What's the lowest safe OG?

[fofusak]

Hello,

I recently got bad news from the doc, I have high triglycerides and need to cut down in carbs and alcohol.

I can cut back on my eating so I can still accommodate a couple beers a week. Of course, the lowest OG of my brews, the better. So I was thinking, and there must be some kind of limit as to how far low I can go (taste aside).
For instance (extremes are always good to make a point); if I did a 1.005 OG brew, the final pH in the beer wouldn't go much lower, nor I'd have enough alcohol to deter bacteria or molds.
I know, sanitation on spot on everything, but honestly I think (almost?) nobody goes to sterile environments. The beer keeps shelf stable due to pH, and hops (I still don't understand how, but history says they worked).

So, my question would be: How low can I go in terms of gravity to have a shelf stable beer? Stable enough to last me 3 months in a keg?

And, if you have a good recipe that you'd like to refer, I'd be happy too

Thanks!

 

[GPP33]

1.005 OG? That would basically be water, wouldn’t taste much like beer by the time it’s done. You could heat it up after fermentation to remove the booze, check out the thread on neutering your beer.

 

[fofusak]

That's why I put the "(extremes are always good to make a point)"
It was just an extreme example on how there must be a limit somewhere.

I think I'd like to aim in the 1.020 - 1.030 range.

 

[aprichman]

1.025 is probably the lowest gravity I would target. Definitely adjust mash pH or use a quarter pound of acidulated malt.

 

[dmtaylor]

I used to have high triglycerides. I started taking a giant fish oil pill everyday and like magic it's down to normal levels. I am not a doctor but I feel like I am living proof because I didn't need to change my lifestyle at all. Or, well, I don't drink soda anymore -- not sure if it's that or the fish oil or both.

Anyway, to answer your question, my answer is about the same as the others. About 1.025 will get you a reasonable beer without much calories and alcohol.

 

[Lefou]

A "reasonable" Three-two beer ...
Five gallons of Czech Budvar-style beer ( or light beer).

3lb. Vienna
2lb. Munich 10
1lb. White wheat
2oz Saaz hops 3.4 AAU added for 40mins
WLP802 yeast
Mash 90mins at 145F-150F; use soft water, balance the CaCl2 and CaSO4.
Boil 60mins, Whirlfloc 5-15 mins before flameout.

For German-style light ale use WLP029 Kolsch yeast.
For a British bitter, change out hops and yeast.

 

[Lefou]

This particular beer recipe will turn out fairly dry. With the mild addition of low-alpha Saaz hops the beer will give a perceived bitterness, so due to the low gravity, your bittering-to-gravity level will be higher. It will seem like a Pils-style beer.
The wort should finish in primary fairly quickly.
I know my Kolsch-style light beer yeast finished in a little over a week, but I kept the raw ale in the carboy for 2-3 weeks to keep off-flavors down.

 

[triletter]

Not a Dr., but you might have a couple of options. 1) more exercise. Vigorous is better; run, bike, swim, racquet ball, walk stairs, park farther away from entrance at work. 2) diet- more veggies and more frequent, but smaller meals. 3) statins: sometimes genetics aren’t our friends. Been doing all 3 for 30+ years. Weight is good, blood is good, resting HRT is 50 and the liver copes with the statin and too much alcohol. YMMV

 

[RPh_Guy]

Don't worry about contamination.

@triletter is right. Exercise and healthy eating (including increased fiber) are the best things you can do for your health.

 

[BobBailey]

Hello,

I recently got bad news from the doc, I have high triglycerides and need to cut down in carbs and alcohol.

I can cut back on my eating so I can still accommodate a couple beers a week. Of course, the lowest OG of my brews, the better. So I was thinking, and there must be some kind of limit as to how far low I can go (taste aside).
For instance (extremes are always good to make a point); if I did a 1.005 OG brew, the final pH in the beer wouldn't go much lower, nor I'd have enough alcohol to deter bacteria or molds.
I know, sanitation on spot on everything, but honestly I think (almost?) nobody goes to sterile environments. The beer keeps shelf stable due to pH, and hops (I still don't understand how, but history says they worked).

So, my question would be: How low can I go in terms of gravity to have a shelf stable beer? Stable enough to last me 3 months in a keg?

And, if you have a good recipe that you'd like to refer, I'd be happy too

Thanks!

I'm 70 years old and have been hearing that $hit from doctors ever since I can remember. Many are amazed at how active I am for my age and guess that I'm in my 50s. I have overindulged in supposedly unhealthy foods as well as a lot of whiskey and beer for many years. Actually smoked for close to 50 years too. Doctors listen to the AMA too much in my opinion. As an example, for many years the AMA considered eggs to be one or the worst things for your health. After softening this stance for many years, probably to cover their a$$es, you now never hear anything about how bad they are for your health.

Not trying to discourage you from healthy practices, but from not taking all of the BS that doctors tend to spout too seriously. If you're going to try brewing beers lower than 3 or 4 percent, just buy some O'Doul's or Kombucha.

 

[dx250]

You might want to take a look at the "Shut up about Barkley Perkins" blog. He has put a number of war time recipes that are in the 2-3% range.

 

[BobBailey]

Very true, but during war times in the past, people gave up most comforts, as well as many commodities for the cause. Today, sadly, most aren't willing to sacrifice much of anything for any cause, no matter how righteous. It is a different world today

For the comfort of many, I'll leave it at that.

 

[fofusak]

I used to have high triglycerides. I started taking a giant fish oil pill everyday and like magic it's down to normal levels. I am not a doctor but I feel like I am living proof because I didn't need to change my lifestyle at all. Or, well, I don't drink soda anymore -- not sure if it's that or the fish oil or both.

Anyway, to answer your question, my answer is about the same as the others. About 1.025 will get you a reasonable beer without much calories and alcohol.

Big amount of fish oil need to be closely observed, as they might have some other undesired effects.
Right now I started on 2g of fish oil/day, I think 3g is the maximum (2g is what the dr recommended to me)

Thanks for sharing. Honestly I just started taking the oil because I was told to, but I didn't have high hopes for it. I was more hopeful on lowering carb and calorie intake, and exercise. Now I have a better outlook on this, as I now see the oil can be highly effective

 

[fofusak]

A "reasonable" Three-two beer ...
Five gallons of Czech Budvar-style beer ( or light beer).

3lb. Vienna
2lb. Munich 10
1lb. White wheat
2oz Saaz hops 3.4 AAU added for 40mins
WLP802 yeast
Mash 90mins at 145F-150F; use soft water, balance the CaCl2 and CaSO4.
Boil 60mins, Whirlfloc 5-15 mins before flameout.

For German-style light ale use WLP029 Kolsch yeast.
For a British bitter, change out hops and yeast.

Sounds tasty. I'll try with a Kolsch yeast, but using Crystal hops.
Thanks!

 

[fofusak]

Not a Dr., but you might have a couple of options. 1) more exercise. Vigorous is better; run, bike, swim, racquet ball, walk stairs, park farther away from entrance at work. 2) diet- more veggies and more frequent, but smaller meals. 3) statins: sometimes genetics aren’t our friends. Been doing all 3 for 30+ years. Weight is good, blood is good, resting HRT is 50 and the liver copes with the statin and too much alcohol. YMMV

I started doing HIIT training, and I started cooking vegetarian food ( I *love* Indian food, so I basically just give it a try and it's usually tasty for me)
I'll take you as an example, given that you say everything looks good and you enjoy your alcohol alright

Thanks

 

[fofusak]

Don't worry about contamination.

@triletter is right. Exercise and healthy eating (including increased fiber) are the best things you can do for your health.

The fiber thing! I didn't know it, nor the doc said anything about it. A quick look shows there's lots of research-backed evidence. I'll try to incorporate it more.

Thanks!

 

[fofusak]

You might want to take a look at the "Shut up about Barkley Perkins" blog. He has put a number of war time recipes that are in the 2-3% range.

Never heard of the blog before, thanks

 

[fofusak]

I'm 70 years old and have been hearing that $hit from doctors ever since I can remember. Many are amazed at how active I am for my age and guess that I'm in my 50s. I have overindulged in supposedly unhealthy foods as well as a lot of whiskey and beer for many years. Actually smoked for close to 50 years too. Doctors listen to the AMA too much in my opinion. As an example, for many years the AMA considered eggs to be one or the worst things for your health. After softening this stance for many years, probably to cover their a$$es, you now never hear anything about how bad they are for your health.

Not trying to discourage you from healthy practices, but from not taking all of the BS that doctors tend to spout too seriously. If you're going to try brewing beers lower than 3 or 4 percent, just buy some O'Doul's or Kombucha.

Well, if you are the one out of the norm or the statistics in a good way, congratulations. Statistically speaking, most of us are not and wont be.
This is akin to saying that you didn't use a seat belt when you were young, and you didn't die. Well... many did so.

"If you're going to try brewing beers lower than 3 or 4 percent, just buy some O'Doul's or Kombucha"
Does this imply that if my beers are not alcoholic enough, I don't deserve to drink good beer? And that I have to give up my hobby?

 

[RPh_Guy]

This is akin to saying that you didn't use a seat belt when you were young, and you didn't die. Well... many did so.

Nailed it. That was exactly what I thought with that same analogy when I read his comment

BTW there is little evidence of health benefits from taking omega-3 fish oil supplements—except in cases of recent myocardial infarction or heart failure.

Medical knowledge is constantly changing and improving, allowing people to live longer and healthier lives than ever before.
Ignoring physicians or expecting physicians to ignore the AMA is poor advice. Physicians have a hard enough time keeping up with all the changing medical knowledge even with the help of various medical organizations.

The best advice I can offer is to educate yourself and make sure you're following the most updated guidelines for whatever health conditions you may have.
There's a lot of misinformation out there, so be very selective of sources and talk to you physician before making any changes to therapy.

 

[myndflyte]

Check out this basic brewing video where they brew 2 session beers using rye. Since rye is more viscous, it seems to give the perception of more body even at low ABVs.

 

[Miraculix]

As far as I can see, all those public health organisations are somehow affiliated or backed up by some type of industry. Be it pharma lobby or food lobby and those are all only following their own agenda which is usually not to keep people healthy but to maximize profit.

However there is still much benefit to gather from all the recent research which has been done internationally on the subject of food and health but it is almost a full time job to get even an overview of it.

I found the book "the perfect health diet" by Paul jaminet has the best overview of the current knowledge and is constantly updated. All reasonably backed up with studies. I wouldn't do everything they recommend but would cherry pick for my general situation. For example triglycerides and fish oil, big chapter about this subject explaining in depth why and how it works, or why not in certain cases.

It is fairly cheap and really worth the read.

 

[dmtaylor]

Big amount of fish oil need to be closely observed, as they might have some other undesired effects.
Right now I started on 2g of fish oil/day, I think 3g is the maximum (2g is what the dr recommended to me)

I've been taking 1.4 g/day for several years.

 

[shoengine]

Well, if you are the one out of the norm or the statistics in a good way, congratulations. Statistically speaking, most of us are not and wont be.
This is akin to saying that you didn't use a seat belt when you were young, and you didn't die. Well... many did so.

Damn that bell curve!

 

[Jayjay1976]

I may one day give up drinking beer for health reasons, but I'll be damned if I'll ever stop running with these scissors.

 

[davidabcd]

Or, well, I don't drink soda anymore -- not sure if it's that or the fish oil or both.

This is not a comment on what exactly worked for you; but your story did remind me of one about soda.
I worked in an office and got to know the cleaning crew well, especially the owner, to where we had daily, fun conversations--super nice guy.
He was noticeably overweight, and then began losing and losing and losing pounds to the point that he was pretty afraid he had something really wrong with him. I was worried for him, too.
Long story short: he quit pounding the Cokes, a lot of them per day, and that deletion trimmed him right down without changing anything else. So HAPPY ending.

 

[LittleRiver]

This article has some good info re fish oil, such as:

"That’s when I realized that I had to look much further than the supplements. I had to look at omega-3s in the context of all the other food we eat and the systems that produce those foods. That’s what brought me to the epic struggle between the world of omega-3 and the world of omega-6."​

 

[dmtaylor]

This is not a comment on what exactly worked for you; but your story did remind me of one about soda.
I worked in an office and got to know the cleaning crew well, especially the owner, to where we had daily, fun conversations--super nice guy.
He was noticeably overweight, and then began losing and losing and losing pounds to the point that he was pretty afraid he had something really wrong with him. I was worried for him, too.
Long story short: he quit pounding the Cokes, a lot of them per day, and that deletion trimmed him right down without changing anything else. So HAPPY ending.

What it did for me is that rather than gaining another couple pounds every single year, I simply stopped gaining any, and maybe even lost a couple. Sugary sodas are evil.

 

[Lefou]

Sounds tasty. I'll try with a Kolsch yeast, but using Crystal hops.
Thanks!

Yep, it's a fairly basic light beer recipe where you can pretty much substitute hops and yeast to personal taste. My dad is diabetic but is allowed low-cal, low ABV beer so I have been fooling around with those styles.

 

[Nagorg]

I've been doing the keto thing very strictly for about 30 days and you guessed it, not a single beer during this stint.. Sad but true! I'll admit that my hobby has added to my waistline and this keto thing has dropped almost 20 pounds from me. I miss my beer and will start drinking it again once my 30 days is up, but I too have been interested in brewing lower calorie/carb beers.

I'll plug that recipe into Beersmith and maybe give it a whirl... I've pretty much decided to focus on low ABV lagers over the winter.. Want to work on a low carb "session IPA" too! (If there is such an animal...)