Sub 1.030 beers

Yes. Love fermenting in cornies. Its sure is nice to use the better bottle with the rotating racking arm but having to pull out the immersion chiller and sanitize it and waste all that tap water (although I do run it into the washing machine) and wasted time, is a pain. In the summer I dump the hot wort straight to the keg, seal the keg, and put the keg in the pool on the steps. In the fall and winter I keep a big cooler outside with water in it. That works even better (colder). If there's snow and its ~10*F out, I'll stick it in the snow. I'm rambling but the no hassle chilling is great.

Airlock? Pffft. Leave the pressure release valve in the open position and jam a plastic grocery bag over the top of the keg. Nothing is getting in there.

I bought a $20 gas side contraption from Williams. It has a pressure gauge and pressure release valve (15 psi min). I'm looking to swap the valve to a fixed 5 psi one. Put this on after 3-4 days and let the beer finish fermenting at 5 psi. This is fine foe the beer and it'll be partially carbed and ready to self transfer to a new keg when done.

Downside? Hard to harvest yeast, if you do that. When I plan to harvest yeast, I'll use a traditional fermenter. Its harder to control trub getting into the serving keg as well (you know us small batch brewers are always trying to get every last drop) we can so some bottom trub and top krausen will always get to the serving keg. Not a big deal...unless you move the serving keg and stir it up.

gbx said:

How are you harvesting it? I'd love to be able to use it but I've bought a pack of 1469 on 3 different occasions and each time the attenuation kept increasing. I always get at least 5 beers out of a pack of 1318 london 3, top cropping whenever is convenient (sometimes high krausen, sometimes skipping whats left a week after fermentation completed) and its always worked great with no measurable differences in FG and no perceivable differences in flavour or flocculation. I've gone as high as 8 generations once and only quit because I was bored. When I harvested West Yorkshire off the bottom, or high krausen or skimmed after active fermentation it seemed to go from 70% attenuation, to 75, to 80+. And it lost its super floculation and became dusty requiring fining.

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I've done both top cropping and bottom harvesting after racking. Usually the latter, simply because it's easier for me to time my brews in sequence that way.

I usually target 0.5 million cells per milliliter per °P (ie about 2/3 of what Mr. Malty recommends) for pitching rates for both initial pitch and repitching from slurry, aerate well, ferment in the mid to high 60s (usually at 67). And I get no changes in flocculation or attenuation (still 68-72% depending on where my mash temp is, but usually to the bottom half of the range). The one thing I do notice is a little slower of a start when repitching, but it also finishes faster, matures faster, and all the residual flavors (particularly those great nutty and stonefruit esters) seem a bit brighter in residual batches. I usually go 2 or 3 generations, sometimes as high as 4, but I notice declining at the 5th (likely because I intentionally pitch at a lower rate to bring the esters out), so I don't usually go that far. I've never gone to a 6th before.

Perhaps it may be other parameters, aeration, pitching rate, ferm temp, etc. that's causing your issues. Maybe even fermenter geometry. Of course, yeast are a living thing and keeping them in a pen doesn't always work, so it may just be your system.

Also, I find West Yorkshire to be a slower flocculator compared to other English strains, even from the first pitch.

Tapped the Mild tonight after the IPA kicked.

Oh man is this good. A little weird going from a 7+% beer to a 3+% beer, but I love the flavor! Malty, balanced with just a hint of chocolate on the backside. I could drink this all the time. It seems a little thin, but again I'm not used to a beer under 5% so I'm sure it's just something I'm not used to. No head to speak of, though - which is odd with the amount of crystal, I wonder if the whirlfloc knocked all the protien out when I cooled it?

I used the same washed glass from the IPA that you could float a dime on the head, so I know it's not the glassware.

Need to turn the keezer up to 10C now, I think I could get used to the table beer thing.

Notch brewing made a session coffee milk stout that was unreal. 10 months later I'm still talking about it they brewed it for the craft beer fest in Boston.

xzcfzgxgh said:

Notch brewing made a session coffee milk stout that was unreal. 10 months later I'm still talking about it they brewed it for the craft beer fest in Boston.

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Okay now that sounds awesome too - I know what I'll be working on tonight!

Session beers. :rockin:

Talk is cheap... lets work on a recipe!



Cask Series #4: Coffee Milk Stout

Fourth up in the cask only series is a collaboration beer with Drink Craft Beer! This cask only beer is based on the idea of the Breakfast Stout, where a few in the AM won't curtail your activities the remainder of the day. A British Milk Stout serves as the base recipe, where a significant portion of oats and milk sugar provide a creamy sweetness. The beer is then blended in the cask with a lightly roasted, fruity Colombian coffee. The result is an extremely smooth, mellow stout with only a light roast from the coffee and barley. A real day drinker!

Beer specs
Style: Coffee Milk Stout
ABV: 3.7%
Malt: British Pale, Crystal, Black, Chocolate, Oats
Other: Lactose, Coffee
Hops: WGV
Yeast: Yorkshire Ale
Pkg: Cask

70% marris otter
9% black patent
7% C90
7% flaked oats
4% lactose
3% chocolate malt...or pale chocolate?

Cold steepa mild coffee and add to the finished keg to taste?

West Yorkshire yeast

How flavorful were the hops?

Ok, I didn't read through the whole thread as I'm at work, but I did search on "IPA" and didn't get any hits.

Would love to do a low ABV IPA at some point for the wife who loves IPA's but can only handle a couple before she is pretty lit. This would need to be an extract recipe as I am not planning on going AG anytime soon.

Weezy said:

70% marris otter
9% black patent
7% C90
7% flaked oats
4% lactose
3% chocolate malt...or pale chocolate?

Cold steepa mild coffee and add to the finished keg to taste?

West Yorkshire yeast

How flavorful were the hops?

Click to expand...

I prefer pale chocolate over regular as it gives the illusion of chocolate without all the roast that follows the dark (450+) english chocolate. Fawcett is my fave.

This recipe has a TON of black malt! 9%? That's gotta be 1%...

WVG hops are solid for bittering, I used them in my mild and it wasn't weird. Reminded me a lot of Willamet for bittering.

Here's what I came up with last night putzing around - I'm subbing Malz Munich 1 (6.5L) for Mild malt (because that's what I can get locally).

60% Malz Munich 1 (or Sub MO) 6.5L
14% Oat Flakes 2.5L (Possibly sub Oat malt?)
9% Baird Dark Crystal 75L
9% Lactose
7% Baird Roast Barley (550L) - Note, half mashed with grain then half used to cap the sparge otherwise it'll get too roasty...

Hops - Nugget to 19.5 IBU, bittering addition only (Weird I know, but I like Nugget to bitter dark beers)

Yeast - W. Yorkshire

Secondary (or in keg) 1.5oz French roast coffee beans whole.

Get the whole works around 3.5ABV, should be tasty. :rockin:

If anything, I'd like to swing the roast to around 5%, and possibly up the crystal a little more, but I'm not sure if I want over 11% crystal. Still thinking about it - as it is I'm riding the edge of 30SRM which is the minimum for a Stout according to style.

soccerguy83 said:

Ok, I didn't read through the whole thread as I'm at work, but I did search on "IPA" and didn't get any hits.

Would love to do a low ABV IPA at some point for the wife who loves IPA's but can only handle a couple before she is pretty lit. This would need to be an extract recipe as I am not planning on going AG anytime soon.

Click to expand...

Over in the recipe section there was a post called "Cloning Hop Hands by Tired Hands" or something, that'd be a great place to start if you're looking for a hoppy session style IPA.

Here's the link -
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cloning-hophands-tired-hands-brewing-company-463439/

I'd roll the base malt down a little to keep the ABV to around 4ish, maybe toss in a smidge of C10 to emulate the sweetness of a big IPA - 40IBU will seem like 70+ in a small beer.

Sumbrewindude,

You need 9% black and 3% 350 chocolate to get to 39 SRM in a 1.035 beer. And its not as scary as you think. Let me explain...

Say you have a ~1.060 beer:
10# 2-row 90%
1/2# C60 5%
1/2# Flaked Oats 5%

Now say you want to brew that beer as a 1.035 beer. If you just ratchet down the OG in your software, you'll end up with:

1.035
6.2# 2-row 90%
0.3# C60 5%
0.3# Flaked Oats 5%

Percentages are the same but all of the weights are lower. If you brewed this, all you'd have is a watered down version of the first beer. You might as well have brewed the 1.060 and added a gallon of water to the finished beer.

The proper way to sessionize a beer is to keep the specialty malts and adjuncts at the same weight, and only lower the base malt to achieve the lower OG:
6# 2-row 86%
1/2# C60 7%
1/2# Flaked Oats 7%

Notice the percentages have gone up? But the weights are the same as the 1.060 beer. Keeping the same weight of specialty grains is the only way to maintain the same flavor contribution as is is seen in bigger beers.

Hence, 9% black patent is not as scary as it seems, since its the same weight of patent as in a bigger beer.

Besides, 1% patent and pale chocolate in a small beer will barely get you into of the teens for color in a small beer.

I'm not sure why you're talking about Munich malt and mild malt. I'm trying to recreate Notch Brewings session coffee milk stout. The malts used are listed above. We really need xz's input on his recollection of the flavors to build a recipe, whether we should use more or less crystal and whether its a dark roasted chocolate flavor or toasty pale chocolate.

AH! Now that makes so much more sense! I saw the numbers and went - oh holy cow! I'm new to the idea of session beers, so I'm doing the whole shrink it all evenly and then back fill which apparently is the source of my confusion.

AFA the mild/munich that' was the recipe I was working on for my own version - I didn't realize we were chasing down Notch Brewing's version. My bad.

It that was the case, I still like the 60% MO/15% Oat/10% Lactose/5% each chocolate, black, and crystal. Then add cold brewed coffee to either bottles or keg - skip the beans. I'd aim for a balanced IBU, low 20's? I've never had it so I don't know the best way to hop it.

With black malt being 550L, and English Dark Chocolate being 450-500L, 10% should be enough to get the SRM to 30. Also holds up to the rule of threes with dark malts in stouts.

So for a 3gal batch, I've got
MO - 3.25#
Oats - 12oz
Lactose - 8oz
Blk/Choc/Dark Crystal - 4oz each

Assuming an EFF of 70% you're looking at 3.6ABV@20IBU (BU/[email protected]), 33.6SRM

While that looks like an awesome recipe, was looking for an extract recipe.

You can replace the maris otter malt with maris otter LME 1:1.

I'd double the black for a stout. You want the SRM at 39-40. Notch's recipe is 39 SRM.

I did an attempt at a session porter today.

Estimated OG: 1.025 SG
Estimated Color: 19.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.1 IBUs

2 lbs Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 55.2 %
8.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 5 13.8 %
8.0 oz Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 6 13.8 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7 6.9 %
4.0 oz Chocolate - Bairds (450.0 SRM) Grain 8 6.9 %
2.0 oz Caramel Malt - 120L (Briess) (120.0 SRM) Grain 9 3.4 %
14.00 g Cascade [4.15 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 15.1 IBUs

Mashed at 156, used some 1275 left over from an esb. Efficiency sucked because it was such a small batch, the grain was level with the bazooka tube in my mash tun. Can't complain though for 3.5 gallons for $7.

Weezy said:

You can replace the maris otter malt with maris otter LME 1:1.

I'd double the black for a stout. You want the SRM at 39-40. Notch's recipe is 39 SRM.

Click to expand...

I looked on Notch's website and couldn't find the SRM so if 39's the number, dropping the .25 off the pale and adding it to either a dark chocolate or the black malt will hit 39 easily.

I wish I knew what it tasted like as that would be the deciding factor.

I was going to brew up a big American stout, but seeing as how I'll have an Yorkshire cake pop free here shortly and I still have over an ounce plus of WVG, I could order grains for this - what do you think Weezy?

soundguy said:

Mashed at 156, used some 1275 left over from an esb. Efficiency sucked because it was such a small batch, the grain was level with the bazooka tube in my mash tun. Can't complain though for 3.5 gallons for $7.

Click to expand...

Brew in a bag is the way to go for low gravity beers. A beer this size easily results in 80%+ efficiency when I do them (no dip sparge, no squeezing, just pull and let drip). Even calculating for 80% efficiency, i often over shoot my OG and end up with an extra 5 pts.

Another thing to consider is using a debittered roast malt to pad out the colour in session porters and stouts. 4 to 8oz of carafa special or midnight wheat is a great way to push the SRM's into the black zone without overpowering the flavour

Weezy said:

Keeping the same weight of specialty grains is the only way to maintain the same flavor contribution as is is seen in bigger beers.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that info, definately where i've went wrong in the past trying to ramp a recipe down.

Ordered up the grains today, went with Weezy's recommendations -
60% MO
15% Oats
10% Black
5% Each Dark Crystal, Light Chocolate, and Lactose
18IBU WVG, W York Yeast.
3.6ABV / 39SRM

Hope to brew it this weekend!

here one of my favorites. you get light malt flavor with fruity flavor from the hops. its little more than 1.030 though.


LAWNMOWER ALE
Blonde Ale



Type: All Grain Date: 11/9/2014
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal Brewer: BROTHERHOOD BREWHOUSE
Boil Size: 7.47 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
End of Boil Volume 6.76 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 6.00 gal Est Mash Efficiency 78.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:

Ingredients



Ingredients

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 58.8 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 29.4 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 11.8 %
0.25 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 4 14.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 2.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124.21 ml] Yeast 6 -


Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.037 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.008 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.8 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 16.3 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 2.9 SRM

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 8.0 oz
Sparge Water: 6.08 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.20


Mash Steps

Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 10.63 qt of water at 165.3 F 150.0 F 60 min

Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 6.08 gal water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time

sumbrewindude said:

Ordered up the grains today, went with Weezy's recommendations -
60% MO
15% Oats
10% Black
5% Each Dark Crystal, Light Chocolate, and Lactose
18IBU WVG, W York Yeast.
3.6ABV / 39SRM

Hope to brew it this weekend!

Click to expand...

Brewed it today, had issues trying to keep my mash at 160F, it ended up somewhere around 156, which is lower than I wanted. Hopefully it doesn't thin it out too much. My projected OG was 11.2B, actual was 12.2B going into the fermenter - had to use a new grind as my supplier changed some stuff around so I'm not used to this crush. It'll end up higher than 3.6ABV, but hopefully not too much higher than low 4's.

Tastes great going into the fermenter so far, need to get some coffee to rack into the keg here in a couple weeks.

Weezy said:

...
The proper way to sessionize a beer is to keep the specialty malts and adjuncts at the same weight, and only lower the base malt to achieve the lower OG:
6# 2-row 86%
1/2# C60 7%
1/2# Flaked Oats 7%

Notice the percentages have gone up? But the weights are the same as the 1.060 beer. Keeping the same weight of specialty grains is the only way to maintain the same flavor contribution as is is seen in bigger beers.

Click to expand...

Why. Why do I always read things like this right after brewing something?:smack:

Though my batch did have about 25% Munich as part of the base, and all hops in the latter half of boil to preserve flavour and aroma. We'll see if it pulls through.

Just tapped my second mild (RedHen) - completely different from the first, which was more malt and chocolate - this one's more caramel and biscuit, totally love the Willamette hops in it over the WVG, and just enough English in it to let you know where it's from.

Totally loving session beers now.

Passed a few growlers on to friends, and they're starting to come around as well - I've had a lot of requests for more.


Now to work on a solid Session IPA and Belgian (like Weezy's) to keep on tap.

:rockin:

Kegged up the Notch Coffee Milk Stout attempt, I didn't get a chance to "dry bean" like I wanted to, so I had the neighbor whip me up 4 shots of espresso and put them in the keg with it as I racked it over.

It attenuated more than I expected, but I also had better EFF than I expected also. Not really sure what happened with the whole mess, but I ended at 4.5ABV. It was the last run on the yeast anyway at it's 5th pitch. Tasted great on the transfer, definite coffee and sweet going on even before the espresso. It's sitting on gas now and should be ready at the end of the week, so I've got another reason to be excited for Friday!

Tasting the Coffee Milk Stout now - man is this good. Not near enough coffee for me, it's there but it's subtle and in the background nicely and doesn't compete with the other flavors in the beer. My worries about 10% black malt were unfounded - it's not harsh/bitter at all, but at the same time it's not near as black as I would have expected it.

I'm going to have to play with my volumes to get the ABV down sub 4 like I want it - but the percentages are solid. Great tasting beer, I'll brew it again for sure (which says a lot for me, actually).

Changes I want to make for the next go around - Swap the bittering hops to something I keep on hand all the time (likely Willamett), dry bean the next batch, and use Cali Lager to see what happens with a lager yeast for fun.

So 4 shots of espresso for 5 gal batch? let me know how the dry bean turns out. I did that once and I got onion flavor. It was bad. But I'm sure that was just a bad experience, but it has me gun shy now.

@soundguy how'd the session porter turn out? I like that recipe and I like Cascade in brown ales tbh. I'd be afraid that that one might have finished high, leaving <2% abv?

Just mashed in for a nice low gravity one. Assuming 88-90% mash efficiency, should be 1.028-1.030 (edit: based on preboil gravity, looking at about 1.029, so right on target). 60% Pils, 20% Munich, 10% Special B and 10% CaraBelge. Mashing at 158 to leave lots of dextrins. Hopping to 9-10 IBUs with a sole Magnum bittering addition, and then pitching ECY20 Bug County to munch on all those dextrins. And then after a year to year and a half-ish I'll rack onto sour cherries (hoping to snag me 5 lbs of fresh tart pie cherries during the 2016 cherry season) and let that go for another year before bottling. Figure I'll end up 1.000-1.002, for maybe 3.5-4% ABV. Session Kriek. BOOM (Mong style).

Weezy said:

So 4 shots of espresso for 5 gal batch? let me know how the dry bean turns out. I did that once and I got onion flavor. It was bad. But I'm sure that was just a bad experience, but it has me gun shy now.

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It was 4 shots into 3gal (well, closer to 2.90, I don't like filling the cornie to the top), put directly into the keg and racked onto it.

I'll be honest, I'm nervous about the "drybean" also. I wouldn't be as nervous with higher ABV beers as I think the alcohol would keep anything nasty in it at bay, but with lower ABV beers I'm worried that something hanging out in the beans I can't see might take it over.

I'm still happy with the espresso shot trick, so I may keep it moving forward. The more I drink this, the happier I am with the turnout. It's just enough without being too much.

Now, on to Belgians and Wheezy's table beer (upscaled to 3.5)

Weezy said:

@soundguy how'd the session porter turn out? I like that recipe and I like Cascade in brown ales tbh. I'd be afraid that that one might have finished high, leaving <2% abv?

Click to expand...

Not awesome to be honest. Fermented down to 1.007. Ended up at 2.3%. Very light bodied and thin. I did have problems mashing such a small volume in my cooler though, the temp could have dropped much cooler than the 156 it started at. The malt flavors seemed to lack a bit as well. Maybe doing a larger batch size or BIAB could yield better results. But if brewed again I will up the chocolate and crystal 60, maybe drop the 120. I would also like to use some proper british crystal malt in there, my LHBS doesn't carry it, I need to drive across town to pick some up.

I already have my next few brews planned out but will hopefully find time to try my hand at this again.

Getting near 1.025 OG, the beer is going to be super thin regardless of what we do. If you really want to do a 1.025 beer, imho, you're really just trying to get enough flavor in there to make it interesting... fortified water.

Weezy said:

Getting near 1.025 OG, the beer is going to be super thin regardless of what we do. If you really want to do a 1.025 beer, imho, you're really just trying to get enough flavor in there to make it interesting... fortified water.

Click to expand...

A low attenuation yeast (S-33?) and high mash temps can get you around 1.010 or a little bit lower, but not so thin that it's water. A good charge of crystal can also help keeping the FG around 1.010. I'll give a shot at a 1.029 pale ale with > 10% crystal and S-33, mashing in a 24L cooler wrapped in towels and love. That's a nice exercise, at the very least!

You're absolutely right, you can add crystal or other dextrinous malts to leave residual body...but you're also reducing the amount of alcohol when you do that. Its a balancing act of enough flavor and body vs. Alcohol %.

A bit of a revival, has anyone else done a good sub 1.030 recently?

I'll be doing my Petite Saison next month, which clocks in at ~1.028-1.030 and drops to ~1.001-1.002. 80% pils malt, 10% munich malt, 10% aromatic malt, bittered to ~25 IBUs w/ Magnum and small Hallertau and Styrian Goldings late hop additions, and then 3711 (which this is the only beer I like that yeast in). Makes for a fantastic lawnmower beer.

Qhrumphf said:

I'll be doing my Petite Saison next month, which clocks in at ~1.028-1.030 and drops to ~1.001-1.002. 80% pils malt, 10% munich malt, 10% aromatic malt, bittered to ~25 IBUs w/ Magnum and small Hallertau and Styrian Goldings late hop additions, and then 3711 (which this is the only beer I like that yeast in). Makes for a fantastic lawnmower beer.

Click to expand...

My session saison isn't that small, but I use a pinch of special B, wheat, and a big portion of vienna, and similar hopping ratio with 3711. It's great!

Smallest beer I've made to date was a smoked porter (extract recipe with steeped grains) came out at 1.042 and finished at 1.017. I missed OG low and FG high, getting 3.3% abv. It wasn't much early but about two months out it is surprisingly good beer!

urbanmyth said:

Well, I'm not sure that would work. There is a reason beers like RIS and barleywines are around. People wanted the things that the higher gravities impart. Much of the character of a RIS and a barleywine comes from the presence of high alcohol levels and how the alcohol plays with the residual malt and all that.

That being said, it's worth a shot. Not sure how you would go about it. Even in session beers you don't want to go above 30%ish specialty malts. I have been mixing base malts lately, mostly to extend my supplies, but I have been finding my beers more complex (for better or worse). In a clean beer like a cream ale, the added complexity from mixing pilsner, Maris Otter and (a small percentage) pale wheat malt or Munich malt might muddle the results, while this complexity in a dark mild or a Belgian Dark Strong is rather desirable.

Click to expand...

This was a long time ago but I've carried on with the idea of a session imperial stout. I wouldn't say i've mastered it but I've been happy with my recent efforts. The key is to add some cheap whiskey to give the perception of alcohol. I don't know if you could do a good 1.030 SIS but a 1.040 OG/1.020 FG for 2.7% ABV plus 200ml of Jack Daniels into a 19L keg only raises the alcohol about 0.4% but does a lot for the taste.

gbx said:

This was a long time ago but I've carried on with the idea of a session imperial stout. I wouldn't say i've mastered it but I've been happy with my recent efforts. The key is to add some cheap whiskey to give the perception of alcohol. I don't know if you could do a good 1.030 SIS but a 1.040 OG/1.020 FG for 2.7% ABV plus 200ml of Jack Daniels into a 19L keg only raises the alcohol about 0.4% but does a lot for the taste.

Click to expand...

Well that's an interesting idea, gbx. Small beer with the perception of a big beer thanks to the spike with whiskey.

It's about time someone brought back this thread too!

I've been planning a Milk Stout called "Rye, Oh Rye" with Rye malt, Munich, Oats, Midnight Wheat, Honey malt, and of course lactose. It's not sub 1.030, but it should finish bellow 4%. Benefits of low alcohol, but unfortunately will still have plenty of calories.

Weezy said:

Well that's an interesting idea, gbx. Small beer with the perception of a big beer thanks to the spike with whiskey.

It's about time someone brought back this thread too!

Click to expand...

The credit goes to my polish father in law. The concept of a session beer offends his old country sensibilities and the hard alcohol spike is his way of making my session beers palattable.

Here is my current S.I.S. I've brewed a variation of this 3 other times now. (It was originally based off the fuller's london porter recipe with more roast). Each time I've gone a little heavier on the specialty malts and as the goal is a low alcohol sipper, I don't think I've gone too far yet.

Old Vlad Putin Session Imperial Stout
OG: 1.040
FG: 1.018
ABV: 3.3% (2.9% fermented + 0.4% fortified)

Malt
5.5lbs Simpsons GP
1.5lb TF Brown
12oz Simpsona C75
12oz Simpson Roast Barley

Mashed at ~69C

Hops
1.5oz cascade pellets @ FW

Yeast
S-04 @ 18C

Water
Vancouver tap water (RO) + 1tsp CaCl, .5tsp CaSO4, 1tsp CaCO3

Additives:
200mL Jack Daniels