I'll give it a follow :-)
Low alcohol beers
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Pulled the trigger on 8 stout and 8 pale from Beer Hawk :-). I'll definitely leave feedback for you. Thanks for the heads up.
Norfolk79
Legendary Beer Drinker
Adnams now do a low (0.5%) version of Ghost Ship. Can't vouch as to what it's like as I haven't tried it.
https://cellarandkitchen.adnams.co....es/8x500ml-ghost-ship-alcohol-free-05-bottles
https://cellarandkitchen.adnams.co....es/8x500ml-ghost-ship-alcohol-free-05-bottles
Dutto
Landlord.
Ouch!
peebee
Out of Control
It didn't actually hurt! I'd drink it but it wasn't great (the sort of cardboard in brown packing boxes, damp, sitting outside the house waiting for the bin men).
My brother came by the other week and tried some of my Nanny State clone and immediately said "citrus … is it grapefruit?". I used to be able to do that six months ago, but I can't now. Is this going to be the way with these heavily dry hopped so-called "craft" beers (like the Brewdog beers)?
(EDIT: I hope not. I, like lots of others, have developed quite a taste for these New World hops. It may only be the older varieties like the American "four Cs"?).
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rank_frank
Active Member
I made some low alcohol beers a few years ago with some success. Basically I took a beer recipe and scaled it down to 1.5-2% alcohol. Then I mashed at 72C and took the first runnings only, no sparge, and diluted back up to full volume with water prior to boil. I ended up with very tasty beer at 1.2% abv. The technique worked well for a Guinness clone and an IPA but not well for bitter which was a bit bland.
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stz
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table/small beer is a thing. Cloudwater have been doing some quite nice ones. Magic rock recently did micromachine which was perfectly pleasent. It really depends on how low alcohol you are talking and which angle you want to approach it from. Standard table/small beer is just a very low abv beer. Techniques such as using a low attenuating yeast, mashing high, using speciality malts for sweetness, using actual maltodextrine powder etc can give a good body and character in a 2.5% beer, even an IPA. These beers are built around being that low abv. If you want a 0.5% beer then your mileage may vary using these methods. My understanding is these beers are heated gently to drive off the ethanol. These beers are industrially processed to be that low abv and results may be terrible on a homebrew scale. I can imagine it is certainly done filtered and off the yeast. Alcohol adds a lot of body and mouthfeel so I'd prefer to design it up front to be low alcohol, rather than trying to do terrible things to a normal one. I guess you could primary ferment, crash and rack to secondary, crash and transfer carefully to a pot for warming, heat gently over time until finger in the air stuff. Transfer back and dry hop, add fresh yeast and some priming sugar then package. You'd probably get an oxidised mess, industrially this would all be done filtered, heated, force carbonated and packaged in an inert atmosphere.
rank_frank
Active Member
Agreed. I did try boiling the alcohol off a normal brew but the result tasted foul and still had enough alcohol to make me feel the effects.
I think that commercial brewers of alcohol free beer use reverse osmosis to remove the alcohol to avoid the oxidation issues.
I think that commercial brewers of alcohol free beer use reverse osmosis to remove the alcohol to avoid the oxidation issues.
peebee
Out of Control
You are thinking very "conventional" brewing, and brewing 0.5% beer is not conventional! There is a growing numbers of "brewed" 0.5% commercial beers appearing (not made by having alcohol driven or drawn out by some industrial process) and as home-brewers we should be able to encompass these processes.
I'm quite happy that the methods I have developed so far which dispenses with all this "primary" and "secondary" fermenter business (it's fermented in the keg, and could be bottled from one). There's a bit more fermentables than is necessary for carbonation hence I use "spunding" valves. And dry hopping is begun on day one, there is no point waiting for a barely existent primary fermentation to finish. My low-alcohol beers are subject to much less oxygen than my "conventional" beers, I don't even aerate the wort at the beginning (that approach does mean I must use dried brewing yeast), so there is no chance of an "oxidised mess". But, probably because I've come at it from the "Brewdog Nanny State" angle *, there is plenty I want to play about with regarding body and sweetness (I'll look into maltodextrin to replace the lactose I am using, play more with low-attenuating yeasts like S-33 mentioned in an earlier post, and probably break out of the "don't get the mash hotter than 69C" mentality and try 70-74C like some others are doing).
(EDIT: * The DIYDog recipe for Nanny State has a reasonable "grain bill" but recommends a very attenuative yeast - US-05 - and normal mash temperatures. The flavours, as is Brewdog's way, all come from using loads of hops.).
(EDIT-2: Whoops, sorry, use of low-attenuating S-33 was mentioned in a different thread, the one I linked earlier).
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Sadfield
Landlord.
No elaborate processes needed. Take all the advice in brewing standard strength beers and turn it on its head.
So...
Don't use more than 20% Crystal as it it'll be cloying sweet.
Don't mash above 69c as your wort will be unfermentable.
Go easy with speciality malts, a little goes a long way.
Limit the use of high beta-glucan grains like Rye, Oats and wheat, that cause stuck mashes and oily viscose worts.
....all become your friend, in the avoidance of water beer.
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So...
Don't use more than 20% Crystal as it it'll be cloying sweet.
Don't mash above 69c as your wort will be unfermentable.
Go easy with speciality malts, a little goes a long way.
Limit the use of high beta-glucan grains like Rye, Oats and wheat, that cause stuck mashes and oily viscose worts.
....all become your friend, in the avoidance of water beer.
Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk
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BassoonBrew
Supporter
Have been drinking this occasionally at my local 'Spoons. It's not half bad, and recognisably similar to the full-fat Ghost Ship. It's also a sensible price (actually cheaper than I can buy it online..).
One hint, though, DON'T have it after you've just had something very hoppy - it'll seem tasteless! (yep, did that last night)
Dutto
Landlord.
Maybe Reverse Osmosis is the bit where Heineken state
"Step 3 - We gently remove the alcohol by a natural process"
Always assuming that passing the alcohol through a semi-permeable membrane at a very high pressure can be classed as "natural".
Maybe Reverse Osmosis is the bit where Heineken state
"Step 3 - We gently remove the alcohol by a natural process"
Always assuming that passing the alcohol through a semi-permeable membrane at a very high pressure can be classed as "natural".
Pissing in a bottle would however be classed as a natural process.
simon12
Landlord.
Does anyone know what its like if you just made or diluted it to the FG and just don't add yeast or ferment it just force carb it what its like?
Dutto
Landlord.
Never diluted a wort to the FG but I always taste the sample that I take for the OG.
It's usually very sweet, very bitter and something that I reckon is worth tasting, so that I can fully appreciate the finished product! :thumb:
peebee
Out of Control
I wouldn't do it. We rely on fermentation to create all sorts of weird flavours that make up what we recognise as "beer"; by skipping the process you end up with "pop" (or soda, or whatever you want to call the stuff). And then it all has to move to a different forum too! In normal beer making there is always someone reminding us that a large percentage of the flavour is due to the yeast, so definitely want some of that in the low-alcohol offerings.
simon12
Landlord.
I wouldn't expect it to be great but would it be like/as good as other low/no alcohol beer or just nothing like beer?
rank_frank
Active Member
It's hard to know without trying it. I've tasted the wort of normal strength beer before fermentation that tasted terrible but after a couple of weeks of fermentation tasted great. I'd suspect that watered down wort would lack all the residual sugars and other tastes that make up beer. I wouldn't do it
simon12
Landlord.
It would have the correct sugar and bitterness but would lack any yeast or alcohol flavour. I have a carbonation cap somewhere so will give it a go with a bottle when I get a chance but am busy at the moment opening a new micropub.
Sadfield
Landlord.
Mmmm.....cold, bitter, watery ovaltine.
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