Making a low carb beer

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Jtvann

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I have a request for a low carb beer. The obvious solution is to use glucoamylace. I've made a very delicious brut ipa before, but the request is for various other styles. One in particular is a rauchbier.

So the question stands, how to make a decent tasting low carb beer. I'm assuming that sticking to making a regular beer and just adding enzyme, while making it lower carb, might end up tasting like trash.

Suggestions?
 
Reduce sulfate and increase chloride and sodium.

must be why that brew i used sulphuric acid in wasn't that good...i realized afterward i should have used HCl.....lol

not to completly hijack, but most people know i add gluco to everything...would i be better off using pool acid to acidify my mash instead of epsom salt? (and that's a serious quality question, i could probably get away with just a couple drops of HCl, i have to add like a tablespoon of epsom salt)

and i think that's still on topic....
 
must be why that brew i used sulphuric acid in wasn't that good...i realized afterward i should have used HCl.....lol

not to completly hijack, but most people know i add gluco to everything...would i be better off using pool acid to acidify my mash instead of epsom salt? (and that's a serious quality question, i could probably get away with just a couple drops of HCl, i have to add like a tablespoon of epsom salt)

and i think that's still on topic....
Most people use lactic acid. Phosphoric acid is good too, but significantly more hazardous. Most mash pH prediction tools use one of these two acids. Other acids can be used if you want to do the calculations yourself.

"Epsom salt" is not good for mash acidification in general because it may add excessive amounts of magnesium and/or sulfate before reaching a target pH.
Hydrochloric and sulfuric acids are not good options because they are dangerous.
 
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Other acids can be used if you want to do the calculations yourself.

i have a meter, and protective eye wear...and we're only talking about a slight pour into a glass container and an eyedropper for a couple drops, i have running water readily available if i get any on my skin....think i'll stop using the epsom salts...(but if you'd want to enlighten me as to why a acid base salt would lower the ph i'd be grateful...different project)


and no! ph adjustment isn't even required for brewing! just if you're worried about a few cents on a 10 gallon batch, lol (for the newbies)


edit: i think my original question was, how much do sulfates effect dry beers?
 
Here's an easy recipe I made for a hoppy low carb ale. You can substitute hops and yeast to suite your needs. It's less than 100cal and 3g carbs per 12oz at 4%abv.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/919381/alchorexia-95cal-3g-carb-hoppy-ale

Good, solid and simple recipe (as well as highly modifiable) for creating a low carb/low calorie beer. Of course, the key to driving down carbs is hydrolyzing all the available starches with amyloglucosidaise. That's how the recipe can start with a 1.030 OG and still get an ABV greater than 4% and an FG < 1.000. Watch out Miller Lite and Michelob Ultra!

The mantra, "Life begins at 60... 1.060" may get replaced with, "How low can you go?"

Brooo Brother
 
So I've only used enzyme once in a brut ipa. It turned out perfect for what I was looking for. Final gravity got down to 0.95

Beersmith is estimating that my planned lager will only get to 1.008. Is there something different in the fermentability of lager yeast vs ale? I was hoping to get in the same neighborhood.

I'm aiming for a strong smoked lager flavor. My last attempt used smoked malt, pilsner and Vienna. Small dose of lemondrop hops to get bitterness and flavor. Saflager 34/70. I'm aiming for a no more than 5% ABC, no less than 4.5%. Id like the fg to be as low as attainablely possible. Smoked malt and pilsner were in equal amounts with Vienna being a very low, less than 15% of grist. Probably 44/44/12 ratio.

Cant decide if I'm just not going to hit numbers as I planned, or if beersmith is just wrong in its estimation of final gravity.

Any thoughts?
 
Beersmith is estimating that my planned lager will only get to 1.008. Is there something different in the fermentability of lager yeast vs ale? I was hoping to get in the same neighborhood.
BeerSmith doesn't account for the enzyme.
 
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