Low alcohol beer...

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comj49

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Hopefully i don't get kicked out of this forum, but i am just wondering what is the effect on a beer if you withhold some of the fermentables and try for something with a very low alcohol content? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE GREAT TASTING BEER, but i don't like headaches, dragging at work the next day, etc...So i was curious since i haven't brewed much, only just starting some partial mashes, what is the effect if all the ingredients are the same and maybe less DME (again haven't done AG) is added to lower the ABV? Will the beer still be drinkable, or will it taste watered down? I was just curious!!
 
I think for many recipes it will either taste watered down if you make it balanced, or it will taste unbalanced if you make it hoppy/bitter to compensate. The one thing I think you can do is make something with plenty of roastiness/malty flavor and body. Pitch some yeast that have low attenuation and you might be have something good. Jamil's scottish 60/- recipes come in at about 3%.
 
It will be low in body and mouthfeel and taste watery if you just cut down on the fermentables. Try adding a good amount of dextrin malt to add body and mouthfeel back. I've seen VERY low alcohol beers taste alright this way. Or maybe just brew some beer styles that are low in alcohol anyways.
 
If you make the recipe balanced or suitable to the ingredients the only thing 'wrong' with it will be nothing. ;) Most of the beer I make is less than 4% because I love beer but I don't want to drink a lot of alcohol.

Low alcohol does not mean there is less flavour or less body. It just means there is less alcohol.

If you want to see how great a session beer can be, try out Orfy's Mild Mannered Ale. The second post in the thread is an extract with steeping grains recipe.
 
Beers that would suit your needs, per the BJCP guidelines:
Lite American Lager (2.8-4.2%)
Ordinary Bitter (3.2-3.8%)
Special Bitter (3.8-4.6%)
Mild (2.8-4.5)
Southern English Brown Ale (2.8-4.1%)
Scottish 60/- or 70/- (2.5-3.2%, 3.2-3.9%)
Berliner Weisse (2.8-3.8%)
 
I want to echo the suggestions above- brew a nice ordinary bitter or a mild if you like English styles. They're both low alcohol, but you get a nice full-flavored, full-bodied beer.

Also, as you can see, there are a number of us who post here who primarily brew low-gravity, or at least keep smaller beers a part of our rotation. Brew nothing involving kool-aid or bread yeast, and you're fine here.
 
Small beers are great. They are much harder to do well, because there is little room for error, but you can have a pint with lunch and have zero impact on your afternoon. I like to put a little rye in mine.
 
Don't forget to ferment at cool-ish temperatures or, even with low alcohol amounts, you may produce the nasty higher alcohols that induce headaches easily. Start your ferment at 68F and no more than 70F and you'll be fine.
 
Look at all the recipe's in BierMuncher's menu. Most are under 5% alc. He does a lot of really good, solid session beers, at least 3 are around the 3.2%-3.5% mark. Especially check out the dry stout, that's far from watery.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42841 <- Here's his blonde. Use the "Recipes" drop down to get the rest.
 
Will the beer still be drinkable, or will it taste watered down? I was just curious!!

Mild has become my go-to style. Most of my batches are around 3% and I love it. I can enjoy a good beer without getting foggy-headed. It is not thin-tasting at all. Just low ethanol.

I think NB sells both extract and AG kits if you don't have sacks of grain lying around.
 
One of the reasons why I want to homebrew is to make those delicious low alcohol british beers. Those beers are nothing like the low alcohol beers made by the mega breweries which are watered down. But being imported british beers cost a lot, home brew to the rescue.
When I get my brewery going, it's going to be seasonal stouts and porters for the winter, pale ales and hefes for the summer and mild/bitters all year long.
 
Thanks for all the reply's!! I will have to put some of these beers on my list.

Don't worry, your liver will get plenty of exercise if you keep homebrewing. Give it a year, and you'll be able to finish a sixpack of 6% beer at midnight and go to work the next morning with barely any vertigo.

My suggestion: Keep your fermentation temperatures controlled. If you ferment ales at <68 degrees (from the very beginning, i.e. when you pitch) , headaches will not be an issue unless you really get trashed (or you really like Belgian ales, which tend to be fermented in the 70s-90s for the most part). The major contributor to headaches and hangovers are phenols and acetylaldehyde, which can be minimized with healthy, cool fermentations.
 
I like alcohol, but I like drinking beer so much that I could easily consume more alcohol then is really healthy, so I have to cut back during the week. I have been contemplating keeping one alcohol free (or virtually alcohol free) beer around so I could have a beer anytime I wanted. Here's an article on the process of converting a batch of beer (or partial batch) to alchol free:

http://***********/feature/66.html
 
Probably 70% of my brews are session beers that finish up around 4%. One of my favorite brews is Northern Brewer's Mild Ale kit. It usually comes in around 3.8%, but is dark in color, and lots of flavor. I highly reccomend it. Also I have a Pilsner recipe posted in my recipes that finishes out just under 4% but has good complexity for a lighter lager. Light in alcohol doesn't have to mean light in flavor.
 
I like alcohol, but I like drinking beer so much that I could easily consume more alcohol then is really healthy, so I have to cut back during the week. I have been contemplating keeping one alcohol free (or virtually alcohol free) beer around so I could have a beer anytime I wanted. Here's an article on the process of converting a batch of beer (or partial batch) to alchol free:

http://***********/feature/66.html

I was looking into this at work, and it looks interesting, only now i am getting harrassed something horrible by co-workers for even thinking about making a non-alchoholic beer. I guess i will have to keep it a secret, i would only make a low alchohol beer for myself anyway. Thanks for the input though.
 
Probably 70% of my brews are session beers that finish up around 4%. One of my favorite brews is Northern Brewer's Mild Ale kit. It usually comes in around 3.8%, but is dark in color, and lots of flavor. I highly reccomend it.

Many people are recommending Mild and Ordinary Bitter. I'd like to take this opportunity to add my +1,268,307. ;)

These styles get short shrift these days, amongst all the Arrogant Bastards and Belgian IIPAs and stuff like that. Like others have admitted, I like to drink beer. Lots of beer. I don't like getting fit-shaced, and hangovers are undignified.

Thus I brew and drink an awful lot of "session beers". In fact, I try to keep at least one available at all times; I brew Mild from September through March and Bitter the rest of the time.

Mild and Bitter are amongst the most simple beers on Earth to brew. Two or three grain ingredients, one variety of hops (so you can buy them by the pound), and uncomplicated fermentation and packaging. What more could you need?

Here's a nasty little secret I started doing about a year ago. I've been on a quest to simplify and streamline my entire brewery, including the recipes. So I tweaked everything, and you know what? My beer has been getting better and better. My current Bitter recipe is pale malt and 10% 55L crystal, with 1 oz of Fuggle to bitter and 1 oz at flameout. My Mild recipe? Add 6 oz of chocolate malt and drop the flameout hops. What could be simpler? :D

Enjoy lower-octane beers!

Bob
 
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