alcohol strength question

[Pommy]

What would be the difference in flavour of brewing beer with say half the amount of base malt in order to make a lighter alcohol beer, say for a pregnant SWMBO? I assume the beer would be thinner due to less residual sugars and I would lean towards making hoppier beers to the lack of malt flavour is less obvious, also mashing slightly higher and perhaps upping the usual suspect steeping grains. How would an American iPA sound?

The things SWMBO can come up with to distract you from watching sport

 

[Nikkimaija]

I personally think going hoppier without the malt to balance it would be a mistake. I'd think more along the lines of a low gravity saison or Northern Brewer's "Kinderweisse" kit - sounds like a lot of tartness and wheatiness for flavor in lieu of actual alcohol.

Their description: Berliner Weisse: this top-fermented, lightly soured ale was once synonymous with “wheat beer” in Europe, but now is a living dinosaur of a style. Its grainy Pils- and wheat malt-character is underscored with an gentle, earthy lemonade-like sourness that used to be a common thread in beers of this region. Characteristics of interest to the brewer: a very low OG and abv %, extremely low bitterness (achieved through a boil of only fifteen minutes, plus mash hopping in the all-grain version), and a dominant but pleasant sourness from secondary fermentation with Lactobacillus; extended aging will bring earthy overtones from Brettanomyces. Characteristics of interest to the drinker: arguably the best summertime beer ever invented - light, effervescent, tart, and very refreshing.

As for how much alcohol is actually okay for a pregnant lady, I'm not going there!

 

[hoppymonkey]

Yeah most people on here are american where no level of alcohol is generally tolerated for pregnent women. I guess you could brew a small beer and then heat it up VERY slowly to evaporate off the alcohol and then force carb in a keg.

 

[Babylon]

A darker malt is going to be less fermentable. If you are going all grain you could also adjust your mash temperature to extract less fermentable sugars so you'd get the flavor without the alcohol.

 

[TipsyDragon]

Yeah most people on here are american where no level of alcohol is generally tolerated for pregnent women. I guess you could brew a small beer and then heat it up VERY slowly to evaporate off the alcohol and then force carb in a keg.

i happen to be one of those Americans lol. i agree with brewing a batch as normal then just heating it to over 120F to evaporate off the alcohol. of course this will most likely kill the yeast so you may have to resort to force carbonating your non-alcoholic beer.

 

[Pommy]

Ive read about evaporating the alcohol and I could always add yeast at bottling with priming sugar to make a .2% beer, I would have thought a maltier beer would probably work better as the hop flavour would be altered. As for the pregnant women not drinking issue I agree with that and the idea was for her to have one or two 1% alcohol beers a day, my mum had a half of stout each day so I also believe in teaching them young

 

[martinworswick]

before my partner got pregnant i was of the opinion that an occasional glass of wine/bottle of beer couldn't hurt,when we started trying i did a bit of research and it changed my mind,i don't want to come across like i'm preaching but there has been a lot of research and new knowledge since when our parents had us.

 

[Pommy]

before my partner got pregnant i was of the opinion that an occasional glass of wine/bottle of beer couldn't hurt,when we started trying i did a bit of research and it changed my mind,i don't want to come across like i'm preaching but there has been a lot of research and new knowledge since when our parents had us.

Another pom living in NZ No plans for her to get pregnant yet but I will definitely be doing my research when we do. If it means I have to drink all the homebrew then I guess I'll have to take one for the team.

 

[martinworswick]

Another pom living in NZ No plans for her to get pregnant yet but I will definitely be doing my research when we do. If it means I have to drink all the homebrew then I guess I'll have to take one for the team.

i had to suffer and drink for 2 while she was pregnant, i had to keep reminding her i was only doing it for her!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

but there has been a lot of research and new knowledge since when our parents had us.

Which is, of course why we are all retarded. Unlike those kids on my fooking lawn.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

I made a batch of beer that was 1 pound of DME and 4 pounds of malto dextrin. 1 pound of crystal 40L. It turned out to be 1.5% alcohol. It started around 1.050 and went to 1.036. If it was just one pound of DME it would have went from 1.008 to 1.003 and would not have any body. The beer has plenty of body and it wasn't sweet at all at 1.036.

The only problem was that I was adding higher alpha hops. I was aiming for 65 IBUs but since there was a lack of malt, 3oz. of hops took it up to 136 IBUs. It was too bitter for the lack of malt. The batch wasn't watery at all and it tasted like beer if you can get past the hops. 1 oz would have been fine.

Designated driver IPA.

Forrest