Low Cost Lite Beer

Hi all,

I've so far brewed about half a dozen 5 gallon extract batches using two recipes. One an Alaskan Amber copy & a Summer Ale. I've got a double tap setup and wanted a medium beer and a lite. The amber is very good & is what I was looking for in a 'medium' beer. The Summer Ale is alright but not what I was hoping for in a lite.

So, in thinking about the possibilities, a few considerations came up. LME just won't produce a lite beer and DME costs twice as much.

In brewing the two recipes I have, both call for steeping crystal. I've also added corn sugar to up the ABV without increasing body.

The thought was to steep 2# of crystal 20 and 5# corn sugar to produce a low cost lite beer. The crystal won't have much fermentables but will add color, flavor and body. Add the corn sugar to ferment and I should have a low cost lite beer. A five gallon batch should cost about $9.

Thoughts?

I'm not sure how good that would be.

Here is a link to a nice light beer that many seem happy with. I just kegged it this morning after only two weeks in the primary and the sample as I kegged was quite tasty. Imagine once it's chilled and carbonated!

Brent

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/

For a lite beer you don't want crystal malts. All you need is extract, sugar, and a small amount of hops. 3lb extra light DME(or 4lbs LME,) 1lb sugar and .25 oz magnum would do the trick.

If a drink made from fermented dextrose was a viable alternative to lite beer, Inbev would be all over it.

I'd recommend learning about all grain brewing and simply mashing some 2-row.