Well, ciders finish below 1.000 so there is the capability to finish that low.
Beer, maybe not.
Headaches, though, are unrelated to final gravity and are more related to poor control of fermentation and production of fusel alcohols.
How low can you go with with OG for lagers before you significantly adversely affect it? Would like to make some lighter side beer, drink more, less headache. Dont want water though.
I have brewed some very light beers to balance my other ones ;~) I have had OG as low as 1027. Now it's not super easy to go really low and still have a good beer so a couple of recommendations. #1 head over to Basic Brewing Radio because they have done a number of shows on going light. #2 you have to go a lot lighter on hops when the ABV is really low because it gets harsh quick. On thing to consider is doing almost all late additions. #3 you need to do something to boost the body. The go-to's for that are Rye and Wheat. For my "all weekend IPA" (OG1033 FG 1014) I'm using 4lbs of light Munich and 3lbs of Rye. 14g CTZ fwh, 28g Zythos @15min and 28g Zythos @flameout. It's a crowd pleaser and it's under 4%.
I don't do Lagers so not sure how low gravity would affect them. You could also (if you are kegging) thin a stronger beer out a bit with distilled water (unless that concept gives you the hives...).
Interesting thread. Just bought the book "session beers" which covers the topic. There are a lot of nice recipes but it does not go below 3.5%. Most of the beers in there are between 4 and 5 %.
I believe using strong base malts (munich, Vienna), some flaked adjuncts for head and mouth feel and keeping the hops on the low side will get you there.
Is that the new Talley book? There's a great review on Amazon which rather confirms my fears, she may be quite good on some of the technicals but it sounds like she fundamentally just doesn't really "get" session beer culture or anything that isn't a session IPA.
Not sure about "hops on the low side" - there's many British beers with bitterness ratios of 0.9 or more, and you can be generous with the aroma hops. In fact I think one of the most interesting (and very difficult!!) areas of brewing at the moment is applying NEIPA ideas to lower strength beers, although I think a little oats goes a long way, even the current CBOB Goat's Milk tastes porridgey to me. But you can build out the body with things like melanoidin and lactose.
it looks like it does not get to the point enough for my liking...focuses clearly on the ipa side of life. It also considers everything with 5% and below as session beer, which I personally don't agree with.
I am missing a part were she generally explains ways to cope with the thinning out of the wort but remaining body, head and flavour.
It has a lot if historical stuff inside which I am not so interested in, but if I guess your personality correctly, you might quite enjoy that.
I did not mean going low on the hops in comparison to the Og, but in absolute numbers and also just the ibus... In fact, I could have just written, go relatively low on the ibus, compared to the non session version of the beer you are making. Would have been clearer.
How low can you go with with OG for lagers before you significantly adversely affect it? Would like to make some lighter side beer, drink more, less headache. Dont want water though.
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