I've had two people tell me it's stupid to brew a session (low ABV) beer

[HalfPint]

Yesterday I brewed a mild, and being true to the style, when finished it will probably be around 3% or so. I tell this to swmbo's brother-in-law and another friend of mine and they say it's stupid to waste my time on such a beer.

I laugh and say that although some people would call me an alcoholic b/c I drink often not b/c I'm drunk often, it's not all about the percentage of alcohol in the beers I craft. I am fascinated by the different styles and the near unlimited flavor profiles you can create as a homebrewer. I simply love beer granted that it is a quality made product. Therefore, why would one dislike a style simply b/c you can't get **** canned off of one?

BLAH, BLAH, and you guessed it, BLAH,
Jacob

 

[Shooter]

Nothing wrong with a low ABV beer. Something to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon and still be good to go for dinner with the family later in the evening.

 

[babalu87]

Vodka, they should just drink that

Brewed a 1.039 Bitter today with Pilgrim Hops
Its gonna be good suppin

 

[HalfPint]

You know, when I first started brewing, I really only made the extreme beers such as IPA's or very malty porters, but now that I've brewed dozens of those, I'm really trying to make that perfectly balanced beer that like you said is made for me to hit around a six pack of them on a Sunday afternoon and still be able to function for the rest of the night.

 

[nebben]

Are these guys the same ones that hang those novelty balls on the underside of their truck too, just to prove their masculinity?

...

 

[brewingkitty]

my mentor always brews a variation of a Belgian Abbey that is friggin good and 8-10%abv. if i could take something like that or any beer i normally drink 4+ pints a day of, and make it 5% or less while still maintaining balance, i would in a heartbeat. there is definitely more to fine crafted beer than being hammered: that's why someone invented hard alcohols. i got 10 gallons of cream ale on deck that will be in the 4% range and perfect for these 110F summer days!

 

[HalfPint]

my mentor always brews a variation of a Belgian Abbey that is friggin good and 8-10%abv. if i could take something like that or any beer i normally drink 4+ pints a day of, and make it 5% or less while still maintaining balance, i would in a heartbeat. there is definitely more to fine crafted beer than being hammered: that's why someone invented hard alcohols. i got 10 gallons of cream ale on deck that will be in the 4% range and perfect for these 110F summer days!

couldn't agree more.

 

[dougf]

I find between 4 - 5% is just right. I can have a six pack while enjoying it, get a nice buzz and relax and still function without going to sleep on the couch at 9pm!

 

[malkore]

I'd tell swbmo's brother in law that he's welcome to bring his own BMC 6-pack to family events since he clearly is too rude to be sharing your 'waste of time' beer with.

 

[dougf]

Better yet, at the next event kick him as hard as you can in the nuts, then when hes gasping for air poor a bud lite down his throat into his lungs, and laugh like the devil while picking you're nose.

 

[Cheeto]

There is nothing wrong with brewing a session beer, I brew one just about everytime I brew.

My first question is, Do those nay sayers even brew? If not I could think of a few sage words for them. If they do, invite them over in the summer heat and let them drink their high test brew. Houston is was about 110 and 30-50% humidity mid-aug?
I can almost guarantee they won't last but 2-3 hours.

Session brews are nice, you can work out and perfect your brewing methods or even try new things, like sparge methods or the mill of your grain...

Basically, you are the one brewing so screw them !

 

[Beernik]

It's not every day that I come home from work and want to slam barleywine until my feet are numb. But there are plenty of those days.

I generally think about what flavor I'm trying to get and adjust my grain bill accordingly. Most end up between 4.5% and 6.5%. But I have been as low as 3.5% and as high as 10.5%.

 

[Teromous]

Low ABV beers are also good for social gatherings or for people who intentionally don't want to be wasted. I try to keep at least one intense flavor or alcohol beer, and one that is more mellow. I've noticed that most "regular" people prefer the mellow beer regardless of how drunk they intend on getting anyway...

So really if those guys prefer higher ABV, that's ok. Just keep some barleywine or super double IPA for when they come around

 

[Frank99]

Just tell them it's 8% ABV and they'll compliment you on how "smooth" it tastes. Trust me, if you're looking to your brother-in-law/non homebrewer for affirmation, then you're setting yourself up for dissapointment.

 

[HalfPint]

Well I suppose that I should say that I'm the only homebrewer, but swmbo's bro-in-law loves all of my beers. He isn't a necessarily a craft beer drinker other than the occasional Fat Tire (is that even craft?), but he is just a beer lover in general. In fact he loves my beer so much, he drinks it by the case when I feel like giving him that much.

I think the thing is that most non homebrewers typically buy beer when they want to either catch a buzz or drink with friends, not b/c they appreciate the flavor profiles or skills that went into crafting such a complex beer that I can enjoy ALL NIGHT LONG!

I'm not sure if you know what I'm saying because it's kind of hard to explain.

 

[eddie]

Brew what you want. It doesn't really matter what other people think.

 

[buzzkill]

I always keep a nice 3-4% beer on tap, I will not let friends get wasted and drive home. and I sure dont want to have to feed them in the morn.

 

[robtotten]

Most of my brews are low gravity brown / dark ales. I'm drinking an American brown right now, similar flavor profile to Pete's Wicked but a little hoppier and it's 4.3% abv. My house mild is 3.5 or so with an OG of 1.04. Next up I'm going for a hoppy low gravity pale ale loaded with Amarillo. Tell the brother in law to screw off

 

[beerjunky828]

I love some low alcohol session beers. Does anyone know of a AG clone recipe of Stone's Levitation Ale?? I love this low session beer. It is very good and flavorful to be 4.4%.

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

I love high ABV beers, but like everyone else has said it is awesome to have a beautifully crafted sessionable brew around. I keep my Milk Oatmeal Stout around that weighs in at a staggering 3.8%. People love it and request it all time it seems. And the great part is that it is always a good conversational beer. And the conversation never degrades to "Dude, I'm getting f***ing hammered!" The same won't be true for my barleywine that is in the fermenter, she is due in at about 12%....

 

[billc68]

The dude at my local LHBS, likes to make a summer beer by taking a canned kit and omitting the dextrose, he says it is pretty good and he can drink them all day long at about 2.7%

 

[the_bird]

I love some low alcohol session beers. Does anyone know of a AG clone recipe of Stone's Levitation Ale?? I love this low session beer. It is very good and flavorful to be 4.4%.

There's a "Can You Brew It?" podcast (Jamil Z, Tasty McDole, et al) that discussed this beer in detail, as well as their process for cloning it. That'll give you the best answers.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/594

 

[curlyfat]

I have four taps. I usually have one beer in the 4% range (a Hefe-Weizen right now), two in the 5-6% range, and one "beer geek" beer with a higher alcohol. The low alcohol gets consumed the most rapidly (by myself and friends).

 

[nowashburn]

Yesterday I brewed a mild, and being true to the style, when finished it will probably be around 3% or so. I tell this to swmbo's brother-in-law and another friend of mine and they say it's stupid to waste my time on such a beer.

I laugh and say that although some people would call me an alcoholic b/c I drink often not b/c I'm drunk often, it's not all about the percentage of alcohol in the beers I craft. I am fascinated by the different styles and the near unlimited flavor profiles you can create as a homebrewer. I simply love beer granted that it is a quality made product. Therefore, why would one dislike a style simply b/c you can't get **** canned off of one?

BLAH, BLAH, and you guessed it, BLAH,
Jacob

i agree with ya!

 

[brewingkitty]

as noted, <5% is great when you want to drink profusely AND still function well within .08bac levels. ie. a restoration project or painting the house and *might* need to dash to and fro gathering odds and ends hardware.

 

[HalfPint]

Wow, this thread really shot off. I'm glad that I'm not alone in this argument, well it's not even an argument IMO. All of this barley wine talk really makes me want to brew one!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Session beer (Bitter) is all I brew. I started off brewing higher ABV, but brewing a low alcohol beer and keeping it balanced takes a lot more attention to detail. tell the nay sayers to go f#ck themselves. I love to be able to have a good few beers and keep my senses about me.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

I know here in Oklahoma it seems that most people refer to non-OK Bud Light as "six point beer" since regular BMC type stuff is limited to 3.2 ABV here. There is a general belief that the beer here is HALF the ABV of what everyone else in the country is getting, thereby making texas bud light 6% ABV!!

I would bet that someone who thinks that a 3.somthing% session brew is a waste of time doesnt know that the Bud Light they've been drinking only has 4.2% ABV...

And as a side note, I always order the 3.2% domestic stuff whenever my band is playing out...I can drink 10 of them over the course of a 3 hour gig and not be trashed. It's not a bad thing.

 

[Bassman]

This is funny to me because on Tuesday I decided to brew a mild. One reason is to brew a session beer, another was to brew a beer that would be ready a little quicker than an ESB, and I also wanted to concentrate on simple basic techniques as a beginner ( re-beginner but whatever, still a beginner in terms of abilities ). Well I made a small mistake. I checked my OG and it was high but I did not want to fuss because I had pitched and oxygenated and wanted to start clean up and let the yeast do their job. The recipe was the mild from Brewing Classic Styles and I topped off to 5 gallons instead of 5 1/2 gallons and I think he expects wort to be left in the kettle and I pretty much got it all in the fermenter, minus whatever was in the hops. So that explained my mistake, but I was not upset that I made a mistake. I was upset because I wanted a mild and I guess I guess I have a brown.

I'm sure it will still taste good, and will be around 4.5% ABV.

Here's to smaller beer and tell the haters to brew their own!

 

[Shooter]

This is funny to me because on Tuesday I decided to brew a mild. One reason is to brew a session beer, another was to brew a beer that would be ready a little quicker than an ESB, and I also wanted to concentrate on simple basic techniques as a beginner ( re-beginner but whatever, still a beginner in terms of abilities ). Well I made a small mistake. I checked my OG and it was high but I did not want to fuss because I had pitched and oxygenated and wanted to start clean up and let the yeast do their job. The recipe was the mild from Brewing Classic Styles and I topped off to 5 gallons instead of 5 1/2 gallons and I think he expects wort to be left in the kettle and I pretty much got it all in the fermenter, minus whatever was in the hops. So that explained my mistake, but I was not upset that I made a mistake. I was upset because I wanted a mild and I guess I guess I have a brown.

I'm sure it will still taste good, and will be around 4.5% ABV.

Here's to smaller beer and tell the haters to brew their own!

I brewed that same mild as my first all grain batch. It's the next one to go on tap. Somehow I managed to come in WAY over on the OG. It's about 5% ABV. I was going to dilute it, but just said screw it.

 

[Yooper]

I just got back from the NHC, and I spoke to several great brewers about my goal- trying to make a really good but lower ABV IPA. It's extremely difficult to do, and I was asking advice from some well-known brewers to try to find out what would be the best way. It's definitely not easy. Right now, my current IPA is 6%. I'd like to be able to get it to 4.75% or so, but keep the same amount of great hops flavor.

The lowest ABV beer I brewed was a mild- I think around 3%. For a party last weekend, I brewed an oatmeal stout that was 3.12%. It was perfect for a summer party, and the keg disappeared quickly!

 

[HalfPint]

I just got back from the NHC, and I spoke to several great brewers about my goal- trying to make a really good but lower ABV IPA. It's extremely difficult to do, and I was asking advice from some well-known brewers to try to find out what would be the best way. It's definitely not easy. Right now, my current IPA is 6%. I'd like to be able to get it to 4.75% or so, but keep the same amount of great hops flavor.

The lowest ABV beer I brewed was a mild- I think around 3%. For a party last weekend, I brewed an oatmeal stout that was 3.12%. It was perfect for a summer party, and the keg disappeared quickly!

To be honest, I've never even thought about brewing a session IPA. I'd imagine that would be quite difficult to produce a smaller beer with enough malt profile to handle a hopping load required by an IPA.

Have you had any success with this? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

 

[Yooper]

To be honest, I've never even thought about brewing a session IPA. I'd imagine that would be quite difficult to produce a smaller beer with enough malt profile to handle a hopping load required by an IPA.

Have you had any success with this? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

Nah, this last one was supposed to be 4.9%, but I had it attenuate more than planned, finishing at 1.008. Great for the taste, but it finished at 6%! Still better than the original 7.2% but not exactly a session beer.

I'm going to try again with "maltier" malts for the malt backbone and try to keep the IBU/SG ratio the same, and shoot for a lower OG. It's definitely the most challenging beer I've been trying to make to date.

(In a slightly "in awe" category, the authority I was asking advice from was John Palmer last evening. He spent quite a long time talking about recipe creation with me. Didn't get much advice on the session IPA but he told me his thoughts on my plans for a blonde dopplebock).

 

[HalfPint]

Nah, this last one was supposed to be 4.9%, but I had it attenuate more than planned, finishing at 1.008. Great for the taste, but it finished at 6%! Still better than the original 7.2% but not exactly a session beer.

I'm going to try again with "maltier" malts for the malt backbone and try to keep the IBU/SG ratio the same, and shoot for a lower OG. It's definitely the most challenging beer I've been trying to make to date.

(In a slightly "in awe" category, the authority I was asking advice from was John Palmer last evening. He spent quite a long time talking about recipe creation with me. Didn't get much advice on the session IPA but he told me his thoughts on my plans for a blonde dopplebock).

At least you're not throwing out names Yoop!!

I'm sure you'll figure it out, and when you do, you'll share it with us so we can all enjoy!

Hey, while we're on the topic of session beers, , do you have a really good recipe or know of one on here (one that you'd actually make again) for a Barley wine or RIS? I know my next brew will probably be a fruit beer, but when I buy grain, I usually buy multiple grain bills to save on shipping and I think I want to brew a large beer since I've really never brewed anything over 1.100.

Thanks,
J

 

[Yooper]

At least you're not throwing out names Yoop!!

I'm sure you'll figure it out, and when you do, you'll share it with us so we can all enjoy!

Hey, while we're on the topic of session beers, , do you have a really good recipe or know of one on here (one that you'd actually make again) for a Barley wine or RIS? I know my next brew will probably be a fruit beer, but when I buy grain, I usually buy multiple grain bills to save on shipping and I think I want to brew a large beer since I've really never brewed anything over 1.100.

Thanks,
J

Not me- but Brewpastor's RIS is kick ass. He put it in the database, so you should be able to find it easily. I'm definitely no expert on big beers, but I think that the ones in the database with good reviews would be a good place to start. I really respect the experienced brewers around here, and I know you could find one there.

There's always the Palmer/Zainasheff book to fall back on if you need more ideas. I use "Brewing Classic Styles" all the time. And had both of them autograph it for me yesterday *cough *cough. (Seriously- I'm joking about the namedropping. They were awesome and it was great talking with them and I'm still a little awestruck that Palmer and I talked so long about a couple of my recipe ideas. Sorry to throw that in here, but it really IS a great book to help with a basic recipe formulation for each style).

 

[KCBrewer]

The friend that turned me on to home brewing is one that pretty much only brews high abv beers. His beers are good, but I always know to drink with caution.

I like to drink beer, so a lower abv is great for steady drinking. If you want to chill by the pool all day and have some beers, you can still function to hang out that night.

Drinking beer is like sex, you can pound them fast and be finished before everyone else, or take your time and enjoy the ride.

 

[Cheeto]

The friend that turned me on to home brewing is one that pretty much only brews high abv beers. His beers are good, but I always know to drink with caution.

I like to drink beer, so a lower abv is great for steady drinking. If you want to chill by the pool all day and have some beers, you can still function to hang out that night.

Drinking beer is like sex, you can pound them fast and be finished before everyone else, or take your time and enjoy the ride.

That is Sig worthy !!!!! :rockin:

 

[LagerLover24]

I brew mostly session beers. Non brewers sometimes don't understand that it's not about getting drunk for less money. It is about the process of brewing, and being able to recreate certain styles. We love to brew! Not just get drunk! He will never understand. Keep brewing those session beers!

 

[HalfPint]

That is Sig worthy !!!!! :rockin:

ROFL!

You beat me to it.

 

[HalfPint]

Not me- but Brewpastor's RIS is kick ass. He put it in the database, so you should be able to find it easily. I'm definitely no expert on big beers, but I think that the ones in the database with good reviews would be a good place to start. I really respect the experienced brewers around here, and I know you could find one there.

There's always the Palmer/Zainasheff book to fall back on if you need more ideas. I use "Brewing Classic Styles" all the time. And had both of them autograph it for me yesterday *cough *cough. (Seriously- I'm joking about the namedropping. They were awesome and it was great talking with them and I'm still a little awestruck that Palmer and I talked so long about a couple of my recipe ideas. Sorry to throw that in here, but it really IS a great book to help with a basic recipe formulation for each style).

Yeah, I've actually made a couple of recipes from that book that I've enjoyed thoroughly. I was actually already looking/comparing Jamil's Ris and Brewpastor's Ris.

I think that's awesome that you got to talk to JP for so long. That's definitely something that I'd brag about! Mr. Palmer's How to Brew is one of the reasons I finally decided to go AG. That guy is dang near godly in the homebrewing community.