In the hunt to manufacture a beer unlike any other, NFI student Mikkel Hansen first tried producing a beer that featured grass from the Danish coastal sand dunes.
However, the idea was better on paper than in practice, so he turned his attention to developing a gluten-free beer brewed exclusively with oats – even though oats are difficult to work with in beer production because of difficulties in the process.
There are already gluten-free beers on the market, but most have corn as the main ingredient.
By adding enzymes to unmalted oats – which is a cheaper ingredient than the traditional beer brewing grains wheat and barley – he succeeded in brewing a beer, which according to tests from the institute meets the criteria for gluten-free foods.
Test results have been independently verified.
The beer is different than a normal pilsner both in appearance – it is cloudy and very light – and in taste, which is fresh and refreshing, lightly malted and citrusy.
It is because of its uncharacteristic taste that people who have tasted it have called it “the beer for people who hate beer”.
Not for sale – yet
The beer is not for sale in stores or restaurants – yet.
This is because although the beer has been brewed many times in the DTU Brewery’s own patented system, brewery managers at commercial breweries are worried that the atypical beer will cause problems if it is brewed in their systems.
As such, more work is needed to prove how to produce the beer at an ordinary brewery without complications before a commercial brewery will put the beer into production.
The DTU Brewery also plans to study the waste product generated during production as it appears to contain valuable substances which could potentially be extracted and used in food production.
Story by Miriam Meister from DTU
