We have studied the impact of demagnetizing fields on the magnetocaloric effect of commercial-grade gadolinium plates. Adiabatic temperature changes (ΔT) were measured for magnetic fields applied along the parallel and perpendicular directions of the plates. The differences in the obtained ΔT values were accounted for by differences in the internal field due to demagnetizing effects. A combination of calorimetric measurements under a magnetic field and thermometric measurements has enabled us to obtain Brayton cycles for the two different magnetic field orientations. It has been found that the refrigerant capacity for a Brayton cycle working at 1.6 T around room temperature reduces from RC=9.4 to RC=5.5 J kg−1 when the demagnetizing factor changes from ND = 0.035 to ND=0.928 for the parallel and perpendicular configurations, respectively. It has been shown that it is possible to obtain significant demagnetizing field-induced magnetocaloric effects by rotating the sample in a region of a constant applied magnetic field. The refrigerant capacity of a Brayton cycle around room temperature for a 1.6T constant applied magnetic field is RC=0.6 J kg−1. The feasibility of these demagnetizing field-induced effects has been confirmed by direct thermometric measurements, which reveal adiabatic temperature changes of 1 K when the sample is rotated between the perpendicular and parallel configurations.