Low ABV Beer Advice

[boomslang]

Hey guys, having some thoughts recently.

I've found myself drinking quite a bit, purely for the taste of the beer, but it makes things tricky when trying to keep fighting fit.

Most beers I brew are 5% and over, but if I could brew something that was just 2-2.5%, that'd take the load off my mind.

Yes I understand it isn't just alcohol that's bad for you in beer, but it's a start. Do I simply reduce the grain bill? As I've tried this before and had nothing but hazy water come out of the kettle.

Any advice is welcome! Cheers fellas.

 

[Roland_deschain]

Do like the big bugs do. Brew a beer at 6% and then cut it with water before carbonating. It sounds very simplistic but th concept is realistic.

 

[Funkychef]

I brew quite a few 2.5% beers for the same reason i love to have a beer or two but I can still keep fit. I find that with the grain bill is to reduce the base malt but keep the specialty malts the same as your normal recipe and mash higher to keep more body in the beer.

 

[boomslang]

Do like the big bugs do. Brew a beer at 6% and then cut it with water before carbonating. It sounds very simplistic but th concept is realistic.

First thing that came to mind was 'wouldn't that be watery?' - but then again every low ABV beer i've drank is, you can't have your beer and drink it, eh?

 

[Kent88]

reduce the grain bill or just pick a recipe that is intended to make a low gravity beer, sparge until the runnings get to 1.012, check the gravity of all the wort you've collected, dilute as needed.

 

[Hanglow]

Mash high, 72C or so

use a yeast that doesn't ferment maltotriose, like windsor for example. You could also brew/ferment a normal beer, but reduce the base malt a lot and chuck in a load of lactose, or something else that gives body like glycerin. Some yeasts produce lots of glycerin, Belle Saison is one but that also ferments the **** out of everything

T

 

[Lefou]

I'm looking forward to brewing a Belgian table beer this fall. Can't wait for the weather to change. It requires a total of 7lbs. of grain and done right, will be about 3.5% ABV for a 5 gallon batch.
Belgian Pilsner, a bit of Special B for non-fermentables and color, and a bit of high DP wheat at a lower mash temp for dryness. Whirlfloc, treat like a lager, then krausen with refrigerated wort before bottling.

That's the plan, anyway. I'd rather do this than re-heat fresh beer to reduce ABV.
You can either dilute or reduce your grain bill. I choose to do a bit of both and keep the taste.

 

[WolfeTone]

Lots of things you could do here.

Starting with a high mash temp will make up some of the body loss that a drop in the grain bill might seem to give the beer. Keeping specialty malts the same would be nice. I wouldn't add water post boiling and i wouldn't let the run off go really weak either. The former because you have to go to the trouble of sterilising the water and the latter because of tannins.

Liquor back pre-boiling so you can figure out your bitterness additions to a fairly accurate amount.

And good luck - really like the idea of a very low ABV beer

 

[pvpeacock]

My understanding is that you do not want to add water post-fermentation because it contains oxygen. I have heard that the big boys ferment at higher gravity to save fermenter space and then add water post-fermentation, but they remove the oxygen from the water before doing so. I don't know if that is true, but it makes sense. When I want to brew 20 gallons or want lower alcohol beer, I add water post-boil/pre-fermentation.

 

[boomslang]

I'm looking forward to brewing a Belgian table beer this fall. Can't wait for the weather to change. It requires a total of 7lbs. of grain and done right, will be about 3.5% ABV for a 5 gallon batch.
Belgian Pilsner, a bit of Special B for non-fermentables and color, and a bit of high DP wheat at a lower mash temp for dryness. Whirlfloc, treat like a lager, then krausen with refrigerated wort before bottling.

That's the plan, anyway. I'd rather do this than re-heat fresh beer to reduce ABV.
You can either dilute or reduce your grain bill. I choose to do a bit of both and keep the taste.

Sounds awesome man, you must keep me updated on how that one goes. Love the idea of brewing seasonally/brewing a huge batch to see you through the season. 3.5% will go great with food too.

 

[hlmbrwng]

I feel that mashing at a higher temp is not the best way for what you are trying to achieve. Sure, a LITTLE less alcohol, but now you have more residual sugars. I would say find a recipe that requires less grain.

 

[Lefou]

Sounds awesome man, you must keep me updated on how that one goes. Love the idea of brewing seasonally/brewing a huge batch to see you through the season. 3.5% will go great with food too.

This has been tickling at my brain for a while. Once September-October rolls around this is on my brew list.
I don't brew year-round and have tried some commercial brands that didn't really impress me. A homebrewed light, low ABV beer that's NOT a Bud-Coors-Miller brand, goes down well alone or with food is well worth doing. After doing a passably good blonde, I figure it will be easy to pull off a Belgian light, dry specialty ale that's easy on the wallet, head, and waistline. Low ABV session brews under 5% are great for people who like to eat AND drink without having to worry as much about calories or serious impairment.
I love a good porter or stout, but they just don't pair well with spicy Asian dishes like a light beer would.

 

[boomslang]

This has been tickling at my brain for a while. Once September-October rolls around this is on my brew list.
I don't brew year-round and have tried some commercial brands that didn't really impress me. A homebrewed light, low ABV beer that's NOT a Bud-Coors-Miller brand, goes down well alone or with food is well worth doing. After doing a passably good blonde, I figure it will be easy to pull off a Belgian light, dry specialty ale that's easy on the wallet, head, and waistline. Low ABV session brews under 5% are great for people who like to eat AND drink without having to worry as much about calories or serious impairment.
I love a good porter or stout, but they just don't pair well with spicy Asian dishes like a light beer would.

Freshness is KEY with paler beers, so early October is probably your best bet for a big batch. Although saying that, my first ever all-grain brew was a pale ale fermented with belgian yeast around September/October time. I forgot about a few bottles of it and left it in the shed. During the depths of the winter the temperature was probably just above freezing and the bottles laid untouched til the Spring. When cleaning out the shed I found a bottle and decided to open it. No where near as fresh, but amazingly clear and tasting somewhat 'lagery'. It goes without saying that they didn't survive the rest of the day.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I completely understand where the OP is coming from. I cannot nurse a beer worth a ****, and my last saison finished at 1.000 (and over 7.5% ABV), so by the time I finish cooking dinner (and a saison . . .), I am not all that useful for the rest of the night.

I upped the grainbill on my last IPA (a pliny clone) and used the second runnings (and a little DME) to yield an OG of 1.035, yielding a final ABV of 3.9%. It worked out nice, but I over-hopped it (using less than a quarter of what its big brother got), so it very aggressive and almost tooth-enamel peeling.

Long story short, adjust your hop bills downward along with your grainbill, because without the extra maltiness and abv to balance it, the hops can come through too strongly.

Also, be careful what you wish for: I have two <4.0% beers on tap, and last Saturday I had four over the course of the day, without feeling buzzed at all, so I don't think I saved any calories anywhere.