Lowering alcohol content

[moze229]

Hey all,

I'm just doing extracts for now. I know most people ask for ways to increase alcohol content, but I'm wondering if there is a way to effectively decrease alcohol content. I mean, I know how I could do it, but I wonder if it would work for a recipe as a whole. Could a person just use less extract and achieve this, or is it going to affect the taste of the beer too much? I assume a darker beer would be easier to reduce alcohol content than a lighter colored beer. I also assume that removing the amount of extract used would have to be replaced with something else to avoid loosing body to the beer.

What I'd like to do is to take, say a 5% alcohol ale and move it to 3.5 - 4% or so, effectively making a 'light' beer. How is this effectively achieved, or can it be? I realize that whatever recipe that I may use will be affected by any changes that I make, and I'm not too concerned with making it different. I'd just like to know any common methods of doing this. I've looked at different extract kits that were labeled as 'light' with lower alcohol contents, but I'm not seeing a whole lot of difference in the contents compared to the standard recipes.

 

[CorporateHippie]

I will admit that I have never attempted to make a beer lower in ABV but I would guess that adding a little more water at the end of your extract boil would do the trick. You already did mention the one danger which would be loosing body and then soon after flavors but Maybe top off to the 6 gallon mark and put on a blow off tube for an experiment.

 

[dkennedy]

Lowering the fermentables will = lower ABV, but will (all else equal) also lower body. You can counteract that with higher mash temps (non-extract), more unfermentable sugars (ex. crystal malts), and/or heavier hopping regimen. The Session IPA craze is an example of scaling back alcohol content while retaining a full-flavored beer, aggressive hopping is a big part of the secret (works for a lower weight IPA, not so much for a stout). Lactose, oats, and other adjuncts are options to boost mouthfeel without driving up the gravity as well, really depends on the style.

Start with the recipe as written, then tune it to where you're hitting the (approximate) same FG / IBU / color that you want, with lower OG. On the extract scale- steeping specialty malts / adjuncts and dry-hopping could both be things to look at. If there is a specific recipe that you want to tone down, post it and I'm sure that the folks here would throw more precise ideas at it.

 

[moze229]

Thanks for the information guys.

There isn't any one specific recipe that I have in mind at the moment for this, but my next batch will involve a lower alcohol content/light beer. I've only ever done the darker beers, and I wanted to give the lighter beers a shot. While I was at it, I thought I might go ahead and lower the ABV a bit so perhaps my wife will drink some as well. I also enjoy lighter beers from time to time.

Once I come up with a recipe I'd like to try, I'll respond again and maybe I'll get some ideas on how to achieve what I'm trying to do. Thanks.

 

[Flboy]

Easy, Drink half, refill with water, give to wife. Win/win

 

[flars]

I experimented with the online Brewtoad software. Not to much, one finger typing is very frustrating. Brewtoad has a feature to indicate whether your recipe is balanced or unbalanced, meaning does it fall into the guidelines for the style of Bittering Units : Gravity Units. Might be an over simplistic view of the recipe builder, but my left hand doesn't like to much typing.

 

[gregjohnston]

I'd recommend trying a recipe in a specifically low-gravity, low-alcohol style: I like English Milds and Southern English Brown Ales. These are often basically just 4 pounds of DME, up to a pound of crystal malts, and some chocolate malt or roasted barley for color and a bit of roastiness. Something like a small English bitter or a small pale ale would work similarly, but leaning on hoppy flavor rather than malty flavor.

I'd also be intrigued in the future by brewing something like a patersbier, a low-gravity Belgian for the brothers' own consumption: great Belgian yeast flavors for a low ABV.

These styles definitely have a lighter mouthfeel that can be a little thin, but refreshing or crisp or just as good to describe them, in my opinion!