Low alchohol, yet flavourful beers?

[lostmind]

Anyone have any suggestions?

I've googled, come across references to belgian table beer at 1.5% but haven't found anything I can really brew or buy myself...

 

[PintOfBitter]

english mild may be a style to interest you. I was very happy with my recent attempt.

 

[jmo88]

English mild would be a good choice. I've never brewed Scottish 60, or 70, but those can be both between 3% and 4%.

 

[DustinHickey]

Check out an english bitter or special bitter as well. They are relatively low in alchohal and can be made on either the malty side or you can hop them enough for a flavorful hoppy beer.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

+1 for English Mild

 

[lostmind]

Hmmm, will have to look into these english beers more

I was just doing some google'ing last night and came across references to old styles of beer that were very low alchohol content, 1.5% and so on. I don't drink to get drunk so I thought it might be interesting to find and brew something like that but after another couple hours of google'ing I couldn't find any recipes... It seems like the closest thing was some really light lagers.

 

[PintOfBitter]

I am a low consumer of alcohol as well, and generally get the most enjoyment out of low gravity brews, with the occasional high gravity beer in moderation.

You can brew many styles as low alcohol simply by watering down the recipe, and the results can be good.

 

[DustinHickey]

I am a low consumer of alcohol as well, and generally get the most enjoyment out of low gravity brews, with the occasional high gravity beer in moderation.

You can brew many styles as low alcohol simply by watering down the recipe, and the results can be good.

True but they would then taste watered down and woud technically not be "to style".

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Take a stab at searching "Session beers". May bring some more results. There was recently a good discussion on Session IPA's.

 

[j1laskey]

If you are using a partial mash / specialty grain, I found that if you steep at a slighty higher temp than what the kit calls for, (most kits are 154 F) for a little longer (5-10 extra mins) this will lower your ABV slighty but also enhance flavor.

 

[PT Ray]

You can brew many styles as low alcohol simply by watering down the recipe, and the results can be good

Not exactly. You water them down you get water down flavor. In Jamil's book when he talks about Scotch Ales he will change the base malt and leave the speciality alone inorder to alter the gravity. I took this logic and brewed some low gravity porters and stouts. It worked pretty good but you will have to brew it several times to dial it in. Being a lower gravity the mouth feel thins out so I tried adding oats hoping the beta glutens would thicken it up. So low alcohol doesn't have to be watered down.

 

[DustinHickey]

If you are using a partial mash / specialty grain, I found that if you steep at a slighty higher temp than what the kit calls for, (most kits are 154 F) for a little longer (5-10 extra mins) this will lower your ABV slighty but also enhance flavor.

Sure would, you would get more complex sugars created by the higher mash temp that wouldn't be able to be broken down by the yeast after they devour the simple sugars in the wort.

 

[Gritsak]

Depending on your taste preferences and patience, a berliner weisse is typically low ABV (~3-4%)

 

[lostmind]

Berliner weisse is a great beer.

I also typically find myself going for beers such as guinness, boddingtons, fullers, etc. all the time because they are fairly light in alchohol (4%?) and yet full of flavour.

I just wonder if I could brew something even lighter than this alchohol % while retaining flavour. Definitely some good leads in here, i'll have to research a bit more.

Thanks!

 

[Nugent]

Love drinking beer; despise hangovers.

Not that this will necessarily get anywhere, but I e-mailed Brew Strong today to request a show on brewing low-gravity beers after listening to their shows on brewing high gravity beers. Being a low grav brewer as well, I know that they're both an art and a science.

Milds = awesome and quite easy to brew. The maltiness can hide some flaws.

Bitters = awesome, but more finicky in my experience. Balance is key and flaws show up much more in these low grav beers

Good luck on your quest. I'm about a year into mine.

BTW: Hey ho to a fellow British Columbian (I presume)

 

[Malintent]

I have a Becks-64 clone going for the little lady that nearly hit the floor when she calculated 7 weight watcher points from a pint of her favorite of mine.

All-Grain, 6.5 Gallon batch:

2.5 lbs 2-row (US)
1 lb Munich Malt
1 lb White Wheat
0.25 oz Columbus (14% alpha) @ 60
0.5 oz Cascade (3.0% alpha) @ 30
0.5 oz Cascade (3.0% alpha) @ 15
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 15
0.75 oz Coriander seed @ 5

Strike 2 gal @ 155 for 60 min
fly sparge 6 gal @ 170

collect 7.5 gallons and boil down to 6.5

Ferment @ 72 with WLP005

OG: 1.020
FG: 1.005

Edited to add:

That comes out to about 86 calories per pint, or about 64 per 12 oz. bottle. just (over 1 WW point)

 

[lostmind]

Love drinking beer; despise hangovers.

Not that this will necessarily get anywhere, but I e-mailed Brew Strong today to request a show on brewing low-gravity beers after listening to their shows on brewing high gravity beers. Being a low grav brewer as well, I know that they're both an art and a science.

Milds = awesome and quite easy to brew. The maltiness can hide some flaws.

Bitters = awesome, but more finicky in my experience. Balance is key and flaws show up much more in these low grav beers

Good luck on your quest. I'm about a year into mine.

BTW: Hey ho to a fellow British Columbian (I presume)

I'm lucky in that I am very good at consuming water while drinking, so I rarely suffer from a hangover. Although the day after my bachelor party....

And yup! Born and raised here in BC (born in burnaby, been all over since). Should I assume you are a Dan's customer too? I can't find any other options in town. Which isn't so bad as most of his staff are great people, very helpful.

I'll also dig into researching mild's. I like a maltier beer anyways so that might be just perfect for me. Thanks!

 

[lostmind]

I have a Becks-64 clone going for the little lady that nearly hit the floor when she calculated 7 weight watcher points from a pint of her favorite of mine.

All-Grain, 6.5 Gallon batch:

2.5 lbs 2-row (US)
1 lb Munich Malt
1 lb White Wheat
0.25 oz Columbus (14% alpha) @ 60
0.5 oz Cascade (3.0% alpha) @ 30
0.5 oz Cascade (3.0% alpha) @ 15
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 15
0.75 oz Coriander seed @ 5

Strike 2 gal @ 155 for 60 min
fly sparge 6 gal @ 170

collect 7.5 gallons and boil down to 6.5

Ferment @ 72 with WLP005

OG: 1.020
FG: 1.005

Edited to add:

That comes out to about 86 calories per pint, or about 64 per 12 oz. bottle. just (over 1 WW point)

7 points? out of curiousity, how many cals is that? I have no idea how weight watchers works.

86 cals seems pretty darn low, thats awesome. Hope it turns out well for you.

 

[UnderThePorchBrewing]

zymurgy and brew both last year had articles on english milds and session brews. the pale english mild below is one of my favorites I have done it twice with 2 different yeasts. I can check the author/brewer later if you like. they also have a dark mild which I have not brewed yet. it gets rave reviews from my light beer drinking friends and is going to be in my rotation frequently

Clark Kent Pale Mild
Batch size 5.2 gallons
Boil size 6.5 gallons
Boil time 60 minutes
Grain weight 8.26 pounds
Efficiency 70%

Original gravity 1.037
Final gravity 1.010
Alcohol (by volume) 3.2%
Bitterness (IBU) 20
Color (SRM) 8.6°L
Yeast
S-04 or witbread strain

Grains/Extracts/Sugars
8.26 pounds
Maris Otter
38ppg, 4°L 6 pounds
72.6%
Munich (Light)
34ppg, 10°L 1 pound
12.1%
Aromatic
36ppg, 1.5°L 0.5 pounds
6.1%
Crystal 40L
34ppg, 40°L 0.5 pounds
6.1%
Special Roast
33ppg, 50°L 0.26 pounds
3.1%

Boil
60 minutes, 6.5 gallons
Goldings (Kent) hops
4.3%, Pellet 1 ounce
60 minutes (+0)
Goldings (Kent) hops
4.3%, Pellet 0.5 ounces
15 minutes (+45)

Ferment
14 days @ 65-70°F

 

[Malintent]

7 points? out of curiousity, how many cals is that? I have no idea how weight watchers works.

86 cals seems pretty darn low, thats awesome. Hope it turns out well for you.

7 points is about 350 caleries... for beer, simply dividing calories by 50 gives you the points (since it contains no fat nor fiber). The average women gets 18 points to 'spend' on food a day, the man, about 30 points. So, drinking 3 of my biggest beers (a Belgium Triple) is more than the daily allowance of calories. That makes beer loving women cry.

86 cals IS darn low! I'm using less than half the normal grain bill. That is 86 for a pint... will be about 64 for a 12 oz... just like MGD 64... except good. (like Becks 64, which really is not so bad). I can drink 30 of those and still be 'on diet', lol.

 

[Lcasanova]

This might work, I am a big fan of Stone's Levitation Ale

http://www.stonebrew.com/levitation/

See if you can get it and give it a shot

 

[Roatan_Mark]

Ha! My problem is gaining higher abv%. A begginers recipie calls for 6# DME, you can also add 1/2# sugar but the fact is that my temps remain so high here (82F and up to 85F) that the fermentation is rapid and short. I end up with a full flavor beer but low abv% since all the sugars are not used up by the yeast before flocculating.... maybe we could switch places? maybe a bit higher temp during fermentation would achieve what your looking for?

 

[lostmind]

7 points is about 350 caleries... for beer, simply dividing calories by 50 gives you the points (since it contains no fat nor fiber). The average women gets 18 points to 'spend' on food a day, the man, about 30 points. So, drinking 3 of my biggest beers (a Belgium Triple) is more than the daily allowance of calories. That makes beer loving women cry.

86 cals IS darn low! I'm using less than half the normal grain bill. That is 86 for a pint... will be about 64 for a 12 oz... just like MGD 64... except good. (like Becks 64, which really is not so bad). I can drink 30 of those and still be 'on diet', lol.

900 cals a day for your average woman? Wow. That's lower than I expected!

I think I have to try making a brew similar to yours. I've never had mgd64 or becks 64 though... but I do want a nice & light beer.

 

[Clayton]

i cant beleave no one has said a dry irish stout on a thread for low point hiflavor beers. is there any more accepted more comsumed beer that fits that bill other than the dry irish stout?


btw dont F around if you brew one, use flaked barley , oats are for horses and porage, tooo oily for beer , and do a sour mash or get some lactic acid , its not right if you dont.

 

[lostmind]

This might work, I am a big fan of Stone's Levitation Ale

http://www.stonebrew.com/levitation/

See if you can get it and give it a shot

That brewery looks cool. I just spent half an hour on their site

Unfortunately I've never seen Stone up here in Canuckistan. I'll have to go have a harder look this weekend though, thanks!

 

[lostmind]

Ha! My problem is gaining higher abv%. A begginers recipie calls for 6# DME, you can also add 1/2# sugar but the fact is that my temps remain so high here (82F and up to 85F) that the fermentation is rapid and short. I end up with a full flavor beer but low abv% since all the sugars are not used up by the yeast before flocculating.... maybe we could switch places? maybe a bit higher temp during fermentation would achieve what your looking for?

So you get a sweeter beer? Interesting. Does that produce any different flavours or alchohols than lower temperature fermentation?

 

[lostmind]

i cant beleave no one has said a dry irish stout on a thread for low point hiflavor beers. is there any more accepted more comsumed beer that fits that bill other than the dry irish stout?


btw dont F around if you brew one, use flaked barley , oats are for horses and porage, tooo oily for beer , and do a sour mash or get some lactic acid , its not right if you dont.

Dry irish stout... Guinness? I love Guinness. I think it is because of the slight twang, that I've never been able to figure out what that twang was though. Now to research a sour mash. I'm pretty sure I've not seen lactic acid up here at our local store.

 

[a10t2]

I've had decent results brewing a normal-gravity beer and then heating a portion of it just above the boiling point of ethanol (~175°F) and holding it there until the steam coming off no longer smells boozy. I wouldn't try it with anything hoppy since the flavor/bitterness would change, but I boiled a black lager from 5.8% to 2.1% and it still tasted decent.

 

[sujima]

Have you tried English Dark Mild Ale? It has low level of hops character. Alcohol content is traditionally very low. Grainy to toasty malts might be present, but expect some body from the high dextrins produced in brewing.

@lostmind
same here, I love Guinness too!

 

[lostmind]

Ok, sour mash seems really simple. I think I *will* try that with my stout as I have the ingredients already. Thanks for the tip!

 

[lostmind]

I've had decent results brewing a normal-gravity beer and then heating a portion of it just above the boiling point of ethanol (~175°F) and holding it there until the steam coming off no longer smells boozy. I wouldn't try it with anything hoppy since the flavor/bitterness would change, but I boiled a black lager from 5.8% to 2.1% and it still tasted decent.

That's interesting. One of these days I may actually try that.

 

[Clayton]

no problem ,, yeah the sour mash is easy,, also most HBS have 88% lactic acid consentrate

 

[CortexBomb]

If you like maltier beer in general, then you should definitely look into English styles of beer. I'm a malthead myself (though I have gotten more into hops as the years have gone by) and I find that in many cases my favourite takes on a given type of beer come from English sources. English IPA, Old Ale, Barley Wine and the like all have a much different flavour profile than their North American counterparts.

One style that is commonly consumed in England that you can make both low ABV and tasty is bitter. It's fairly uncommon in the States, but there's a local brewery here down in Battle Creek (MI) (Arcadia) that brews English style beers and they often have a bitter or two on tap. I find that the flavour of the style is often very solid even when the beer is brewed to only 3-4% ABV, so I've started experimenting with it myself for a session beer.

 

[Roatan_Mark]

So you get a sweeter beer? Interesting. Does that produce any different flavours or alchohols than lower temperature fermentation?

Yes! I once made the mistake of using 3# DME with 3/4 cup corn sugar and 3/4 cup of raw honey and then after boiling and cooling tossed the Wyeast London ESB porpogator stright into the wort without the propogating part! It was a wonderfull tasting, slightly nutty after tasting beer! Will do that again intentionally! All kinds of tasts were made in that batch.

our latest is 6# DME (breis) 1/2# raw cane sugar and our repitched yeast from last batch. Lots of full malty flavour and only .298 % ABV and it isnt even done siting in the bottle yet, another 8 days and it should be even better.

so in a nutshell my problem is temperature for the fermenting which is stalling the process but as long as you don't have too much sugars in the wort you shouldn't end up with cider beer (hopefully anyway as that is the #1 result of incomplete fermentation as far as I can tell).

But I am a beginner and only have about 30 batches experience here on island and high temp fermentation.

 

[a10t2]

our latest is 6# DME (breis) 1/2# raw cane sugar and our repitched yeast from last batch. Lots of full malty flavour and only .298 % ABV and it isnt even done siting in the bottle yet, another 8 days and it should be even better.

I think your measurements must be wrong. That would be roughly a 1.056 OG (for 5 gallons) and a 1.054 FG. Do you sorbate? Are they carbonated? If you put a 1.054 beer in bottles and they carbonated they would explode, guaranteed. 1.054 wort would be very sweet too; it wouldn't taste anything like beer.

Should that be 2.98%? Even that would be a 1.033 FG, and again I would expect those bottles to explode.

 

[PintOfBitter]

I agree. something seems completely off base here. how are you calculating? if it really only attenuated that much, you'd be drinking malt syrup, not beer.

 

[Roatan_Mark]

No, the measurements are correct. As I said the fermentation stalled. I did not end up with anything other than 1.044 initial and 1.043 as final. I don't think my hydrometer has lied to me before so I trust it this time and yes these are temperature corrected. I did expect a higher SG intially. Maybe my eyes lied to me? Not sure but so far no bottles have exploded and I did let it ferment for 15 days total in 87F heat, no where to hide from those temps here. I hope your right baout my initial SG being wrong but it didnt seem so and yes after a 6 day rack it is slightly sweet. Wife loves dark malty beer so I do hope the entire batch isn't ruined and too sweet. our yeast seems to have given out on this one, it was a re pitch but clean goof fermentation start and then quick taper off.

Mark