3% Beer

[nickbrew]

Does anybody know of a good beer that I can brew around 3 - 3.5%?

I'm new to brewing and need some advice as my partner cannot drink anything stronger.

 

[tubby_shaw]

What would you like to brew?
Ale, lager other?
Kits or from scratch.
Once you provide some more info you'll be inundated with ideas :thumb:

 

[nickbrew]

I want to brew a bitter, preferably from a kit if I can get one. But also open to suggestions on starting from scratch - however I have limited funds and not alot of kit at the moment. I have a 5 litre fermentation container and a few other bits from a wilkinsons kit and am about to put a brew in a pressure barrel in the next couple of days from that kit so am looking for a quick way to make a brew around 3.0% - 3.5% for my partner - even 2.5 - 3.0% would be better but not sure if I can brew at a percentage that low.

Ideas would be great though.

 

[tubby_shaw]

No problem, choose a beer kit you like the look of or one that has been recommended to you (The Coopers kits come recommended by many) then instead of adding the recommended amount of sugar/malt extract/beer kit enhancer use half the amount, make sure it is well dissolved and take a hydrometer reading, you want a reading of around 1.030, if it's too high add more water and stir well, if its too low add more sugar and again stir well before taking another hydrometer reading.
If it ferments down to a gravity of 1.006 then you will have an ABV of around 3.3% :thumb:
If you want a lower alcohol content reduce the the original gravity :thumb:

 

[nickbrew]

Ok thanks for that. As I have a cheap wilkinsons homebrew kit, they give a free 40 pints in the kit along with the 40 pints that you pay for.

So if I half the amount out of the can and half the sugar then basically I should get something like what your saying? Is that right? So by doing this carefully I could end up with 80 pints of weaker homebrew?

Also I would like to brew a good porter, or something similar to McKewans Champion or Hobgoblin. So again recommendations welcome.

And while I'm at it (I don't ask too much do I?) it would be nice to brew something similar to Marstons Old Empire. I read about this and it looked difficult.

 

[tubby_shaw]

Ok thanks for that. As I have a cheap wilkinsons homebrew kit, they give a free 40 pints in the kit along with the 40 pints that you pay for.

So if I half the amount out of the can and half the sugar then basically I should get something like what your saying? Is that right? So by doing this carefully I could end up with 80 pints of weaker homebrew?

No what I am recommending is to use the whole can but instead of the 1kg of sugar asked for use 500g instead, if you use only half the can you will only get half the bitterness and flavour, using the whole can you will get a better quality lower alcohol beer :grin:

Also I would like to brew a good porter, or something similar to McKewans Champion or Hobgoblin. So again recommendations welcome.

I'll have to leave this one to the kit brewers for recommendations

And while I'm at it (I don't ask too much do I?) it would be nice to brew something similar to Marstons Old Empire. I read about this and it looked difficult.

Yes it's difficult, to even start to get close you will have to be all grain brewing

 

[nickbrew]

ok thanks for that. I'll give that a go on the next brew.

I am new to all this so am bound to have alot of questions - BUT I'm also very interested in brewing.

One of the things I would like to do is brew a good quality cider too. Preferably something without sulphites which I am assuming are just added as a preservative usually? I find they kill the taste of a good cider though so would prefer something without.

Something sweet, preferably 6 - 8 % would be good. not bothered about fizziness but halfway between flat and fizzy would be nice.