've not finished sorting my damsons and I have something like 40-50 pounds of them. I'm not sure I've got enough demijohns for this! I've already done a batch of jelly, but can't see the need for any more... I'd better go and check all the cupboards for more demijohns!
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