[crynski]

I have a couple questions about food allergies for the the experienced folks. 

First of all my boyfriend is lactose intolerant, and while he is not a beer drinker he is willing to sample.  I am looking to try things like milk stout and to back sweeten some of my ideas so I am wondering how strong the lactose is in a finished 5 gallon product.  The over the counter meds work great for him but if he doesn't need to take them so much the better.  Obviously experimentation and knowing your own allergy strength is key (he can drink lactose free milk and like I said with the pills ice cream and things don't bother him). 

My other allergy question is about gluten  I know several people with gluten issues and I know that sanitation is important.  Is proper sanitization of my equipment going to be good enough if I try gluten free beer or cider that can be served to these folks or should I use dedicated equipment.  Also are any of the gluten free beer recipes any good? 

[Stevie]

Can't help with lactose.

With gluten it is going to depend on the person drinking the beer. Are these friends trendy "gluten intolerant" or true ciliacs? Those with ciliacs tend to err on the side of caution in my experience.

Let your friends know the precautions you took and let them decide if it is worth the risk.

Widmer use some of their everyday equipment and closes off the bottling room during bottling to prevent cross contamination. There was an article a while back that covered it, but I can't find it now

[erockrph]

Can't speak to the lactose thing. I'm not a fan of milk stouts so I avoid those styles.

As far as gluten goes, there's a product called Clarity Ferm that has been shown to reduce gluten to levels that are low enough to be labeled "gluten free". There was an interview on a recent episode of Basic Brewing Radio, and a series of articles on Beer and Wine Journal this week detailing several experiments using Clarity Ferm (spoiler alert - it works well). Here's the link to the first article in the series - http://beerandwinejournal.com/clarity-ferm-i/

[crynski]

Yes both of my guy's sisters, and a coworker of mine are diagnosed ciliac. If I do well at ciders and the like I will be encouraged to share at family events, so I will warn them and detail procedure and ingredients (bring my brew book).  The lactose is much easier since I just have to note it and let him know he should take the pill for that.  Yet another reason to be detail oriented in the notebook