Yuengling and Light Lager

I was halfway thru my first cup of coffee yesterday when the swmbo asked if I felt like going on a tour of the Yuengling brewery in Pottstown, Pa. Needless to say I did the tour and had an awesome time but........
The tour guide said something that didn't quite seem right. She said they made their Lager a Light by boiling the wort longer. This allowed more water and sugar to evaporate making it lower in calories and alcohol. WHAT?! I am no chemist but I don't recall ever hearing that sugar evaporated from boiling wort longer. She did, however, deny that they "watered it down" to dilute the wort.
Regardless, I had a great time and got to sample some pretty good beer.

they boil it to evaporate more water and sugar...wouldn't they just not add as much water and sugar to begin with? boiling longer would evaporate more water, making it more concentrated. i suppose if the sugars are completely dissolved in the water and it's a homogeneous mixture some of the sugar would dissolve along with it but again, why wouldn't they just add less sugar to begin with?

Eh, tour guides are only as smart as the information they are given (and comprehend). She was probably told to tell you something about the process but misunderstood it. If the brewmaster told you that, it'd be a different story.

+1 on sampling good beer at the end of the tour.

NAVET said:

I was halfway thru my first cup of coffee yesterday when the swmbo asked if I felt like going on a tour of the Yuengling brewery in Pottstown, Pa.

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Pottsville. There isn't a whole lot of anything to see in Pottstown.

And regarding the boil, I agree with Yuri.

Indeed, her explanation defies the laws of physics. If you can make sugar evaporate, that'd be some amazing stuff. She likely got her information mixed up.

menschmaschine said:

There isn't a whole lot of anything to see in Pottstown.

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That's not true at all. There's a couple of closed factories, a few crack houses on Queen St., and who could forget scenic Rte 663?

It did appear that the brewery was holding the town together.

I kind of figured she either 1) misunderstood a process explanation or 2) tried to baffle us all with bulls*#$ never figuring someone might be able to call her bluff or understand the brew process enough to know she was wrong/confused.

Either way I got to drink a free beer and that is always good.