Low alcohol beer?!!!

[garylewis1966]

Many/most beer drinkers would probably recoil at the sacrilege concept of low alcohol beer. I love my beer, lager, real ale and bitter, and enjoy one most nights after work, sometimes two and it's a habit I don't necessarily want to change. However, I'm on meds and finding the mix is giving me a thicker head in the morning than usual, in fact I'm sadly becoming a bit of a light weight. Getting to the point therefore, I'd like to enjoy a beer that is low alcohol so my question is whether there are any kits that cater for this and whether they taste any good. I haven't even tasted any low alc commercial beer but recall being told they tasted like **** in the past. I would imagine they've improved somewhat though. Any thoughts?

 

[RobWalker]

I suppose it would be as simple as brewing with less beer kit enhancer. Hops may be slightly more bitter but not much at all...

 

[jonnymorris]

Ref: commercial low alcohol beer... there's a well know German beer that does a no alcohol version that is actually pretty good and is head and shoulders above others I've tried. Look for the Blue variety.

Can't help with low alcohol kits. However, if you bought a kit that required x amount of sugar up front and put less than recommended in, wouldn't that work?

 

[BigYin]

When you mix up your kit, try just adding more water than it says :thumb:

I know of several brewers who will do this for their summer beers, so that they can drink more nice cool beer without getting p*ssed too quickly.

Using this post from Dunfie :

If you end up with a lower amount of wort than you intended but want to be as close as possible to the OG you were after then you can simply work out how much water to add by calculating the following.

(Gravity of Wort Collected / OG you Intended) * Amount of Wort Collected.

so if your were after 19 litres at 1040 but ended up with 13 litres at 1050 you would have (50/40)*13 = 16.25 litres. So you would add 3.25 litres to dilute the gravity to 1040.

Now, I've never tried to work this out, so bear with me! Say your kits are meant to produce 19 litres at a starting gravity of 1045, and a final gravity of 1010, giving an ABV of 4.5% , then a quick play with the forum calculators shows that a starting gravity of 1033 would give you a 3% beer, which gives you a third less alcohol per pint.

Applying that to Dunfie's formula above, (45/33) * 19 = 25.9 So, IF my assumptions in the above calculation (nicked from a sparging question..) then if you dilute the kit to just iunder 26litres instead of 19, you will have a 1/3rd less alcohol.

Although that does sound like rather a large dilution... :hmm:

 

[garylewis1966]

Thanx for tips so far. I'm glad you did the maths! So it sounds like a case of adding more water and less dextrose/malt and/or enhancer. I'll experiment and report back though not for some time cos I've already ordered a Coopers Pilsner and Coopers Wheat Beer and want to taste the proper stuff before doing the dirty on them. I suppose I could do half the kit in another bucket.

 

[pittsy]

coopers wheat beer , get some safbrew wb 06 yeast the coopers yeast is **** and it brewed out to taste like a crappy flat larger (with a tinny tinge ) :sick: however with a good yeast it may well be good

 

[Riddo]

I know this post hasn't been expanded for over a year and a half but due to recent bad health, i am faced with the prospect of cutting my drinking levels. I've read up on not only this thread, but elsewhere on the net and am currently experimenting with an extract brew. I'm not expecting anything amazing, but want something that is drinkable and satisfying nontheless. I decided on the following - I boiled 300g crystal malt for 30 minutes before straining and removing from the pot. I added 1x 1.5kg tin light malt extract and boiled for 55 minutes before adding 25g goldings hops which i boiled for 5 minutes before flame out. This (minus the hops) went into the fermenter and cold water was used to top up to 23L. Starting gravity was 1.020.

It's currently day 3 and the brew is still fermenting. Tomorrow i will pour half a pint of slightly cooled boiling water onto 25g challenger hops to make a tea, and after an hour will add to the fermenter along with liquid isomerised hop extract which are used for bittering. A quick stir and i shall leave it a further 3/4 days before priming and bottling.

No idea what this will come out like but judging by the starting gravity i hope it's around 2- 2.5%!I also hope due to the crystal malt and hops this will add to the taste. In the mean time i'll be stocking up on adnams sole star, at 2.7% this is the best small beer i've tasted!

I'll report back on this to let you know if it's a thumbs up or if it goes down the drain!

 

[Ceejay]

I'll add that there are a couple of absolutely superb lower alchohol beers out there. Magic Rock Simpleton at 3.0% and Kernel Table beer that was 2.8%, now 3.3%. Both fantastic and taste much bigger than they are.

The trick is getting body and flavour into the beer. There are a few things to consider:

1. OG vs FG. You can still have a high-ish OG, and more body and/or residual sweetness and still end up with a lower alcohol beer if the yeast doesn't attenuate as much.

AG brewers can manipulate mash temperature to achieve this, but for all brewers, careful yeast choice will drastically affect things. For instance, using WLP002 English Ale yeast, rather than S-04 or US-05. The lowest attenuation for WLP002 is 63%, which means you can have an OG of 1.035 with an FG of 1.013 and ABV 2.9%. Extract brewers are more limited, but use of speciality grains will enable you to manipulate attenuation by providing more long chain sugars that the yeast can't break down into alcohol.

Kit brewers could use a portion of maltodextrin to add body, but no sweetness which will make the beer seem "fuller".

2. Use of speciality malts. You can build in residual sweetness, body and flavour by using slightly larger amounts of speciality malts such as crystal, roasted malts, aromatic and biscuit malts etc. AG brewers can use more interesting base malts such as Munich and Vienna to impart a more interesting malt character.

3. Hops. Don't underestimate the power of hops to deliver flavour, mouthfeel and make a beer seem "bigger" than it is. The two beers named above do this incredibly well.

There's some food for thought there anyway. Lower alcohol (<3%) can be things of beauty, but you do have to think about it a little more.

 

[Riddo]

Thanks for the info, i've used gervin ale yeast in this brew, didn't know about the yeast tips mind. I haven't heard of those beers but will be sure to track them down!

 

[RobWalker]

If you want to brew super low alcohol, you could make an american IPA style beer. You could maybe brew to 2.5% - dry hop 5 gallons with 100g american C hops. add a little maltodextrine & aspartame based sweetener if you want (a really tiny amount) to balance out the hops a bit.

We do Nanny State at brewdog, 0.5% - but it just has no backbone, brewing companies are against using artifical stuff but I don't see why artificial flavour couldn't be used in a beer like this.

 

[Riddo]

Interesting about the artificial sweeteners. When you say a little maltodextrine Rob, how much do you feel would be needed?

 

[Templar]

I actually quite like low alcohol beers, and given I ride a motorbike (often to my mates house where our beer is stored) a low alcohol one might be a good idea.

I keep meaning to try Nanny State - it always looked interesting to me. Don't find it in shops often though...

 

[azzothegreek]

Can't help with brewing advice as i'm just finding my feet with it all but I can recommend Tolly english ale at tescos if you are looking for low alcohol ale. 2.8% and about £1.40 a bottle. Its delicious. The Kernel mentioned above is also good but cost a lot more.

 

[PaulCa]

I wonder if heating the beer to drive off the alcohol would work. Similar to mulled wine (without the fruit) which is practically non-alcoholic as the heating process causes most of the alcohol to evaporate out.

Personally as I like to drink beer and not have to worry about having a hang over on a work morning and that I don't drink myself to sleep at 8pm on a Saturday, my latest brews have all been under done on the fermentables.

For example I did a quick kit brew (Better Brew - Yorkshire Bitter) and only added 500g of sugar which should make the beer about 3.8% My xmas brew is a kit + 500g crystal and 500g base malt, 1 hour mash, no sugar. Should be about 3.5% to 4% I didn't bother checking the gravity. Regardless of what that actually reads it will make beer and that's all I really care about.

 

[RobWalker]

I wonder if heating the beer to drive off the alcohol would work. Similar to mulled wine (without the fruit) which is practically non-alcoholic as the heating process causes most of the alcohol to evaporate out.

Personally as I like to drink beer and not have to worry about having a hang over on a work morning and that I don't drink myself to sleep at 8pm on a Saturday, my latest brews have all been under done on the fermentables.

For example I did a quick kit brew (Better Brew - Yorkshire Bitter) and only added 500g of sugar which should make the beer about 3.8% My xmas brew is a kit + 500g crystal and 500g base malt, 1 hour mash, no sugar. Should be about 3.5% to 4% I didn't bother checking the gravity. Regardless of what that actually reads it will make beer and that's all I really care about.

I saw on heston or hugh fernley (I forget which) that boiling doesn't drive off a lot of alcohol - something like 20% over an hour? And that evaporating is much better. Naturally this isn't really an option for beer as it will oxidize quickly.

As for maltodextrin, most of the sweeteners are made from it - it's the white powder that holds it together. just chuck in as much as you need to sweeten it enough, and that should at least add a little mouthfeel. You can get it pure from health food shops i think.

 

[Riddo]

Cheers, i'll certainly be looking to use maltodextrin in future brews. I tried my brew the other day and it was very weak tasting, but with the 25g columbus hops and the bittering hop oil it tastes a whole lot better. The latest gravity reading is 1.006 from 1.020 which is around 1.8%.

How much extra alcohol is produced by priming? I have heard everything from 0.2 to 0.5%? :wha:

 

[PaulCa]

Depends on how much sugar you add (obviously). It should roughly work out to be 0.2% per 100g (ball park).

 

[hedlander]

Without sounding too simplistic, why not choose a kit beer you think you'll like, empty the can into the fermenter, add yeast (or the other way around) and cold water - omitting sugar which basically only ups the abv and nothing else. Blends, I know make a difference but you'll be surprised at just how nice a 'naked' beer can taste!
You'll end up with an undiluted, full bodied beer ranging from just under 2% to just over 3% dependent upon choice.
I personally stick to lagers with the occasional pale ale in my keg system.
I don't even bother to stir so long as the yeast goes in same time as the malt (in contact with it either on top or below).......once that yeast starts working it stirs the brew for you. And there's hardly any cake left top or bottom!
The added bonus from not stirring is once you've poured a couple of inches of water over the malt you can open the tap full on to add oxygen without the brew foaming up and spilling out.

And it's a lot cheaper!

From the Coopers Website: http://www.coopers.com.au/#/diy-beer/faqs/faqs/?fw3=fi1

Q1.Is there a beer kit suitable for diabetics? How do I make low alcohol beer?

A low alcohol beer (approx 2.5% abv) can be made by using a 1.7kg Beer Kit can mixed to 23 litres and no other sugars. However, please consult your GP on this topic.