Clibit Brewday

[Notlaw]

Interested in how this goes. Low alcohol ales seem few and far between, unless you want something as bland as anything. I'd like something lower abv for summer thirst quenching.

 

[Hoddy]

Same as me notlaw. You know as well as I do low alcohol beers are almost the most difficult beers to make. And let's be honest, it is the way forward.

 

[clibit]

Same as me notlaw. You know as well as I do low alcohol beers are almost the most difficult beers to make. And let's be honest, it is the way forward.

I will be making more low ABV beers, and seeing what works. I've done a bit of reading. The choice of grains is a factor, mash temperature, yeast attenuation, carbonation even. I'll try a few variations and see what comes out best.

 

[JapanBrew]

So would you aim for grains that don't add much fermentables? Would those be more of the roasted kinds?

 

[HisDudeness]

Interesting hop combo there Clibit, look forward to hearing how it comes out.

 

[clibit]

So would you aim for grains that don't add much fermentables? Would those be more of the roasted kinds?

To try to avoid a beer that is too thin, you add grains that leave some unfermentable sugars, to provide body. Hence the Carapils, and the crystal. You could use a chunk of Munich, or Vienna. You can also mash high, I mashed at 68. And use a low attenuation yeast, to leave a high FG. One of my best beers to date was the Brewers Gold IPA, bittered with Columbus and flaviured with Brewers Gold. So I did Chinook and BG, and added some Simcoe and Bobek to use them up! Two hops I like a lot for aroma.

I've relied mainly on mash temp, and some Carapils. The yeast is a medium attenuation type I think, I've had 72-76% with it.

The hop choice was governed by hops that needed using, but I picked hops I like.

 

[BeardySi]

On the extreme end of this there's a recipe in Bredwdog's recently released recipe list for a 0.5% beer called Nanny State.

 

[clibit]

On the extreme end of this there's a recipe in Bredwdog's recently released recipe list for a 0.5% beer called Nanny State.

Yeah I applaud them for doing it, it's a great concept. I recently had a half of it in Brewdog Leicester, it was actually horrible. Tasted like a cleaning product.

 

[Notlaw]

Yeah I applaud them for doing it, it's a great concept. I recently had a half of it in Brewdog Leicester, it was actually horrible. Tasted like a cleaning product.

Agreed, I had a bottle in a restaurant before Christmas... It was absolutely rank. I think even Beck's Blue is nicer than that, and Beck's Blue is horrible.!

 

[HisDudeness]

Yeah I applaud them for doing it, it's a great concept. I recently had a half of it in Brewdog Leicester, it was actually horrible. Tasted like a cleaning product.

Agree nice idea but when I tried a bottle it was 1 sip and then down the sink, possibly the worst bottled beer I have ever tasted

 

[BeardySi]

Guess I'll put it to the back of the 200+ brewdog list so!

 

[clibit]

Well this brew is throwing out tons of gas but as yet has no krausen. I hope the yeast was ok, I left the starter to the last minute, only had 8 hours from making to pitching - but it had foam on top and was bubbling like crazy when it was pitched. Ideally should have been made a day or two earlier.

 

[Hoddy]

That'll be fine clibit. All starters are done in 24hrs max if they are fermented at 20oC or higher. As long as you were using a fresh vial/pack then the starter would have helped increase the cell count and kick it on its way even if it was for only 8hrs.

 

[clibit]

That'll be fine clibit. All starters are done in 24hrs max if they are fermented at 20oC or higher. As long as you were using a fresh vial/pack then the starter would have helped increase the cell count and kick it on its way even if it was for only 8hrs.

Unfortunately I was using slurry collected at the end of November!

 

[Hoddy]

Meh. At worst you've under pitched it a bit and the yeast is going through a frantic cell increase phase before it gets into breaking down the sugars. Just minor yeast stress. I've had that before and you get a bit of a "yeasty" smell to the beer at the end of fermentation. Ive found an extra 1-2 weeks of cold conditioning on top of usual works that out.

 

[Hoddy]

The SWMBO loves the fact that one shelf of the fridge is filled with washed slurry jars.

Honest.......

 

[clibit]

Meh. At worst you've under pitched it a bit and the yeast is going through a frantic cell increase phase before it gets into breaking down the sugars. Just minor yeast stress. I've had that before and you get a bit of a "yeasty" smell to the beer at the end of fermentation. Ive found an extra 1-2 weeks of cold conditioning on top of usual works that out.

Yes this is what is happening I think and I knew it was very likely, but didn't get round to doing my starter in time and decided to gamble.

 

[nbpicklesno2]

The SWMBO loves the fact that one shelf of the fridge is filled with washed slurry jars.

I know the feeling

 

[MyQul]

Well this brew is throwing out tons of gas but as yet has no krausen. I hope the yeast was ok, I left the starter to the last minute, only had 8 hours from making to pitching - but it had foam on top and was bubbling like crazy when it was pitched. Ideally should have been made a day or two earlier.

Sounds to me like you pitched it at high krausen - the healthiest point before its starts to take on reserves and floc out. I usually pitch at high krausen if I'm not entirely sure if I have enough yeast or not as it's more important to pitch healthy yeast then 'more' yeast

 

[clibit]

I'm sure it'll be OK. It's only a 1039 beer.