High alcohol "light beer"

[timrox1212]

So I had the idea to brew up a beer that would be high alcohol but also still light in flavor and aroma. Wanting it to be around 8%+ and somewhere around 20 ibu. Is there any beers or beer styles that fit this to get ideas from?

 

[d3track]

Steel reserve?

 

[JonM]

Belgian strong ales like Duvel might be what you're after.

 

[theseeker4]

So I had the idea to brew up a beer that would be high alcohol but also still light in flavor and aroma. Wanting it to be around 8%+ and somewhere around 20 ibu. Is there any beers or beer styles that fit this to get ideas from?

A Belgian tripel could be 20 IBU's, are light in color, and dried out with candi sugar, and range from 7.5-9.5% ABV. They have a distinctive flavor though, of course, that might not be what you have in mind....

You could take a blonde or cream ale, and bump the ABV up with some extra base malt and add some sugar in to keep the body from getting too heavy....

Not sure if there is a specific style that would meet your criteria....

 

[TWAL]

+1 for a Belgian like ↑ said.

 

[drainbamage]

Duvel clone
Imperial cream ale
Malt liquor

 

[k_alebrewer]

I had brewed an Imperial Newport Blonde ale with similar idea of a 'Light Beer'. 90% Pilsner 10% table sugar and Combination on Newport and Saaz hops to get approx 7.5% abv and 23 IBU. I had used wy1056 and it finished at 1.006. Initial taste was very weird almost smelling like some strong spirit used for cleaning. But I decided not to throw it away and let time cure it. 3 months at 15C in my fridge made it one of the best blonde ales I had ever tasted.
I would recommend a minimum of 3 months bottle conditioning and 2 weeks cold conditioning before you think of even opening it. If I brewed this again, I would also add about 5% Carapils and cut down on table sugar.

 

[cjones]

somebody needs a 40 in a paper bag - old english - rock on brew brother

 

[applescrap]

Yeah I make beers like this all the time ... Take a s*** ton of 2 row and brew it with a small hop addition at 60 and a small one at 10. Then when you bottle it you can add extract flavors and make all kinds of different beers. Or you could add more hops and have a smash beer

 

[MattyIce]

Agreed on the tripel. I have a 10% one right now that you would never guess had so much booze.

 

[feinbera]

Go for it, man!

The Belgians may not have what you're looking for in terms of distinctive yeast flavors, but as far as using 10%-20% sugar to dry out what would otherwise be a cloyingly sweet beer without any significant roast or hop flavors to counterbalance the residual sugars, they've hit the nail on the head.

You'll also want to make sure you've got your technique well dialed in, because a higher-ABV beer makes it more likely your yeast will be stressed, but in such a lightly-flavored beer, there won't be anywhere for off flavors to hide. Temp control and the ability to make a yeast starter of appropriate size are probably the bare minimum.

 

[JKaranka]

You are describing one of those tramp beers / super lagers you get in supermarkets. They are very popular on draft in Italy as well, which makes it all the weirder. The classic example around here is Tennents super / extra. Horrible stuff, like a strong mass produced lager ticking around 7.5-9% ABV.

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/tennents-extra-strong-lager/230876/

Another classic is Carlsberg Special Brew
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11342769/Does-Special-Brew-deserve-its-bad-reputation.html

Neither of them is as phenolic, dry or funny tasting as Belgian ales, so they have more of a 'mass market' appeal to them. A good starting point is 70% Pilsner malt, 15% flaked maize, 15% light invert sugar. ~30IBU of hops at the start of the boil. Use a clean yeast and lager.

 

[applescrap]

Go for it, man!

The Belgians may not have what you're looking for in terms of distinctive yeast flavors, but as far as using 10%-20% sugar to dry out what would otherwise be a cloyingly sweet beer without any significant roast or hop flavors to counterbalance the residual sugars, they've hit the nail on the head.

You'll also want to make sure you've got your technique well dialed in, because a higher-ABV beer makes it more likely your yeast will be stressed, but in such a lightly-flavored beer, there won't be anywhere for off flavors to hide. Temp control and the ability to make a yeast starter of appropriate size are probably the bare minimum.

So that's why the simple beers I make are sweet thanks

 

[applescrap]

You are describing one of those tramp beers / super lagers you get in supermarkets. They are very popular on draft in Italy as well, which makes it all the weirder. The classic example around here is Tennents super / extra. Horrible stuff, like a strong mass produced lager ticking around 7.5-9% ABV.

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/tennents-extra-strong-lager/230876/

Another classic is Carlsberg Special Brew
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11342769/Does-Special-Brew-deserve-its-bad-reputation.html

Neither of them is as phenolic, dry or funny tasting as Belgian ales, so they have more of a 'mass market' appeal to them. A good starting point is 70% Pilsner malt, 15% flaked maize, 15% light invert sugar. ~30IBU of hops at the start of the boil. Use a clean yeast and lager.

Dude thanks for the recipe. Yeah I don't like those kind of strong beers and I remember drinking them in Europe years ago in Amsterdam. I like a good strong ale on the cheap tasty and strong try going strong on hops for something cheap strong and good

 

[Paps]

The Belgian style seems like the closest fit for what you seek,
`however` , like mentioned earlier, swap out the Belgian yeast for a cleaner strain such as a lager yeast.
Perhaps copy a Triple recipe and add in the candi sugar or even plain table sugar along with some flaked corn. Keep the hops American style.
It may end up weird but i'm sure it would still be better than Keystone.

 

[SanPancho]

i actually made one of these beers by accident. i used a clean lager strain, pitched right onto a fresh yeast cake. had mixed up my recipe list and added a ton of sugar by mistake. came out not too bad as i had mashed very low at 148-149, so there wasnt a bunch of residual sugar, nor was there a bunch of nasty estery flavors mingling with that much alchohol. i'd already had a 1/1 OG/BU ratio going, so it was pleasantly hopped.

+1 on the earlier post - good size starter, good temp control and a clean lager yeast will make it easily drinkable.

i think if i had used an ale yeast, the higher levels of esters/phenols would have probly made it more like a tripel/quad or almost barleywine-ish, which doesnt sound like what you're looking for if you want "light"

 

[Calichusetts]

You can do a blonde barleywine or wheat wine as well. I've done many light flavored beers that are over 9%

In the end, they get a little boring unless your simply after getting

Belgian strongs are probably the way to go.

 

[Paps]

wheat wine .

Boulevards "harvest dance" wheat wine.
hmmmmmmm
*drools on self like Homer Simpson

 

[m00ps]

I also agree that somethign like a Belgian Tripel or strong pale ale is the way to go. I just had a +10%abv belgian strong win a competition and if you ferment right and let any "hot" tastes fade out, it can be dangerously drinkable. Like my Mom liked it, and she doesnt drink and recoils at a slightly hoppy Pale Ale...

 

[JonM]

Revvy posted Charlie Papazian's malt liquor recipe in the third post on this thread. Interesting read.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=314226

 

[Owly055]

I'm about to brew something in this neighborhood today. For a 3 gallon brew, I'm using 3 pounds of two row, and three pounds of sugar to achieve an ultra light beer. It will be mashed using my 10 minute inline mash technique. I will dough in at about 130 strike water temp, and rapidly increase to 145, then increase temp by 1 deg per min up to 155 and hold it there until conversion is complete. I'll probably use some powdered amylase to accelerate the conversion. The grain will be double crushed fairly fine.

The idea is to make the beer very light in color, and gain some body and sweetness / body by mashing fairly high because the sugar gives none. Hopped to about 34 IBU SRM 2.23, ABV about 7% considering mash temp, using Nugget, Mosaic, and Nelson, and dry hopped with more Mosaic, all boil hops are added at 6 min.

This is an extreme beer........ equal parts grain and sugar is beyond anything I have yet done with sugar. I frequently use sugar and two row in lieu of pilsner, and I bump mash temp up a tad as a rule.


H.W.

 

[Weezy]

You can really lighten any beer by switching out some of the base grain for flaked rice and sugar. I'd do it at 2:1 ratio, rice to sugar.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

I've got a batch of Malt Likker lagering in the brewery right now. Its a little over 7% and a whopping 14IBU's. I based the recipe off of Papazian's recipe...

 

[JKaranka]

Have you tried bragawd? That's the sort of body / flavour you'll end up with half sugar half malts. I'd suggest not more than 1/3 simple sugars to start with.

 

[z-bob]

I was gonna say brew a Belgian style tripel (maybe 85% pils and 15% sugar), and use an American yeast instead of Belgian if you don't want it to taste Belgian-y. I see that's already been covered.

But what is a good neutral ale yeast with a high ABV tolerance? T-33? US-05? CBC-1?

 

[Newsman]

Look at making a clone of Samichlaus. That stuff is DELICIOUS! Maybe tone it down a bit, as that stuff is VERY alcoholic and you definitely can tell it when drinking it.

 

[tim_c7]

So I had the idea to brew up a beer that would be high alcohol but also still light in flavor and aroma. Wanting it to be around 8%+ and somewhere around 20 ibu. Is there any beers or beer styles that fit this to get ideas from?

Another way to "concentrate" a light beer is by icing it ( Eisbock style).

 

[JKaranka]

Actually, you might be interested in making a clone of one of the British barley wines (many of which are fairly pale, from gold to very light amber). Gold Label is one of the 1950s classics. Still brewed, but you might want to tone down this 1970s version (ticks at 11.3% abv).

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/lets-brew-wednesday-1972-whitbread-gold.html

 

[cubalz]

somebody needs a 40 in a paper bag - old english - rock on brew brother

Yes this. What you are asking for is a malt liquor.