Low Alcohol recipe?

[670x]

I've been brewing AG for over a year now (only about a 125 gal though). What I am looking for is advice to make a good tasting low alcohol beer.

Is is better to use the same ingredients and just less of them?

Or should I use bolder ingredients?

I have a couple of recipies I like but I would rather be able to drink more than one and still be safe to operate machinery. I guess what I'm looking for is a way to make a more "shareable" beer with friends.
I searched around some but have not found much to LOWER the alcohol.

I'd like to get a good one about 3% if that's possible.

Thanks

 

[remilard]

Berliner Weiss, Mild, Ordinary Bitter and 60/- are all around 3% ABV or lower normally.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Mashing higher temps will add less fermentables.

I made a Helles Munich for my 1st AG. It ended up at 2.9% ABV.

I was disapointed, but my friends loved it.

Evidently I had mashed too warm due to a faulty thermometer.

 

[remilard]

If you mash at like 162 you can make a very low alcohol beer. Contrary to popular belief it won't be sweet as sugars which taste sweet are all fermentable, it will just be very unfermentable.

The styles above though are low alcohol as intended, so you don't have to try to make a lower alcohol version of them.

 

[david_42]

I like to use a little rye malt in my small beers. Mild is another tasty low alcohol style.

 

[commonlaw]

Brew a bitter or a mild or a 60/-. Use a more flavorful base grain like Maris Otter, and a characterful english yeast, and you will be well on your way to brewing a tasty session beer. I don't think you need to mash too high with most of these.

If you have beersmith or something just play around til you get an abv around 3 or 3.25%. Bitters can be even be all MO, but it's nice to add one or two of a bit of light to medium crystal, biscuit, wheat, or sugar. Hop well. Overall I'd pay attention to styles, and that will teach you about what types of ingredients to work with. You don't want to go crazy with more flavorful ingredients because they may really stick out in such a small beer.

Session beers are the best. They can also be tricky to brew because it's harder to hide flaws.

 

[670x]

Alrighty, thanks for the advice, I'm gonna try the lower temp and mix up the recipe today.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Yeah the term I'm looking for is "Session Beer", I just could not remember it.
Thanks all.

 

[Hermit]

Mashing higher temps will add less fermentables.

I made a Helles Munich for my 1st AG. It ended up at 2.9% ABV.

I was disapointed, but my friends loved it.

Evidently I had mashed too warm due to a faulty thermometer.

If you mash at like 162 you can make a very low alcohol beer. Contrary to popular belief it won't be sweet as sugars which taste sweet are all fermentable, it will just be very unfermentable.

The styles above though are low alcohol as intended, so you don't have to try to make a lower alcohol version of them.

Alrighty, thanks for the advice, I'm gonna try the lower temp and mix up the recipe today.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Yeah the term I'm looking for is "Session Beer", I just could not remember it.
Thanks all.

Mistype I hope?

 

[670x]

Well I let it mash at 152.
My alcohol ended up at 4%

Tastes good going into the secondary though.
I think I need to cut back on the grain. I used 10 lbs total.

 

[ftlstrings]

Why not just use less grain? Then you could have a lower alcohol beer with less sugars to bump up the calories?