Hello folks. First post here. My question is, would adding additional water to a recipe lower the finished alcohol content? If so, how much do you think a half gal. extra would lower the content. Also, is it possible to lower alcohol content by interrupting the fermenting process, heat the wort high enough to kill off the rest of the yeast then bottle? thank you
lowering alcohol content
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rl1373
Well-Known Member
Lower the alcohol? Thats like wiping your butt before you poop...doesn't really make a whole lot of sense..just kidding 
All kidding aside, Lowering the amount of fermentable sugar in your recipe would be the best bet. I would post up your recipe and I'm sure someone here can help ya out. If not a recipe then perhaps a style of beer your looking to do. Being a little more specific would help. If you were to kill the yeast, you would end up with bottles of completely flat beer as the yeast are what create the carbonation.
All kidding aside, Lowering the amount of fermentable sugar in your recipe would be the best bet. I would post up your recipe and I'm sure someone here can help ya out. If not a recipe then perhaps a style of beer your looking to do. Being a little more specific would help. If you were to kill the yeast, you would end up with bottles of completely flat beer as the yeast are what create the carbonation.
Diluting the wort with water before adding the yeast will lower the alcohol content of the finished beer. To test the alcohol content you will need a hydrometer. They're very easy to use, and you can find one for cheap if you don't have one already.
Stopping the fermentation before it is ended is not a good idea. You will end up with a very sweet beer, and the yeast won't have time to 'clean up' after themselves. At a very basic level, when yeast eat sugar, they poop out alcohol and various other chemicals. During the last few days of fermentation the yeast re-absorb a lot of the bi-products of their fermentation. These include things like diacetyl, which gives a greasy, buttery taste to beer which makes it taste foul.
Disclaimer: I only have a very basic knowledge of these kind of things, could a more experienced brewer please give more info?
Stopping the fermentation before it is ended is not a good idea. You will end up with a very sweet beer, and the yeast won't have time to 'clean up' after themselves. At a very basic level, when yeast eat sugar, they poop out alcohol and various other chemicals. During the last few days of fermentation the yeast re-absorb a lot of the bi-products of their fermentation. These include things like diacetyl, which gives a greasy, buttery taste to beer which makes it taste foul.
Disclaimer: I only have a very basic knowledge of these kind of things, could a more experienced brewer please give more info?
Thanks for the replies. Here are the ingredients to my kit of mild ale.
Specialty Grain
.125 lbs. Simpsons Chocolate
.25 lbs. Crisp Amber Malt
.25 lbs. Crisp Brown Malt
Fermentables
3.5 lbs. Amber Malt Syrup
1 lb. Amber dry Malt Extract
Priming Solution- 2/3 cup corn sugar in 16 oz. of warm water
Would I lower the amount of priming sugar or fermentables ? If so, how much would you lower to get the Alcohol content down a percent or two from 3.1%. thank you.
Specialty Grain
.125 lbs. Simpsons Chocolate
.25 lbs. Crisp Amber Malt
.25 lbs. Crisp Brown Malt
Fermentables
3.5 lbs. Amber Malt Syrup
1 lb. Amber dry Malt Extract
Priming Solution- 2/3 cup corn sugar in 16 oz. of warm water
Would I lower the amount of priming sugar or fermentables ? If so, how much would you lower to get the Alcohol content down a percent or two from 3.1%. thank you.
The priming sugar is for bottling and carbonation, don't mess with it - use it as directed.
If you want to lower the alcohol content, use less of the malt extract than called for in the recipe.
In trying to be helpful here, and not just answering your direct question, it sounds like this might be your first batch? If so, I'd encourage you to follow the recipe as is, and not fuss with it too much. For your next batch, we can give you a hand on finding a kit or a recipe that is intended to produce a lighter, lower alcohol beer. I'm a little worried if you, with no experience, start messing too much with your kit, you'll end up with bad beer and not know what happened and get discouraged.
If you'd like a hand in finding a kit or recipe that's low alcohol, let us know.
If you want to lower the alcohol content, use less of the malt extract than called for in the recipe.
In trying to be helpful here, and not just answering your direct question, it sounds like this might be your first batch? If so, I'd encourage you to follow the recipe as is, and not fuss with it too much. For your next batch, we can give you a hand on finding a kit or a recipe that is intended to produce a lighter, lower alcohol beer. I'm a little worried if you, with no experience, start messing too much with your kit, you'll end up with bad beer and not know what happened and get discouraged.
If you'd like a hand in finding a kit or recipe that's low alcohol, let us know.
Looking at your recipe, that's going to be pretty low alcohol already - I'm not at home so can't plug the numbers into BeerSmith but it's not got alot of fermentables, which makes sense since a mild is lower alcohol in many cases. Do you know what the abv of your recipe is expected to be? If not, maybe someone here can plug in the numbers for you.
abv is 3.1%
bonzombiekitty
Well-Known Member
According to hopville, for a 5 gallon batch, that's going to be at most 3.7% ABV. Your OG should be about 1.037 and end at about 1.009. Hopville tends to overestimate though on attenuation of the yeast and thus the ABV it gives is on the higher end of the range..
I see, I misread your post - I thought you wanted to lower it to 3.1
How low a beer do you want to brew?
showtime24
Well-Known Member
dng man 3.1% is to light of a beer already for my likings, are you wanting to make something like a non alcoholic beer or something?
FYI, you won't be able to bottle condition (carbonate) your beer in the bottle if you kill the yeast off. The yeast are needed to eat the priming sugar and release CO2.
At 3.1% it's already fairly low and I think you'll find if you go too much lower you won't be too pleased with the results, taste wise. Around 2.5% would be my lowest point. I have found that a 2.9% English Dark Mild is fabulous, however.
if your looking for a non alcoholic beer, make recipe as suggested, bake in oven at 180 degrees which is the temp that alcohol boils.. how long? i dont know. the only problem with this method is you will lose alot/most of the hop bitterness and aroma.
another suggestion to avoid hop loss. is to do the recipe as suggested but only do 30 min boil leaving out all the hop additions that were to be used after the 30 min mark, cool add yeast and ferment out, primary and secondary or whatever schedule you like. once complete return to kettle and finish the remaining 30 minute boil adding all the hops and whatever specialty herbs and whatnot, you can also add the priming sugar at this point. then rack to bottling bucket and bottle, the 30 minute boil will remove the alcohol. you just have to add some yeast before bottling maby a half pack to a 5 gallon batch, the only alcohol that will be in this will be from the priming sugar..
another suggestion to avoid hop loss. is to do the recipe as suggested but only do 30 min boil leaving out all the hop additions that were to be used after the 30 min mark, cool add yeast and ferment out, primary and secondary or whatever schedule you like. once complete return to kettle and finish the remaining 30 minute boil adding all the hops and whatever specialty herbs and whatnot, you can also add the priming sugar at this point. then rack to bottling bucket and bottle, the 30 minute boil will remove the alcohol. you just have to add some yeast before bottling maby a half pack to a 5 gallon batch, the only alcohol that will be in this will be from the priming sugar..
Do you think this will effect taste much?
another suggestion to avoid hop loss. is to do the recipe as suggested but only do 30 min boil leaving out all the hop additions that were to be used after the 30 min mark, cool add yeast and ferment out, primary and secondary or whatever schedule you like. once complete return to kettle and finish the remaining 30 minute boil adding all the hops and whatever specialty herbs and whatnot, you can also add the priming sugar at this point. then rack to bottling bucket and bottle, the 30 minute boil will remove the alcohol. you just have to add some yeast before bottling maby a half pack to a 5 gallon batch, the only alcohol that will be in this will be from the priming sugar..
[/QUOTE]
I'm going to brew the first batch with no alterations and see what it tastes like. My second batch, I'll try these changes and see what I get. The reason I'm trying to lower the alcohol content is believe it or not, my wife and I have developed a taste for some non-alcoholic beers. Thanks to all .
[/QUOTE]I'm going to brew the first batch with no alterations and see what it tastes like. My second batch, I'll try these changes and see what I get. The reason I'm trying to lower the alcohol content is believe it or not, my wife and I have developed a taste for some non-alcoholic beers. Thanks to all .
You can use this free spreadsheet calculator to calculate alcohol
content. Just put in different amounts for the extract and see what
you get:
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator
Just about any change you make to the recipe will change the flavor,
but if you don't know what the original recipe tastes like, you won't
know. You have to experiment with the recipe to get it to what you
want.
Jim
You can use this free spreadsheet calculator to calculate alcohol
content. Just put in different amounts for the extract and see what
you get:
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator
Just about any change you make to the recipe will change the flavor,
but if you don't know what the original recipe tastes like, you won't
know. You have to experiment with the recipe to get it to what you
want.
Jim
Wow, thanks guys. I'm liking this forum.
It will lighten the flavor. less malt and hop flavor and less alcohol content. I would suggest boiling and cooling the water addition to remove oxygen and sanitize the top up water if post fermentation, optional but best practice.
If preboil, just add water and boil.
Could also add cold water or ice to the glass...I know this is highly frowned upon, but I have actually enjoyed beer over ice lately in the hot summer weather, also helps to keep stronger beers more sessionable and reduce alcohol intake and increase hydration...making for a more pleasant morning after....cheers!
