Low Alcohol Fruit Wheat Beer

[pentachris]

I want to work on a low ABV (1.5%-2%) extract version of SA Blackberry Witbier. My wife loves the stuff, and we're trying to get pregnant. When (if) we succeed, she's going to want something every now and then to satisfy her beer craving that she doesn't feel guilty about drinking. Fruit beers are great for this, I think, because the fruit adds a lot of the flavor. So it's fortunate she likes them so much. I haven't even bottled my first 5 gallon batch, so I need some help with the receipe.

Using Oldsock's recipe here as a springboard, and plugging some numbers into Beersmith, it looks like 2 lbs of wheat DME will put me at about 1.7% for a 5 gallon batch. I've dialed the hops back to .5 oz for 60 mins. (full boil) to balance. I'll be using extract at bottling for blackberry flavor.

Any other ideas for body, to keep it from tasting too watered down? Should I make any yeast adjustments since the fermentables are low? Any other suggestions?

 

[mewithstewpid]

I don't mean to judge or impart my beliefs on people, but being a neuroscientist studying the effects of alcohol on the brain, i feel i should recommend that consuming any amount of alcohol during pregnancy is not the best of ideas.

The developing brain is very sensitive to alcohol, it alters cell signaling pathways critical for cell proliferation (division) and cell migration, which the majority occurs in utero.

Again, I'm not judging, just sharing knowledge.

 

[pentachris]

Your points are well taken. Thank you.

We're fully aware of the dangers. And when I said "that she doesn't feel guilty about drinking," I should have said, "that we don't feel endangers our child's development." There are studies that indicate light (not moderate, but light, as in a beer once or twice a week) drinking poses little to no threat to the child's development.