Light Beer

[damianjthorpe]

G'day Brewers,

Am having trouble tracking down a thread on brewing low alcholic content beer (aka light). I wouldn't bother with this for myself, :icon_vomit: but both my step-father and almost father-in-law enjoy the light beers.

I would imagine that adding less ME's or sugars would do the trick, but what about the amount of yeast pitched?

Anyways, if someone could kindly point me in the direction of some info I'd greatly appreciate it.

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

 

[Midnight Brew]

G'day Brewers,

Am having trouble tracking down a thread on brewing low alcholic content beer (aka light). I wouldn't bother with this for myself, :icon_vomit: but both my step-father and almost father-in-law enjoy the light beers.

I would imagine that adding less ME's or sugars would do the trick, but what about the amount of yeast pitched?

Anyways, if someone could kindly point me in the direction of some info I'd greatly appreciate it.

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

I for me brewing light beer I use the standard amount of yeast as you would for any other batch and less malt extract.

I recently made up a a pretty nice light beer from the clearance sales of the homebrew section in coles and made this:

Total Volume 25 litres
OG: 1.030

FG: 1.014

Alc%: 2.7%





1.7kg Tin of goop (Mine was Tooheys Draught)
200g Cystal Malt (60 EBC)
35g Chinook (Mine were homegrown flowers but just bitter to what you desire and hop of choice)
US-05

I conditioned in a second fermenter for 10 days then bottled. Had a 6 pack of it last night and it was pretty nice considering it cost be about $7 to brew and had been bottled 5 weeks ago.

Hope that helps

Cheers

 

[milob40]

G'day Brewers,

Am having trouble tracking down a thread on brewing low alcholic content beer (aka light). I wouldn't bother with this for myself, :icon_vomit: but both my step-father and almost father-in-law enjoy the light beers.

I would imagine that adding less ME's or sugars would do the trick, but what about the amount of yeast pitched?

Anyways, if someone could kindly point me in the direction of some info I'd greatly appreciate it.

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

a quick and easy is 1 can of goop and 250g of dextrose.
you can add a bit of light dry malt if you want to give it a smoother mouth feel

 

[manticle]

You need to increase the unfermentables while decreasing the fermentables. Less dme/dex but replace some of it with maltodextrin or steep some cara-pils. That way you will still have a full bodied, low alc beer.

As for yeast amounts, use the Mr Malty pitching calculator based on your Original Gravity reading.

 

[damianjthorpe]

G'day Brewers,

Thanks for the rapid responses, all very helpful. I found Mr Malty's Pitching Calculator here.

Now all I need to do is find the right kit or extract and non-fermentables to get me the following characteristics: Australian malted barley and aroma hops, and is an extemely light beer with a clean, dry finish. Any ideas?

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

 

[Midnight Brew]

G'day Brewers,

Thanks for the rapid responses, all very helpful. I found Mr Malty's Pitching Calculator here.

Now all I need to do is find the right kit or extract and non-fermentables to get me the following characteristics: Australian malted barley and aroma hops, and is an extemely light beer with a clean, dry finish. Any ideas?

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

Hmmmm Hahn Premium Light?

I'd imagine this would get you in the ball park then experiment from there.

Hahn Premium Light 25 Litres
1.35kg Light DME
250g-300g Crystal Malt 60 EBC
Bittering with Magnum to 10-15 IBU or 20-25 for full flavour
Finish with Hallertau
US-05? for Ale at 18C

1.024
1.007
2.7%

Condition for 4-6 weeks in bottle.

Haha might try brew it myself. Hope this helps.

Cheers

 

[damianjthorpe]

Hmmmm Hahn Premium Light?

I'd imagine this would get you in the ball park then experiment from there.

Hahn Premium Light 25 Litres
1.35kg Light DME
250g-300g Crystal Malt 60 EBC
Bittering with Magnum to 10-15 IBU or 20-25 for full flavour
Finish with Hallertau
US-05? for Ale at 18C

1.024
1.007
2.7%

Condition for 4-6 weeks in bottle.

Haha might try brew it myself. Hope this helps.

Cheers

G'day Brewers,

Nice work with the guess DM! Thanks for the recipe; looks like a winner. Will give it a try soon...starting to think I need another fermenter!!!!

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

 

[Impy]

Fantastic thread with some great ideas. Normally I wouldn't drink light beer but I've been finding my high gravity high hopped beers are too heavy (and expensive) to be drinking after work. I'll be interested if something with low alcohol but still a nice taste can be homebrewed unlike the watery commercial beers.

I've just ordered..

1.7L Coopers Australian Pale Ale LME
200g Crystal Malt
Safale US-05 dry yeast.

I've got some cascade hops that i'll use mainly for aroma.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Fantastic thread with some great ideas. Normally I wouldn't drink light beer but I've been finding my high gravity high hopped beers are too heavy (and expensive) to be drinking after work. I'll be interested if something with low alcohol but still a nice taste can be homebrewed unlike the watery commercial beers.

I've just ordered..

1.7L Coopers Australian Pale Ale LME
200g Crystal Malt
Safale US-05 dry yeast.

I've got some cascade hops that i'll use mainly for aroma.

I love my light beers after work and the great thing about them is they are refreshing and full flavoured bit like a lawnmower beer. That sounds like a good recipe. I have a tin of tooheys goop somewhere and I think I might try a similar recipe. Ive got a few light beers on the go now but only tasted one and it was DELISHIOUS!

Dickman

 

[Impy]

I love my light beers after work and the great thing about them is they are refreshing and full flavoured bit like a lawnmower beer. That sounds like a good recipe. I have a tin of tooheys goop somewhere and I think I might try a similar recipe. Ive got a few light beers on the go now but only tasted one and it was DELISHIOUS!

Dickman

I mixed it up and put it in the fermenter on Monday, easy as!

I put 10g of Cascade in with the Crystal as it steeped and 15g dry hop into the fermenter (yes I like hops and dry hopping for aroma is my new favourite thing)

OG: 1.024 (hit the nail on the head using the Kit & Extract spreadsheet)
Predicted FG: 1.006

I'll be interesting to see how it turns out. The crystal malt really bumped up the EBC & will hopefully give the beer a bit more body comercial light beers lack.

 

[Munut]

May as well add my two bob for something to do. Made this one for my misses. She says it tastes watered down but I think that's just cause she's used to my full strength offerings. Its much more flavour full than shop brought light beers IMO.

Light Bright Ale​

21 Liters
Rehydrate Saf US05 yeast in 100ml of boiled water cooled to < 30C



Steep 200g Crystal 30mins @ 65-75C


HOPS add

Saaz 12g 45 Mins
Cascade 12g 45 Mins
Saaz 15g 15 Mins
Cascade 15g 15 Mins
Saaz 20g 0 Mins
Cascade 20g 0 Mins


LME Light 1.7kg

Dex 0.3 kg

MaltoDextrin 0.3kg

Predicted

OG 1.036 IBU 24.8
FG 1.011 EBC 2.9
%alc Keg 3.2 Bottle 3.6

BREWERS NOTES

Yeast pitched @ 25C
Fermented @18


OG 1034
FG 1011

Yeast Att: 68%
3.1% Alc/Vol

 

[Clemo]

ive made this a few times and quite liked it;

2 fermenters.
3 kits of coopers lager.
1 and a half kits in each fermenter.
2 litres boiling water/21 litres cold water.
1 satchet of yeast for each fermenter.
Wait, bottle, drink.

Best to wait at least a month in the bottle before drinking though. I tried it after 2 weeks and it tastes terrible.

 

[damianjthorpe]

G'day Brewers,

I started the brew Midnight suggested. After I steeped the grain and sparged it, I gave the muslin bag a bit of a squeeze to remove excess liquid. After blending in the DME and making up the wort to 23L, the OG measurement was 1.036. Pretty high compared to the expected 1.022 (as per Kit & Extract Calculator excel).

So my questions are:

- Is the high OG a result of me squeezing the grain bag?
- Can I halt the fermenting to keep the FG high and the final %alc low?

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

 

[manticle]

Are you sure you read the hydrometer correctly? Did you take a second sample (discard/drink the first)?

If it is still too high, dilute with a few litres of boiled, cooled water

 

[damianjthorpe]

G'day Brewers,

Thanks for the rapid response manticle. 90% confident I read the hydrometer correctly, but only took one reading. I have already pitched the yeast and fermentation has started, can I still add the boiled & cooled water?

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

 

[manticle]

Yes.

It will dilute the flavour, so only do it if you are sure that the gravity was too high and that that, combined with the finishing gravity will give you a too high abv. If you added unfermentables, you will get a fuller bodied beer but the finishing gravity will be higher, giving a lower ABV.

 

[Impy]

I've been trying the light beer I made (http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=50927&view=findpost&p=725364) The dry hopping of cascade was probably a little too much and give it a bit of an overpowering grassy taste. Comparing the early tastes to the later ones the taste is mellowing out a bit, I recon after a month or so i'll have a great light beer for quaffing after work!

 

[Midnight Brew]

G'day Brewers,

I started the brew Midnight suggested. After I steeped the grain and sparged it, I gave the muslin bag a bit of a squeeze to remove excess liquid. After blending in the DME and making up the wort to 23L, the OG measurement was 1.036. Pretty high compared to the expected 1.022 (as per Kit & Extract Calculator excel).

So my questions are:

- Is the high OG a result of me squeezing the grain bag?
- Can I halt the fermenting to keep the FG high and the final %alc low?

Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

The recipe was for 25 litres not 23L, so you get a little extra. I ended up with 1028 OG and 1013 FG. Bottling tomorrow cant wait for a taste. Should be nice after 4 weeks in bottle.

Cheers

Midnight Brew

 

[Bucko]

Hey guys,

been reading all these posts. All sounds good.

But, I have a question.
My fathers in law is a fellow brewer, but he just enjoys his regular kit purchased from the local Big W, as in a Tooheys Draught. He is early 70's and the doctor has told him he is border line diabetic.
Plus, he has to reduce his beer intake. Arrrrgh, he says not doing that. So, next best thing is to brew diabetic friendly beer.
Now, we now he has to add less sugar to his beer, but, with what is available at Big W, is there anything else he could use to still produce a decent beer? The closest home brew shop is an hours drive away.
Knowing he is not going to venture too far out of the square. We have to utilise what we have close by.

Can anyone give some ideas please?

Cheers,
Bucko.

 

[kelbygreen]

bucko have you thought of online stores? sure there is postage but if you go in with a buy with him and get a bit delivered to your door then its not to bad price. I would just keep adding things you need till it tips over to the next postage bracket and take something out so you get the most in one package without paying heaps of postage for a few items. It may take a bit of adding and subtracting to the cart to start with but once you know the postage limits you should be fine if you stick to them.