Low Alcohol IPA (~3% ABV)

[Futur]

So I want to try and brew a beer with some IPA punch, but doesn't punch me in face. The ability to have a schooner or two during the week without wiping myself out whilst cooking dinner.

I've seen that the mad fermentationist did some work with a low alcohol IPA with some success. So surely we can too right?

Here's my first try at a recipe where I'm really out of my depth, so some critique would be really helpful. Recipe below - pick it to pieces!

Low Alk IPA (3.1% ABV)

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.00 l
Boil Size: 28.56 l
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 26.56 l
Final Bottling Vol: 21.60 l
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Date: 05 Apr 2017
Equipment: Electric Urn (10 Gal/40 L) - BIAB
Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 77.6 %
Taste Rating: 30.0


Mash Ingredients

Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

2.10 kg

Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (7.5 EBC)

Grain

1

55.0 %

0.60 kg

Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC)

Grain

2

15.7 %

0.45 kg

Munich I (Weyermann) (15.0 EBC)

Grain

3

11.8 %

0.45 kg

Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (55.2 EBC)

Grain

4

11.8 %

0.20 kg

Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC)

Grain

5

5.2 %

0.02 kg

Special B Malt (354.6 EBC)

Grain

6

0.5 %

Mash Steps

Name

Description

Step Temperature

Step Time

Saccharification

Add 30.90 l of water at 75.2 C

72.0 C

60 min

Mash Out

Add -0.00 l of water and heat to 78.0 C over 7 min

78.0 C

10 min


Boil Ingredients

Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

5.00 g

Horizon [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min

Hop

7

7.0 IBUs

5.00 g

Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min

Hop

8

2.0 IBUs

5.00 g

Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min

Hop

9

2.1 IBUs

5.00 g

Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min

Hop

10

2.6 IBUs

10.00 g

Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min

Hop

11

2.2 IBUs

10.00 g

Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min

Hop

12

2.3 IBUs

10.00 g

Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min

Hop

13

2.8 IBUs

Steeped Hops

Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

15.00 g

Amarillo [9.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min

Hop

14

4.0 IBUs

15.00 g

Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min

Hop

15

4.4 IBUs

15.00 g

Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min

Hop

16

5.2 IBUs

• Estimated Post Boil Vol: 26.56 l and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.035 SG

Fermentation Ingredients

Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

1.0 pkg

American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml]

Yeast

17

-

• Measure Actual Original Gravity _______ (Target: 1.035 SG)
• Measure Actual Batch Volume _______ (Target: 23.00 l)
• Add water if needed to achieve final volume of 23.00 l

Dry Hop and Bottle/Keg

Dry Hop/Bottling Ingredients

Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

10.00 g

Amarillo [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days

Hop

18

0.0 IBUs

10.00 g

Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days

Hop

19

0.0 IBUs

10.00 g

Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days

Hop

20

0.0 IBUs

 

[Dr_Rocks]

Just for reference (and some beer study) have a look at Bridge Road's Little Bling and Pirate Life's Throwback IPA. Both are low abv percentage but taste delicious.

 

[shacked]

Hard to read with the formatting but I've always boosted body in low ABV / high hopping rate beers with a solid dose of wheat and sometimes rye. I find this helps the beer from becoming too thin. I'd suggest 15 - 25% wheat would be a welcome addition. Consider rye too.

Also consider a clean yeast with lower attenuation than 1056. Have a look at some of the English strains (i generally use whitelabs so the 005 and 002 have worked well and less so the 013 - which is still an awesome yeast). The lower attenuation will also help keep the finished beer from feeling a little too dry or thin.

Or just brew it as is and adjust next time!!!

EDIT: just re-read your post and saw the wheat.

 

[BKBrews]

I just brewed my version of a session IPA (was aiming for 3.5% but it finished at 4.2%). I used Maris Otter, Wheat and 10% medium crystal. I actually contacted bridge road because I love their little bling and this was their suggestion. Also, mash a little higher (I mashed at 68). I went for 35 IBU with a mix of Chinook, galaxy and Amarillo - all added late in the boil with a big hop stand and big dry hop.

 

[GibboQLD]

Messed with a recipe a while back to see if I could figure out a recipe for PL's Throwback IPA -- sadly life got a bit too busy for me to give it a crack, but what I came up with seems to echo what others have suggested so far.

Based my recipe on the information available on the Pirate Life website and adjusted for No Chill:

PL - Throwback IPA (American IPA)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.039
Final Gravity (FG):    1.012
Alcohol (ABV):         3.58 %
Colour (SRM):          17.5
Bitterness (IBU):      36.6   (Tinseth - No Chill Adjusted)

65% Maris Otter
15% Wheat
10% Crystal 60L
10% Carapils

0.6 g/L Simcoe (13% Alpha) @ 40 Minutes (Boil)
0.9 g/L Cascade (7% Alpha) @  0 Minutes (Aroma)
0.9 g/L Crystal (5% Alpha) @  0 Minutes (Aroma)


Single step Infusion at 68°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 16°C with American Ale 1056

 

[Liam_snorkel]

you could cut your mash time down to 30mins at that temp. have a look at discussion for milds, I think Manticle has a tried & true schedule for his dark mild that I have used a couple of times and would be suitable for this.

 

[joshyposhy]

I just brewed my version of a session IPA (was aiming for 3.5% but it finished at 4.2%). I used Maris Otter, Wheat and 10% medium crystal. I actually contacted bridge road because I love their little bling and this was their suggestion. Also, mash a little higher (I mashed at 68). I went for 35 IBU with a mix of Chinook, galaxy and Amarillo - all added late in the boil with a big hop stand and big dry hop.

Mind sharing the hop boil schedule? I'm trying to make a session IPA myself as well with those hops and Columbus.

 

[goatchop41]

My focus in the last year has been to make great low-ish ABV beers with some hop punch, that I can have a couple of on a 'school night' without getting a buzz or exceeding the recommended standard drinks intake. I've had a few absolute crackers at 3-3.5% ABV.
The most important things that I have found (and others have already mentioned most of them):

- Flavourful base malt: MO, golden promise, munich, vienna, etc. There's no role for Pils or pale malt here!
- A good whack of wheat malt (15-25%).
- It doesn't have to have spec. malts, but I have had the best success with 5% of something like aromatic/toffee/special roast malt, even a bit of amber malt.
- Mash high and short: 60-70oC for 30-45 mins
- If you can, keep all of your hops for flameout/whirlpool to maximum flavour and aroma, while still getting your IBUs (I've gone for a BU:GU ratio of about 0.70-0.75). You'll get the most bang for your buck if you just skip the early boil additions all together.
- A dry hop of ~3g/L (I've found more to be too overpowering in comparison to the body of the beer).
- Yeast: I initially went with low-ish attenuating yeasts (WLP004, MJ Empire Ale), but did the last one with MJ New World Strong, and it still only got down to 1.010 (from 1.035). I am assuming that was due to the short, hot mash.

All of mine were no-chill too, heaps of cube hops, as opposed to flameout/whirlpool hops.....still gobs of hop character, despite what people say about not getting that with no-chill!

 

[BKBrews]

Mind sharing the hop boil schedule? I'm trying to make a session IPA myself as well with those hops and Columbus.

Can't remember exactly and I don't have beersmith on this computer, but all of my hops were late additions. I think my first addition was at 5min (may have done a 20min addition but can't remember) and then the rest at flameout for a 30min hopstand above 85 degrees and then a 40min hopstand at 72 degrees with another big dose. dry hop was about 5g/l. Total IBU was 35. Can't really go wrong and it was still one of my best beers to date. That keg got smashed by my mates within about 3 weeks.

 

[RobB]

Download Brewdog's recipe book "DIY Dog" and have a look at "How to Disappear Completely", which they describe as an imperial mild: OG 1.037, FG 1.010 and 198 very theoretical IBU. I was lucky enough to taste one and it was amazing. You'll notice that it has about 30% crystal malts! While this sounds extreme, it's one way of packing in lots of malt flavour when using so little malt to start with.

 

[Lionman]

Download Brewdog's recipe book "DIY Dog" and have a look at "How to Disappear Completely", which they describe as an imperial mild: OG 1.037, FG 1.010 and 198 very theoretical IBU. I was lucky enough to taste one and it was amazing. You'll notice that it has about 30% crystal malts! While this sounds extreme, it's one way of packing in lots of malt flavour when using so little malt to start with.

Is it even possible to hit 1.010 FG with 30% crystal?

And with anything like that level of IBU, wouldn't you want the FG to be a bit higher?

 

[mofox1]

Download Brewdog's recipe book "DIY Dog" and have a look at "How to Disappear Completely", which they describe as an imperial mild: OG 1.037, FG 1.010 and 198 very theoretical IBU. I was lucky enough to taste one and it was amazing. You'll notice that it has about 30% crystal malts! While this sounds extreme, it's one way of packing in lots of malt flavour when using so little malt to start with.

Sounds the way to go. I like the idea of a face puckering flavour punch you can suck down like Gatorade.

As an sort of unsuccessful counter example...

Currently drinking an Irish Red from a (good) previous recipe of mine, where I dropped both the abv and xtal from the original. Despite a highish mash temp (68... okay, it's high for me) it turned out very thin and the lack of body resulted in an unpleasant level of bitterness.

Luckily it was still in the fermenter when I observed this and I managed to salvage the batch. I used another 600 or 700g of a light + dark xtal mix, steeped, boiled and added to the fermenter... End result is okay. Not the best beer, but okay. The extra xtal would have equated to 10% to 15% on top of the original malt bill.

Doing it again at the lower abv (4%) I will definitely be looking at bumping to xtal to at least 15 to 20%... Something I would never have considered with my normal 7%ish abv pales/ipa/etc.

Did something dumb, leaned something new, still resulted in beer. Very lucky win.

 

[shacked]

I've used Gladfield Toffee and Carared in pretty high percentages and they seem to not make the beer too sweet but add some body

 

[manticle]

you could cut your mash time down to 30mins at that temp. have a look at discussion for milds, I think Manticle has a tried & true schedule for his dark mild that I have used a couple of times and would be suitable for this.

My schedule* is 70 for 30 mins. The beer I use it for is malt heavy and low hopped so I can't vouch for it in high hopped beers.

*When I say 'my', I mean the one I use - credit goes to Bribie and Butters for the inspiration'. Sounds like Goatchop has used it for higher hopped beers with success.

 

[schtev]

Messed with a recipe a while back to see if I could figure out a recipe for PL's Throwback IPA

Take a look at my thread with my Throwback recipe. I sent a couple of emails to the brewers for some tips and the beer came out very close to the real thing.