Sub 1.030 beers

CornyKegs 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
tagz said:
Was thinking about putting together a pale mild recipe. Here's what I'm thinking...

79% Vienna
10% Crystal 20
8% Flaked Barley
3% Aromatic

Warrior at 60
.25 Columbus at 5
.25 Amarillo at 5
.50 Columbus at flameout
.50 Amarillo at flameout

OG 1.038
IBU 22

Wyeast 1968

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

So I think I'll take shoreman's advice and approach this one a different way. I'm keeping the grain bill because I think it'll provide the body and depth I'm looking for in a session beer. I'm going to ferment with 1214 have in the fridge and just do a single flavor addition with Styrian Goldings. I'll probably drop the IBUs down to 15-18 as well.
 
I love this thread! This is totally my style. I think it's an art to take a beer this small and make it good. sub'd
 
James Spencer at Basic Brewing has posted a few low gravity recipes,- I've been very curious about them but was hold off on brewing them unless I heard an impartial review. Anyone here give them a crack?
 
Not quite under your cutoff but the Bam Biere clone recipe is a great grist bill. It comes in at 1.037. I used a saison/brett blend and ended up with a 5% beer, but with a less attenuative strain, it could be more in your guidelines.
 
dzlater said:
I brew a lot of lower gravity beers.
The SHUT UP ABOUT BARCLAY PERKINS website is great.
I plan on brewing a modified version of this http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1843-whitbread-oat.html, this weekend.
Here is good listing of all the recipes on the Shut Up website:
http://www.unholymess.com/blog/lets-brew
Click to expand...

I love his blog I actually picked up his book on mild as an ebook and it's very good - if that's your thing

Let me know how it turns out

My oat mild was loosely based on one of those recipes on there
 
i did a 24 hour mash on a dry irish stout that came out at 3.6%abv, a little higher than the beeres we are discussing here but it is lovely. has a creamy rich roastiness and light body. but doesnt taste aenemic like some low abv beers. the 24 hour mash gave a light sourness that works well too.
allmost like fresh guiness!
 
I really am excited to make myself something around 3% with some flavor. A nice pale ale or even a stout sure sounds good to me. Lighter in calories and alcohol so you can really have a few and not worry about the consequences! I gotta find myself some good recipes for that!

Has anyone taken a recipe they really like and just cut everything by 10-20% or so to lower the alcohol content or will that just make it too watery?
 
I would assume you'd want to cut mostly base malt. Having a higher percentage of crystals, etc. would keep the flavor and body up, as would a higher than average mash temp. I made a Saison that started at 1.038, but I think I mashed at 156 or maybe 158 since 3711 attenuates like a monster, and I even used some special B. It had a decent maltiness to it, but finished low and 4%+ abv. I would think lower attenuating yeast might be good as well to keep the FG up while scaling down the OG.
 
matteroftaste said:
i did a 24 hour mash on a dry irish stout that came out at 3.6%abv, a little higher than the beeres we are discussing here but it is lovely. has a creamy rich roastiness and light body. but doesnt taste aenemic like some low abv beers. the 24 hour mash gave a light sourness that works well too.
allmost like fresh guiness!
Click to expand...

That sounds tasty - did you just mash in and leave it open all night or close it up? I'm interested in this.
 
D- Tennessee hit the nail in the head - specialty grains and complex grain bills are the way to go with these beers. Yeast, spices & fruits are also things to consider. You can stick with traditional beers like mild, bitter,etc or go full on experimental and just try to make it interesting - that's what interests me.
 
shoreman said:
That sounds tasty - did you just mash in and leave it open all night or close it up? I'm interested in this.
Click to expand...

i let it cool with a lid on, threw some extra grain in (contains lactoballicus) and covered the surface of the mash with cling film, you have to keep air out otherwise it goes bad. gave it a nice flavor, i will definitely do this more often for stouts. broke up the brew day too!
 
FlyDoctor said:
Why? The amber and brown malts are available commercially. Unless I missed the toasting in the recipe - always possible.
Click to expand...

ya I don't think you get those malts - I have an old british beers book that gives some great info on toasting to get to those malts though
 
shoreman said:
ya I don't think you get those malts - I have an old british beers book that gives some great info on toasting to get to those malts though
Click to expand...

Sorry, not trying to be difficult, but NB sells amber and brown malts - are those different that the ones in the recipe?

Thanks
 
FlyDoctor said:
Sorry, not trying to be difficult, but NB sells amber and brown malts - are those different that the ones in the recipe?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Oh cool ill check it out there - at the time I reading alot about old British recipes you couldn't source them - thanks man
 
Has anyone done the table beer recipe listed above with >50% Amber and Brown malt? Would the malts you can buy or toast in the oven to about 25L or 65L still be converted by the mash in the recipe?
 
Brewing a Scottish Porter (based off a real ale book) tomorrow and doing a 12 hour overnight mash to see if I get a small sour note - also planning to brew a citrusy Bier de table but we'll see how the weather cooperates.
 
I just did a mild brown at 3.5%:
3.3lbs muntons lme
1lb muntons dme
1oz east kent goldings(60)
5 oz pale chocolate malt
white labs 005
I was really getting tired of beers that I had to cut myself off at 4, this is a great thread!!!
 
alane1 said:
I just did a mild brown at 3.5%:
3.3lbs muntons lme
1lb muntons dme
1oz east kent goldings(60)
5 oz pale chocolate malt
white labs 005
I was really getting tired of beers that I had to cut myself off at 4, this is a great thread!!!
Click to expand...

Nice how did it turn out?
 
I have never had any problems with low alc beers but have taken more interest in them since I have been brewing much more often and have a keezer in the house. I ran across this recipe on this site that looked pretty good. I brewed it eight days ago and just took a reading/sample this morning. If I can get it to drop that last few points then it will be a 3.2% beer. I can't wait to try some of the ones you all have posted.

5 lb 8 oz Maris Otter (Crisp, UK)
1 lb 8 oz Crystal 60L (Crisp, UK)
6 oz Chocolate malt (Crisp, UK)

1 oz UK Fuggle 4.30% at 45 minutes
1 oz UK Fuggle 4.30% at 15 minutes

I want to brew this one again. I'm not use to mashing this small a grain bill in my 10gal mashtun so when I opened it up to stir it dropped to 149F so I had to try my first decoction to get it back up to 158F. I was able to but I'm not sure how much that changed the beer, if at all. Anyway, thanks for posting the recipes and info.
 
mrkrausen said:
I have never had any problems with low alc beers but have taken more interest in them since I have been brewing much more often and have a keezer in the house. I ran across this recipe on this site that looked pretty good. I brewed it eight days ago and just took a reading/sample this morning. If I can get it to drop that last few points then it will be a 3.2% beer. I can't wait to try some of the ones you all have posted
Click to expand...

Looks like a great recipe - ill post my brewday on the blog soon but I go really simple on these beers - BIAB and partial boil guiness style. Short brew days.

If I'm making 10 gallons ill do batch sparge and partial boil in my cooler .
 
shoreman said:
Brewing a Scottish Porter (based off a real ale book) tomorrow and doing a 12 hour overnight mash to see if I get a small sour note - also planning to brew a citrusy Bier de table but we'll see how the weather cooperates.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea; what's the recipe?

I've read that mash temps are actually hard on lacto bacteria. When I did a sour mash, I added crushed grain after it cooled a bit. Last overnight mash I did, I didn't get any sour at all.
 
tennesseean_87 said:
That's an interesting idea; what's the recipe?

I've read that mash temps are actually hard on lacto bacteria. When I did a sour mash, I added crushed grain after it cooled a bit. Last overnight mash I did, I didn't get any sour at all.
Click to expand...

Ill post the recipe on the blog soon - had a long brew day
 
tagz said:
79% Vienna
10% Crystal 20
8% Flaked Barley
3% Aromatic

Warrior at 60 for 17 IBU

OG 1.039
Wyeast 1214
Click to expand...

Brewed this today. Not sub 1.030 but a small beer none the less. It's a smaller version of my blonde but I used Vienna and some crystal to boost the flavor with the lower gravity.
 
tagz said:
Brewed this today. Not sub 1.030 but a small beer none the less. It's a smaller version of my blonde but I used Vienna and some crystal to boost the flavor with the lower gravity.
Click to expand...

Cool let us know how it turns out - I wish I could change the title of this post to sub 3%abv
 
tennesseean_87 said:
That's an interesting idea; what's the recipe?
Click to expand...


Irish Porter SG of 1.038

7 lbs Pale Malt
10oz Crystal 65
10oz Chocolate Malt
4oz Black Malt
8oz Wheat Malt

2 oz Fuggle 60 minutes
1.5oz Goldings 60 minutes
1 oz Golding 15 minutes

yeast: safale 04
 
Brewed a couple new ones over the weekend

Irish Porter - ended up a little high from the overnight mash I think

Citrusy Table Bier - trying to work in a nice west coast hop aroma table beer in a ruby red color - this one is a bit more brown

More info
 
shoreman said:
Just put up a tasting of the Oaty Mild - great little beer under 2%ABV

Oaty Mild Tasting Here
Click to expand...

I just killed my keg of 1943 Oat Mild last night. Mine was done as per recipe http://barclayperkins.blogspot.ca/2010/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1843-whitbread-oat.html using home cooked invert made from turbinado sugar and turbinado for the cane sugar. I no sparged BIAB the unadjusted recipe and still came in over gravity so mine was a little stronger. It was open fermented with wy1968 and crash cooled on day 4. It turned out really nice. The color was similar to yours and the taste was very similar to the draught cans of tetley's. A little toastier and little fruitier with a grainy finish. It aged better than I would have thought a low gravity beer would. The 1968 seemed to reactivate in the keg because it definitely got drier as it aged. It never got crystal clear but the head retention was amazing.

Another sub 1.030 beer I highly recommend is http://barclayperkins.blogspot.ca/2011/08/lets-brew-wednesday-1930-whitbread-ak.html its what a summer light beer should taste like - sort of like the love child of an english ipa and coor's light.

I've been wanting to do one of the 4 penny ales but the adjuncts like caramel colourant and flaked maize are hard to come by here. I've also been tempted to try the 1%ABV 1917 Government Ale - I love session beers and have brewed a lot of things that most people would say are too low alcohol to be considered beer but that one is pushing it even for me. I might just make an "inspired by" beer with the second runnings of a higher gravity mild.

What is the lowest grav/abv anyone here has brewed? Has anyone gone sub 1.020?
 
Thanks for the links gbx - I'm def going brew that Whitbread Ak.

I think its a good idea to do a second runnings from a higher batch to get something in the 1% range - maybe toss some crystal in there or something to make it interesting.
 
shoreman said:
Brewed a couple new ones over the weekend

Irish Porter - ended up a little high from the overnight mash I think

Citrusy Table Bier - trying to work in a nice west coast hop aroma table beer in a ruby red color - this one is a bit more brown

More info
Click to expand...

I'm very interested in how the table beir turns out. What bitterness did you shoot for? Three oz of belma at 5 min sounds intense!
 
tagz said:
I'm very interested in how the table beir turns out. What bitterness did you shoot for? Three oz of belma at 5 min sounds intense!
Click to expand...

Ya me too - I've gotta be honest I'm not running these through any brewing software or getting really tech on them - just experimenting and tweaking.

I've used Belma twice now and you really need alot of it to get much out of it - these are whole hops.
 

Similar threads

D
Root Beer Stout
Replies
1
Views
520
JohnSand
JohnSand
B
Terrible brew
Replies
25
Views
1K
Craiginthecorn
C
Daves Hopfenstube
Servus from Germany!
Replies
4
Views
167
ncbrewer
N
kev211
Beer Gas
Replies
1
Views
200
Dr_Jeff
D
Brooothru
How Should I Submit This Beer Under BJCP Style Guidelines?
Replies
13
Views
1K
Brooothru
Brooothru

Latest posts

Back
Top