Brut beyond IPA (lagers, milds, stouts)

[madscientist451]

I made a resolution to lose weight and that means cut back on carbs in general and also calories from alcohol. Yeah I should quit drinking if I really want to drop the pounds off, but that's not happening, so I've tried commercial brut IPA's from Goose Island, Dogfish Head,
Avery and Bell's and the're just OK, better than nothing, and better than Mich Ultra, but not really what I feel like drinking most of the time. I ordered the glucoamalyse enzyme and my first experiment with it was in a lager. Basically a 3.5% ABV lager with 75% Pilsner and 25% corn syrup. I added some old Amarillo hops I had in the 'fridge and fermented it with Wyeast Sake yeast (which is supposedly a lager strain). Its not done cold crashing yet, but I pulled a sample and it fermented all the way dry and tasted pretty decent. My next experiment with the glucoamalyse will be with a dark mild, something like a Eagle Rock Solidarity, (featured on the old CYBI podcast) and also a 3% dry stout with 20% oat malt added, and also going back to the single hop lager with 6-row and medium grain rice.
So, has anyone else played around with trying to bring the super dry "brut" style to something besides an IPA?
There aren't many commercial examples available (in my area) of super low ABV beers, it looks like the beer drinking public wants more bang for their buck and prefer to buy DIPA and Imperial Stout.

 

[brownni5]

I routinely brew low OG (1.030 - 1.040) saisons that ferment pretty dry without the help of enzymes, but glucoamylase would ensure they get to 0 Plato. Of course, with a saison yeast, even something starting around 1.035 still finishes close to 5% ABV. I'm still working toward a Saison that's sub 1.030 and enjoyable to drink. In fact, somewhere here is an entire thread dedicated to sub 1.030 beers - that might fit your desires.

From what I understand, you can achieve relatively low carb through enzymatic action, but calories still depend on your OG. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong - this isn't something I pay a great deal of attention to.

 

[madscientist451]

Yeah, ethanol is somewhere around 7 calories/gram. So to be diet friendly, it has to be low ABV.

 

[Steveruch]

I made a resolution to lose weight and that means cut back on carbs in general and also calories from alcohol. Yeah I should quit drinking if I really want to drop the pounds off, but that's not happening, so I've tried commercial brut IPA's from Goose Island, Dogfish Head,
Avery and Bell's and the're just OK, better than nothing, and better than Mich Ultra, but not really what I feel like drinking most of the time. I ordered the glucoamalyse enzyme and my first experiment with it was in a lager. Basically a 3.5% ABV lager with 75% Pilsner and 25% corn syrup. I added some old Amarillo hops I had in the 'fridge and fermented it with Wyeast Sake yeast (which is supposedly a lager strain). Its not done cold crashing yet, but I pulled a sample and it fermented all the way dry and tasted pretty decent. My next experiment with the glucoamalyse will be with a dark mild, something like a Eagle Rock Solidarity, (featured on the old CYBI podcast) and also a 3% dry stout with 20% oat malt added, and also going back to the single hop lager with 6-row and medium grain rice.
So, has anyone else played around with trying to bring the super dry "brut" style to something besides an IPA?
There aren't many commercial examples available (in my area) of super low ABV beers, it looks like the beer drinking public wants more bang for their buck and prefer to buy DIPA and Imperial Stout.

You might want to write up what you're doing and submit it to Zymurgy or BYO.

 

[Beer666]

In a drunken moment i added some to a RIS. The result was 93% efficiency and a whopping 15.5% beer. Lost lots of the thick body i was after so probably more like a non phenolic Belgian quad.

 

[bracconiere]

hmm, to hit 3% with gluco, you'ld want something with about 4lb's of malt for 5 gallon batch. So you'ld be making cheap beer too! welcome to the club, ....i'd be tempted to say use like a 1lb of a lighter crystal, or maybe 100% munich....

i'd add using that small a grain bill, you might get good efficiency, because you're going to have to sparge like a mo-fo to get your pre-boil volume!

and this is how i drink, and stay at ~175lb's....

https://cronometer.com/

(keeps my liver from exploding too)

and if you want a good nutrient search function, this is the best when you're first learning how to eat....

https://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/nutrient-search

 

[bucketnative]

Why not just increase your caloric output (exercise) versus decreasing caloric input?

 

[Brooothru]

hmm, to hit 3% with gluco, you'ld want something with about 4lb's of malt for 5 gallon batch. So you'ld be making cheap beer too! welcome to the club, ....i'd be tempted to say use like a 1lb of a lighter crystal, or maybe 100% munich....

i'd add using that small a grain bill, you might get good efficiency, because you're going to have to sparge like a mo-fo to get your pre-boil volume!

and this is how i drink, and stay at ~175lb's....

https://cronometer.com/

(keeps my liver from exploding too)

and if you want a good nutrient search function, this is the best when you're first learning how to eat....

https://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/nutrient-search

When I was in High School (K.C., Missouri) we guys would 'on occasion' cross the border into K.C., KANSAS, where the legal age for purchasing beer was 18 instead of 21. The only problem was that the beer wasn't considered to be 'BEER'. It was 3.2% Cereal Malt Beverage, but you could buy it in any grocery store, usually without getting carded. Getting REAL BEER (6% ABW: by weight, not volume) you had to visit a licensed liquor store where you had to be 21, AND get carded.

Fortunately when I graduated and headed off to college (University of Kansas, "Go Jayhawks") my room mate's uncle owned a liquor store in Lawrence, and loaned us the tap works and supplied us with kegs. We scrounged up a rusted out refrigerator somebody left on the curb, cleaned it up, painted it with psychedelic colors and ran the tap out the side. The only hard part was getting the old fridge upstairs to our second floor apartment. We were pretty popular undergrads, especially on the weekends. Everybody else had to settle for 3.2% semi-beer. I shudder to think how much Bud and Coors we went through. We depended on the Honor System and asked only that friends contribute as they saw fit for our otherwise "free" beer. Turned out to be a money maker! Ah, the wonder and glory of wasted youth.

But time has a way of catching up with immaturity. Today I'm focused on trying to crack the code on low alcohol (and hopefully low carb) beers that still have some taste and mouthfeel. Maybe I'm chasing unicorns, but I'd like to hear if anybody has had any luck yet. So far I've gotten some traction using amyloglucosidaise, as least in producing a lager with a 7.5% ABV from a 1.055 O.G. wort. Finished dry at 0.998 F.G. and had pretty good taste, but was so light on body that I need to make adjustments. It did score 37 in a BJCP sanctioned competition and won Blue in the Experimental category, however. I'm thinking that I might reduce the malts from 10# down to 4-5# and sub some pilsener with aromatic, Belgian or Munich Light. I might toss in some maltodextrin but the amylo may actually break it down and I would overshoot my ABV target while not adding mouthfeel.

The goal is a lager with an ABV 3.5 ~ 4.0% and as few carbs as Michelob Ultra, but with taste and body. Maybe it is a Unicorn.

Brooo Brother

 

[bracconiere]

Why not just increase your caloric output (exercise) versus decreasing caloric input?

in my experience, exercise just makes me hungrier....YMMV, easier just to right down what i eat, and balance it like a check book....