Low calorie brewing tips..... anyone??

[notnilc20]

I know low calorie and beer is traditionally frowned upon many of the manly men brewers ho ho.....but I gotta watch my figure and/but love to brew my own as a hobby. Can anyone offer any tips on brewing a low calorie beer? Gotta be ale as I don't have any kind of climate controlled environment fit for Lager brewing.

Here are some tips I got from the guy at my local Home Brewery right after he laughed at me....

1) Use less sugar, use more water, and use less sugar.
No quantities were given for either.

PS- I only really want to brew a Pilsner or Continental as they seem to be lighter by nature already. I brew in 5 gallon quantities. Thanks for your help.

 

[schia]

DME and LME perhaps?

Question to the general public - does all grain beer contain less calories?

 

[Golddiggie]

If you're brewing all grain simply make it with a more modest OG and mash in the lower temp range... Like 148-152 so that the FG ends up lower...

Not sure how low you're looking to go, but you could make a brew with an OG of ~1.040, mashing lower and hit a FG in the area of 1.005-1.010. That should result in a brew with under 175 cal/pint...

 

[Petho]

Jog around the block after you have a beer.

 

[notnilc20]

If you're brewing all grain simply make it with a more modest OG and mash in the lower temp range... Like 148-152 so that the FG ends up lower...

Can you please explain this better for someone who only does this everyonceinawhile. Got all of it up until 148-152....and all grain....I just use what comes in the kit. Malt in the form of syrup with all the hops already added. Sorry I'm so vague...but this is the beginners area correct?? Thanks in advance.

 

[Golddiggie]

Well, you didn't mention what kind of recipes you were going with... It's going to be more difficult with extract batches.

The only time I used extract, it was unhopped, so that I could add my own hops and such.

I would suggest that if you're looking to make something low cal, find a recipe that has all the logistics already worked out. It can be difficult to get an extract batch to finish low enough, without it being really thin. I don't think that using pre-hopped extracts will get you what you'll like.

 

[Golddiggie]

Jog around the block after you have a beer.

Or hit the treadmill after each pint... Or use the exercise bike...

Personally, I'd rather have just one or two pints of a great brew, than have several of a weak brew...

 

[dfc]

Jog around the block after you have a beer.

Clinton used to jog to McDonalds.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Are you using pre hoped kits or do you use the ones with the hops and the extract separate? You could always not add all of the extract that comes in the kit. Maybe use only 3/4 of what comes in the kit. 1/2 of the extract would give you something that would be probably way too weak. But that would give you a lower SG, lower ABV, and lower calories.

 

[TheSeether]

Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde is an awesome light beer that can be worked into fairly low calories and still maintain good flavor.

Read the whole thread to find different recipes and work out your own version in some brewing software.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

 

[ACbrewer]

In one of Charlie P's books - I think it was Complete homebrewers companinion, he mentions making a very small batch - about 1 gallon of very High grav beer (OG ~1.100) and then letting it ferment to completion (~1.020). When racking to the bottleing bucket combining with 4 gal of water + standard amount of primer for a 5 gal batch.

This gives the net of having a 1.020 down to a 1.004 in terms of both abv and calories, BUT because you ferment in a saturated enviroment, it gives you better mouth feel and different 2ndary products -esters, fusels, etc (abv being primary product).

Never tried it, but I want to. I think he uses a bock style as a base.

 

[ThePearsonFam]

Hmm, you mentioned liking the pilsner/continental beers... Is that because you like the light body or the flavor? Do you like the flavor of darker beers but think that they are naturally higher in calories?

If you could drink ANY beer and not worry about calories, what would it be?

 

[ArcaneXor]

The calories in the beer derive from the sugars, which are converted by the yeast into ethanol (and CO2, of course). There are some leftovers in the form of long-chain sugars and dextrins that the yeast cannot ferment easily. The latter can be minimized by mashing at a lower temperature, as some have already pointed out, but since that is not an option for you at this point, the only thing you can do is brew low-gravity beers. Look into Ordinary Bitter, Mild, and - if you like sour beers - Berliner Weisse. You can also play around and develop low-gravity versions of other beer styles, like an "American Bitter" instead of a Pale Ale or IPA. Some wheat beer styles and blonde ales also lend themselves to producing refreshing, low-gravity beers.
The main problem you will run into is that those beers may taste watery when brewed with extract, requiring the steeping of a dextrine malt or addition of maltodextrin to boost the body. That introduces additional carbohydrates and calories into your beer.

Realistically, you'll want to boost your exercise and substitute other foods/drinks out of your diet to make room for drinking beers. At which I have miserably failed

 

[Chad]

Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde is an awesome light beer that can be worked into fairly low calories and still maintain good flavor.

Read the whole thread to find different recipes and work out your own version in some brewing software.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This

Either the Centennial Blonde or, even better, read the Cream of Three Crops recipe and thread. It makes a light, crisp beer that uses attenuation to keep the ABV in the 4-5% range. Later on in the thread someone mentions using amylase enzyme to break down more starches for the yeast to metabolize, making for a light, low calorie beer.

 

[notnilc20]

Are you using pre hoped kits or do you use the ones with the hops and the extract separate? You could always not add all of the extract that comes in the kit. Maybe use only 3/4 of what comes in the kit. 1/2 of the extract would give you something that would be probably way too weak. But that would give you a lower SG, lower ABV, and lower calories.

Thanks for the info.....I used to do the True Brew kit that has the hops and extract seperate....but recently I did the Muntons kit that has it premixed. if I go back to the true brew....I'll try what you said about not putting all the extract in.....

 

[notnilc20]

Hmm, you mentioned liking the pilsner/continental beers... Is that because you like the light body or the flavor? Do you like the flavor of darker beers but think that they are naturally higher in calories?

If you could drink ANY beer and not worry about calories, what would it be?

I would drink (this is quite exotic so brace yourself) Budweiser.....

 

[TheSlash]

Alcohol has calories. Stronger the beer the more calories. Either drink a weak beer, or 1/2 a good beer Or like I do, ride your bike or play basketball during the day so you can have a good beer or 2 at night.

 

[Indyking]

Probably already mentioned it but the 2 essential facts for a low calorie beer are:

- low OG
- highly attenuating yeast

 

[Golddiggie]

Lower OG + lower FG = lower cal brew... If you go with a lower OG and reach a lower FG, you'll get a lower cal brew. To get below a target (what is the target BTW?) then you'll need to figure out where you need to have both numbers. Shouldn't be too difficult to do with all grain/partial mash brewing. Extract brewing could be more difficult.

A brew with an OG of 1.070 and FG of 1.010 will have about 313 cal/pint and 7.84% ABV...
A brew with an OG of 1.070 and FG of 1.020 will have about 320 cal/pint 6.53% ABV...
A brew with an OG of 1.040 and FG of 1.010 will have about 175 cal/pint and ~3.9% ABV...
A brew with an OG of 1.040 and FG of 1.020 will have about 182 cal/pint and ~2.6% ABV...

You really need to determine where you want the brew to be... IF you just want low cal, then you need to build it accordingly... IF you can handle having just one of the higher cal brews, since you'll probably drink less than half of the low cal brews (off-setting the cal savings/difference) then just brew normally and not worry too much about it...

Personally, I really don't look at the cal/pint numbers... IMO since it's home brew, and I'm rarely having more than one an evening (during the week at least) it doesn't matter that much. I would also keep in mind, that we're talking about cal/PINT here, not 12oz bottles... If you're going into 12oz bottles, or pouring 12oz at a time, then it's 3/4 of the number above... If you share a pint with someone (both getting ~8oz) then it's half that per glass... Kind of puts it into perspective... I have an old ale that has about 425 cal/pint... I bottled into 750ml Belgian bottles, call it ~25oz (or 24oz since you leave a little in the bottle)... I split the first one four ways, so that was just 6oz per person. Which means we each had about 106 cal in our glass... Of course, since it's about 8.25-8.5% ABV, you don't want to drink a lot of it at one time...