Low ABV

I'm brewing an Irish Red Ale, similar to a Killians, Krausen hasn't dropped all the way yet, but I tasted a small sample to see the progress and there is no flavor of alcohol. OG was 1.030 and not it's about 1.017. Is it on the right track or is the end result going to taste like this? Airlock activity is low but I'm hoping I'm just getting nervous and over reacting.

That is a pretty low OG. At this point I would not be surprised to find little alcohol flavor, nor would I be even at terminal gravity.

It smells VERY alcohol rich, but the sample just tastes like beer but no bite from the alcohol. I guess wait till the Krausen falls?

I wouldn't taste it until it's absolutely DONE fermenting. Even then, I'd give it an extra week (or two) before tasting it. It will be rather different once it's carbonated, compared with not carbonated. Since it's only dropped 12 gravity points It doesn't even have 2% alcohol in there. What is the estimated FG on the batch? IMO, this is going to be a very low ABV brew. Even if it finishes at about 1.004, you'll only have 3.5% ABV. If you were expecting more, then you should have brewed something stronger.

And the recipe states TG is 1.005 and ABV is 4.5%

I'm not looking for a super high ABV, just a right amount for that robust flavor I get from the usual red ales I buy.

greenman999 said:

It smells VERY alcohol rich, but the sample just tastes like beer but no bite from the alcohol. I guess wait till the Krausen falls?

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Don't believe that for a nanosecond. Either your nose is hyper sensitive, or you're smelling something else there.

BTW, OG of 1.030 to FG of 1.005 will give you 3.3% ABV. Use this site to help figure out the ABV from gravity readings/numbers.

Even with like 80% attenuation a beer with an OG of 30 is going to come in at less than 4% ABV. I wouldn't anticipate any alcohol "bite" to it.

greenman999 said:

I'm not looking for a super high ABV, just a right amount for that robust flavor I get from the usual red ales I buy.

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Robust flavor, and low FG typically do not mix. Low FG typically equates to very thin body.

Where did you get the recipe from? Was this a kit??

RobertRGeorge said:

Even with like 80% attenuation a beer with an OG of 30 is going to come in at less than 4% ABV. I wouldn't anticipate any alcohol "bite" to it.

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Unless you top off the pint with a shot of vodka.

Golddiggie said:

Unless you top off the pint with a shot of vodka.

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Mmmm. Boilermakers.

Was this an extract recipe? If so, what was the recipe's expected OG? I get a feeling that your measured OG of 1.030 may be incorrect. Extract brews do not vary far from expected OG values, assuming you hit the proper volume.

http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_268.htm

This was the recipe and I followed it to the T

Golddiggie said:

Don't believe that for a nanosecond. Either your nose is hyper sensitive, or you're smelling something else there.

BTW, OG of 1.030 to FG of 1.005 will give you 3.3% ABV. Use this site to help figure out the ABV from gravity readings/numbers.

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It may just be the aromatic hops I'm smelling but it smells 100x stronger than the flavor.

RobertRGeorge said:

Mmmm. Boilermakers.

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Thought those were typically made with bourbon/whiskey...

BTW, from that recipe link:
Est Original Gravity: 1.044 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG

Since it was a partial boil, you probably measured what wasn't mixed together well. It's one of the extremely common issues with partial boil batches.

Still, from 1.044 to 1.012, you're still only going to get 4.3% ABV. Hardly what I would call 'strong' by any stretch. I'd call it a light beer if anything. Especially since the majority of what I brew has an ABV north of 6%.

JLem said:

Was this an extract recipe? If so, what was the recipe's expected OG? I get a feeling that your measured OG of 1.030 may be incorrect. Extract brews do not vary far from expected OG values, assuming you hit the proper volume.

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+1

greenman999 said:

And the recipe states TG is 1.005 and ABV is 4.5%

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with those figures I calculate that your OG should have been around about 1.040.

4.5%/131 = 0.034:

1.005 + 0.034 = 1.039

greenman999 said:

It may just be the aromatic hops I'm smelling but it smells 100x stronger than the flavor.

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Doubt it's the hops, with how little is in the batch. Unless you measured really poorly and used far more than the recipe calls for. It doesn't even have a full ounce of hops with .2oz at 15 minutes and another .2 at flame-out.

Let me guess, this is your very first beer ever made...

Golddiggie said:

Thought those were typically made with bourbon/whiskey...

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True dat. Maybe I was thinking of the Soviet Boilermaker. (Chechen Car Bomb?)

Golddiggie said:

Doubt it's the hops, with how little is in the batch. Unless you measured really poorly and used far more than the recipe calls for. It doesn't even have a full ounce of hops with .2oz at 15 minutes and another .2 at flame-out.

Let me guess, this is your very first beer ever made...

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My fiancé got me a starter set from the brew store. I've always been a fan of craft beers and home brews. Trying to grasp it and the guy at the brew store told me that ales are pretty easy to start with. I made one batch before this and it was okay but it was a kit beer and I kind of believe that's equivalent of "break-n-bake" cookies making you a baker. I went (almost) all grain with this one and it's going through the stages the way I was told it would, the right color, smell, Krausen is nice and full. But I'm new to this and just trying to get some advice from people who've got far more experience than I do.

Not to worry. Sounds like you may have put a little too much water in there, but if you were nice and sanitary you are probably going to have a good time drinking a beer you made yourself!

RobertRGeorge said:

Not to worry. Sounds like you may have put a little too much water in there, but if you were nice and sanitary you are probably going to have a nice time drinking a beer you made yourself!

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It smells wonderful, It says in the recipe 28 days in the primary. That falls on Dec 17th, could it create more alcohol by sitting that long?

Again, I would not worry. I like to taste my beer often, while keeping firmly in mind that they will change substantially by the time they have some age and conditioning. This is especially true with low gravity beers. I primarily brew low OG beers, and one thing you'll notice is that a relatively lifeless brew with modest alcohol will gain a lot of its character when carbonated and served at the right temperature. Whether or not your starting gravity was accurate, I find it useful to do a forced fermentation with each brew. I just collect 200ml of cooled wort and put it into my now empty (but still yeast covered) starter flask and either put it on a stir plate or in a warm room. 2 days later you can take a gravity reading and at least get an idea of what your FG should look like.

Your potential final gravity is set. Your yeast will ferment down what it can, then the rest of the residence in primary is used for cleaning up the fermentation by-products. If the gravity continues to drop, then it will continue to create alcohol. But if it has reached terminal gravity, then no more alcohol is going to be produced.

Just wait until you're 10-20 batches in and you think back about the first batch. Bet you'll have a good laugh over a pint of something far better. :rockin:

greenman999 said:

It smells wonderful, It says in the recipe 28 days in the primary. That falls on Dec 17th, could it create more alcohol by sitting that long?

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You'll get another couple of points of a % from re-fermentation. The priming sugar you add when bottling gets consumed and alcohol/CO2 are the by products.

RobertRGeorge said:

Not to worry. Sounds like you may have put a little too much water in there, but if you were nice and sanitary you are probably going to have a good time drinking a beer you made yourself!

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Yup. My first batch was on OG but finished high, the alledged 1.020 kit blues, so it's pretty low ABV, like 3%. But, it's a very acceptable first brew in all other regards; color, clarity, carbonation, and the flavor is OK considering low ABV, and I enjoy drinking my first batch of brew!

Heck, guests have even helped themselves to second, thirds, and beyond without imploring them to drink more.

Yes and plus one for the suggestion that perhaps the primary fermenter was not totally stirred up well. I've done that too, took a sample then remembered I must stir up the wort to get all the malt sugar mixed up properly. Certainly could have had an OG of 40 and the 30 was inaccurate.

I was hoping for an actual thread about how to brew under 1% ABV! Brewdog have something on their website which I haven't tasted and they claim is beer going at 0.5% ABV. It uses 7 or 8 malts in fairly low quantities.

You could try a level of base malt that will give you the low ABV, and add to that a number of crystal malts, say a pound made up of equal quantities of 20L 40L 60L 80L 120L. This would give you a nice flavor profile with little fermentable sugars.

Has anybody tried? Some torrified wheat, some crystals, using a thick malt like Munich to start with...

Found it! Nanny State by Brewdog:

ABV:
0.5%
IBU's:
45
Malts:
8 different speciality Malts
Hops:
centennial, amarillo, columbus, cascade and simcoe and intensively dry-hopped with centennial


I somehow think many here would prefer the 14.5% ABV triple dry-hopped tripple IPA...

yuuch