Lowering ABV

[UndeniablePup06]

Hello All! This is my first post and I'm sure there is something out there already asking this sorry:

My grandfather just started some new meds and is limited to the equivalent of an 8oz glass of wine a week. He loves his brew though and I was thinking about making either a stout or an ale with a very low ABV for him so he could still drink SOMETHING. Is there a way to do this without sacrificing too much in the way of flavour?

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[lutherslagers]

A properly brewed Scottish 60 or 70 is low ABV and quite tastey. In short you need quality ingredients and you'll mash at a warmer temp to keep the beer from seeming too thin in the mouth.

Listen to the following for some good tips and a recipe: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Scottish-Ales-The-Jamil-Show-10-09-06

 

[Epimetheus]

I also like lower ABV brews so I can enjoy more than one and still function.

For heath reasons, how low must you go? Very low like 1%? If 3% is acceptable there are some nice English ordinary bitters. Other ideas:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/low-alcohol-beer-72045/

And:
http://byo.com/low-alcohol-brewing/item/263-brew-a-great-non-alcoholic-beer
"The basic idea is to brew a batch of you favorite beer, heat it after fermentation to drive off the alcohol, then pitch fresh yeast and prime for bottling. The resulting beer isn't really completely alcohol free, but it can be very low in alcohol content."

 

[kelitore]

You could make a light pale ale with 4-5 lbs of 2 row + a few specialty grains + a few ounces of hops. Or look up recipes for British Mild. I have a Dry Stout that has an OG of 1.035, FG of 1.012 - only about 3.5 alcohol. Also made a 60 Shilling - had around 3-3.5 alcohol.
Style depends on what granddad likes.

 

[trbig]

Just wondering... but what would happen if after everything was done fermenting and working it's flavors out, then you took the beer off the yeast and boiled it.. or at least put it up to @ 190 degrees or so for maybe 20 minutes or so? This would remove the alcohol with it's lower boiling point than water. Then you could let it cool, stir in some yeast, and bottle condition a VERY low alcohol beer (Since it would make a small amount in the bottles while conditioning)... but what would the TASTE be like?

 

[CDGoin]

Anyone know how many calories boiling would remove from the beer itself..? I am going to try this with a few gallons of my latest batch..

 

[CDGoin]

Well I have a Honey octoberfest that I was about to bottle.. so I have pulled 2L to do the boil down test.

I have to say.. not bad.

I also would like to pointout the alcohol starts boiling aff at 80 degrees or so..so I slowly ramped it up to 180 over a half hour and then boiled for a half hour (until I didnt see or smell anything coming off). Sampled it as it came down in ABV and it held most the flavors.

That said my beers are very malty and have a lot of flavor. So this may help in the end. Will prime it and see what happens. Also making a sample to send of for ABV testing.

I am now making my Marzzeen Ale.. and was going to split it into two groups after primary.

Batch 1 - Will go to secondary as normal

Batch 2 - Will get an Alcohol boil off

Then both batches will go into a secondary for dry hopping. Then I will bottle as normal.. but add some yeast to the non-Alcohol one.

See how it goes..

Wonder if I could see the non-ABV one at farmers markets like any other home made concoction..?

Anyway, I will start my own thread on that one.