Gluten-free Brewing: Challenges and Optimisation

It is estimated that 1 % of the Western population have coeliac disease. Dietary gluten causes an autoimmune response in coeliac patients that damages the villous lining of the small intestine, resulting in reduced efficiency of nutrient uptake and causing gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea, bloating, and constipation. Currently the only effective treatment for coeliac disease is removal of gluten from the diet. In the brewing industry, the predominant raw material is barley malt which contains gluten in the form of hordein storage proteins. Following typical brewing practices, peptides toxic to coeliac patients can survive into packaged product. This seminar will introduce some of the approaches for reducing gluten content in beer produced using conventional methods and explore the challenges and opportunities presented by gluten-free raw materials.