Help with light GF beer

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Just brewed up an GF IPA for my Dad but he is really not liking it. It's to heavy and hoppy for his taste but I think it turned out great. So I'm trying to put a beer together that is Light and Low Cal/ Low carb for him. He's type two diabetic so when he does have a beer it's generally something really light. Here is the recipe I'm looking at GF light beer
3 lbs. malted buckwheat
1 cup corn sugar
1 oz. Saaz hops
2 oz. Hallertauer Hersbrucker hops
6 lb. rice syrup
1 pkg. ale yeast (EDME)

I'm thinking of cutting out the corn sugar and cutting back the rice syrup to keep the OG low and then use some Amylase Enzyme in the secondary to drop the FG to 1.000. If it turns out well this could be a good summer beer for myself as well. Any recomendations to the recipe I have linked?
Thanks,
Terry
 
Just brewed up an GF IPA for my Dad but he is really not liking it. It's to heavy and hoppy for his taste but I think it turned out great. So I'm trying to put a beer together that is Light and Low Cal/ Low carb for him. He's type two diabetic so when he does have a beer it's generally something really light. Here is the recipe I'm looking at GF light beer
3 lbs. malted buckwheat
1 cup corn sugar
1 oz. Saaz hops
2 oz. Hallertauer Hersbrucker hops
6 lb. rice syrup
1 pkg. ale yeast (EDME)

I'm thinking of cutting out the corn sugar and cutting back the rice syrup to keep the OG low and then use some Amylase Enzyme in the secondary to drop the FG to 1.000. If it turns out well this could be a good summer beer for myself as well. Any recomendations to the recipe I have linked?
Thanks,
Terry

I'm not familiar with the malted buckwheat, so I've got no idea what you should expect from it in terms of flavors. But just plugging the info above into an online calculator, I come up with 1.053 as the original gravity. (before the buckwheat it was 1.043, and I don't know what they are figuring for a conversion level for buckwheat, or if the buckwheat in their calculator is equivalent to what you'd be using).

So I'm thinking that cutting down on the fermentables would probably leave this beer extremely 'light'.
 
Do you have lagering capabilities? It would really help with this style quite a bit.

If not, your recipe looks pretty good as is, but I would drop the corn sugar and drop off a lb of the rice syrup.

You also do not detail where you are adding hops. Whatever you do, keep the IBUs below 20 for a light beer. If you want some aroma hops, both that you have listed will work great.

If you really want to drop this to 1.000, you can sub out a lb of rice syrup for corn sugar and use champagne yeast. S-05 will take it to about 1.005 on its own though without the substitution.
 
Thanks for the info guys, I hope I can come up with something he likes. I do not have lagering capabilities and am fairly new to brewing, about 5 batches in so I don't know what I'm doing with calculations I usually just look for a recipe and tweak it a bit. The hop schedule I was going to use is
1/2 oz Saaz + 1/2 oz Hallertauer mix (60min)
1/4 oz Saaz + 1/4 oz Hallertauer mix (30min)
1/4 oz Saaz + 1/4 oz Hallertauer mix (13min)
1 oz Hallertauer (last 2 mins)

I have a lot of Sorghum in the fridge can I substitute that for the rice syrup or will that add to much sugars? Maybe 3lbs rice syrup 2lbs Sorghum or should I just stick with rice?
 
im assuming this is a 5 gal batch? if your dad isnt much of a hop-head 3 oz might be a bit much. i routinely put 2-5 oz in my 5 gal batches, i like it, my GF thinks its WAY to hoppy. in my brews this weekend im going to scale back to .75-1.5 oz for a 5 gal batch.

to each his own. this is just an opinion.
 
He is defiantly not a hop head, his favorite beer growing up was Schlitz:( Ive recently got him to try some IPA's and a stout I made but its not his thing. He seems to like Yuengling, but tends to stay towards bud/coors light.
 
So heres what I got

“The Beverymans’ Ale”

3 lbs. malted buckwheat (steep@150 for 30 mins)

Boil
5 lb. rice syrup (60min)
1/2 oz Saaz + 1/2 oz Hallertauer mix (60min)
1/4 oz Saaz + 1/4 oz Hallertauer mix (30min)
1/4 oz Saaz + 1/4 oz Hallertauer mix (13min)
1 tsp Irish moss @ 10 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min
.8oz maltodextrine @ 5 min (not sure if needed)
1 oz Hallertauer (last 2 mins)

Safale US-05
7 days Primary
1 Tsp Amylase Enzyme 14 Days( 2ndary fermenter)
1 cup Honey (for bottling)

Feel free to chime in if you would make some changes
Thanks again everyone
Terry
 
So heres what I got

“The Beverymans’ Ale”

3 lbs. malted buckwheat (steep@150 for 30 mins)

Boil
5 lb. rice syrup (60min)
1/2 oz Saaz + 1/2 oz Hallertauer mix (60min)
1/4 oz Saaz + 1/4 oz Hallertauer mix (30min)
1/4 oz Saaz + 1/4 oz Hallertauer mix (13min)
1 tsp Irish moss @ 10 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min
.8oz maltodextrine @ 5 min (not sure if needed)
1 oz Hallertauer (last 2 mins)

Safale US-05
7 days Primary
1 Tsp Amylase Enzyme 14 Days( 2ndary fermenter)
1 cup Honey (for bottling)

Feel free to chime in if you would make some changes
Thanks again everyone
Terry

Maltodextrin adds body to thin beers. (And it sounds like that is the opposite of what you want).

Also, is there a particular reason that you are adding the amylase in secondary? I'm given to understand the purpose of the amylase is to break non-fermentable starch down into fermentable sugar. I thought it was generally adding when the yeast is pitched. If you add it later, it would break the starches down into sugars after the yeast is starting to flocculate...
 
@dorklord: From what ive read in this thread if you keep the OG low and add the Amylase in secondary it gives you a decent ABV while keeping the calorie/Carb count low, like Michelob ultra. Like I said i'm new to brewing and am just taking info from other people's brews.

@Lcasanova: I may just scratch the maltodextin.
 
@dorklord: From what ive read in this thread if you keep the OG low and add the Amylase in secondary it gives you a decent ABV while keeping the calorie/Carb count low, like Michelob ultra. Like I said i'm new to brewing and am just taking info from other people's brews.

@Lcasanova: I may just scratch the maltodextin.

You can always add the maltodextrin at bottling time if you feel the beer is 'too thin'.
 
How different would this beer turn out if I substituted sorghum for the brown rice syrup? Ive got a tub white sorghum in the fridge and my local homebrew shop is out of rice syrup. It will be a couple of weeks for them to restock, and I'd rather buy from them instead of the online shops.
 
How different would this beer turn out if I substituted sorghum for the brown rice syrup? Ive got a tub white sorghum in the fridge and my local homebrew shop is out of rice syrup. It will be a couple of weeks for them to restock, and I'd rather buy from them instead of the online shops.
Sorghum will make it...sorghumy.

But heck, go for it. Sorghum should also provide the nutrients your yeast needs (something lacking in the rice syrup.)

You can always make it with the rice syrup in a month or so when your LHBS has it on hand.
 
How are you guys calculating specific gravity with sorghum, rice syrup, and other GF grains? I want to keep this brew around 1.030-1.035 so how much of either extract should I use?
Thanks again,
-T
 
How are you guys calculating specific gravity with sorghum, rice syrup, and other GF grains? I want to keep this brew around 1.030-1.035 so how much of either extract should I use?
Thanks again,
-T

Sorghum is 1.038 per pound in a gallon of water (or 38 points/lb)
About 10 points/lb are non-fermentable

Brown Rice Syrup is also around 1.040 per pound in a gallon of water (40 points/lb)
About 10 points/lb are non-fermentable

I don't know if the numbers are dead-on, but those ones usually get me pretty durned close. The only reason it really matters much is to see how much maltodextrine you'll need to boost the FG.

Oh, and maltodextrine is about 40 points/lb and all non-fermentable.

As far as gf grains go, there's no standardization so your guess is as good as mine.
 
As far as gf grains go, there's no standardization so your guess is as good as mine.

There isn't for any grains, it is based on efficiency and conversion.

Efficiency determines how much of the sugar is derived from the grain. As long as your process stays similar, this number should be similar as well. You will have to test out your system to find how it does and then use that number going forward.

Conversion determines how much of the sugar is fermentable. This is the area we struggle with in GF brewing, because this depends on amylase enzymes.

Both of these depend on your individual mash characteristics.

For instance, steeping uncrushed grains has a very low efficiency (around 10%) and 0% conversion. With crushed grains, the efficiency number will go up considerably (50%+) but the conversion number remains at zero. Add enzymes and the conversion number jumps up.
 
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