Low carb beer

[theheadonthedoor]

Now, I get that on a basic sense, more alcohol means more carbs generally, as it is harder and harder to leave behind less starches and unfermented sugars, but what does that say to the use of amylase enzymes to drive the final gravity insanely low?

Also, are there any grain alternatives that make for a lower carb beer than just barley?

What is theoretically the lowest carb beer one could make?

Thanks everyone!

-Adam Edwards

 

[gunhaus]

Not exactly sure on the technical aspects of all this. Never really felt compelled to explore it. I saw a movie once where one guy asked," What kinda sandwich is a diet sandwich?" To which his companion replied, "Half a sandwich." I always kind though about beer the same way! I will be interested to see what comes around from the folks that are smarter than me about these things though.

 

[Lefou]

I associate low carb and light beers with each other, so if you want a low calorie beer, aim for designing a highly fermentable but low ABV recipe.
In doing so, choose malts with a fairly high diastatic potential and keep the total grain weight low. Be modest with adjuncts if you use them even though your base malts would handle the conversion well because you want to keep the residual sugars to a minimum. Use a yeast that attenuates well and in order to get a highly fermentable wort, extend your mash time using the lower 145F-150F temperature range.
The Brut IPA style is the latest fad but adding the amyloglucosidase into the mix isn't really needed if you modify your recipe correctly and modify the mash method somewhat. I've made passably dry beers down to 1.004 FG without too much effort, but if you want beer drier than that ... well, where there's will, there's a way.

Alternative grain beers can use malted wheat, rye, or spelt (aka "dinkel wheat") with adjuncts. They are all fermentable grains with fairly high diastatic levels that will boost conversion but each one has their own character so choose your mix accordingly.

 

[Lefou]

Half a sandwich ... pretty much, eh?

LMAO

 

[bwible]

Great advice above.

Carbs in beer come from residual remaining unfermented sugar that is still in the beer. Bottom line is the yeast cannot ferment 100% of barley sugar. This residual number is the one you see on your hydromter when you take your final gravity reading.

Wine and cider ferment from original gravity essentially to 1.000, which means dry - no or trace residual sugars. Beer stops at a higher number. Higher alcohol beers have higher residual sugar by nature. When you make a 12% barleywine the yeast stops at either alcohol tolerance or attenuation percentage. So of course there will be more residual sugars in those beers.

Some grains we use specifically because we want added “body” and “mouthfeel”. This is what those terms actually mean - these things are in the form of residual sugars that are left behind after fermentation.

If you want lower residual sugars. Mash low - as low as 148. Added alpha amalyse only goes so far. I haven’t done it myself, but I’ve seen a number of articles saying you can brew low carb beers with beano.

 

[Soulshine2]

Now, I get that on a basic sense, more alcohol means more carbs generally, as it is harder and harder to leave behind less starches and unfermented sugars, but what does that say to the use of amylase enzymes to drive the final gravity insanely low?

Also, are there any grain alternatives that make for a lower carb beer than just barley?

What is theoretically the lowest carb beer one could make?

Thanks everyone!

-Adam Edwards

my ex-mother in law used to drink diet caffeine free pepsi ...I asked her whats the point then? Just drink water.
Light(Lite) beer to me is beer that didnt have nearly enough grain in the mash.

 

[99 Bottles Of Beer]

Now, I get that on a basic sense, more alcohol means more carbs generally, as it is harder and harder to leave behind less starches and unfermented sugars, but what does that say to the use of amylase enzymes to drive the final gravity insanely low?

Also, are there any grain alternatives that make for a lower carb beer than just barley?

What is theoretically the lowest carb beer one could make?

Thanks everyone!

-Adam Edwards

Put a Teaspoon of Vodka in the bottle before you put the beer in and cap it>>>

 

[SanPancho]

You can also double pitch. Start with your main yeast and 3 days after ferment starts you can add another that attenuates really high like a saison /diastaticus. Between that and the low and long mash you should be extra dry.

 

[brownni5]

Wine and cider ferment from original gravity essentially to 1.000, which means dry - no or trace residual sugars. Beer stops at a higher number.

That's not entirely accurate. Many Saisons and mixed fermentation beers will ferment to 1.000 (or lower), and wines/meads/ciders will too. That doesn't mean there aren't residual sugars, just not many. Because the specific gravity of alcohol is quite a lot lower than that of water, in the presence of alcohol, it's not uncommon to see some sugars left over and still have a hydrometer reading of 1.000. Somebody smarter than me could explain it better.

Now, your example of a barleywine stopping with a high FG and lots of carbs leftover, well, that seems spot on.

What all this means with regards to low carb beer I have no idea and frankly, I don't really consider it when brewing. Intrersting discussion though.