Low Carb Home Brew

[Aus_Rider_22]

Hi guys. It's been years since I last posted, glad to be back.

I have had a fairly decent spell off home brewing and moving into my new house I am looking to get back into it and setting up a keg fridge again. I would love nothing more than to get the Crown running again and do some nice all grain brews but I plan to stick on a low-carb lifestyle.

With that in mind my question is, have many people had success with the low carb offerings? In particular this decarb stuff http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/products/DeCarb-Blonde-%252d-2.35kg.html

I am guessing it will be much like my current drinks of choice, Bigheads, Superdry, Blonde. Very dry and lacking in flavour. My idea to combat this is to add late/dry hops to give some taste to the decarb kit. Would this make the beer terribly unbalanced with a lack of malt backbone?

As much as I would love to be able to brew whatever I wanted, I am sticking to low carb and something with a bit more taste than the commercial offerings! It's easy enough buying a carton whenever, but I miss having a keg ready to pour from and the fun in fermenting!

Thanks for any replies

 

[Digga]

Your link is bad well I can't see anything on the phone.
I have used dry enzyme once to create a super dry clone from a k&k type brew and worked out well had 20g of hops at the start of ferment from memory. Came out good and would do again.
http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/products/Dry-Beer-Enzyme-%252d-30ml.html
This isn't the **** I used but does the same thing by the looks. And would be more suited to you then the single use 1 brew packet I used.
Hope this helps.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Thanks for the reply Digga! I am assuming that the decarb kits come with a dry enzyme to ensure they are correct with the low sugar in their nutritional values.

I don't know why the link didn't work

http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/categories/Beer-Brewing/Concentrates/DeCarb-%252d-Low-Carb-Beers/

 

[killspice]

Keep in mind that the calorie per ml in the low carb beers is virtually identical to regular beers, it is just alcohol molecules not carbohydrates.
I am not a dietician but apparently alcohol is metabolised before other sugars in the blood, so there may be a slight net benefit to lower carb beers, but it is basically a marketing gimmick, like low fat products loaded with sugar.

 

[pcmfisher]

Keep in mind that the calorie per ml in the low carb beers is virtually identical to regular beers, it is just alcohol molecules not carbohydrates.
I am not a dietician but apparently alcohol is metabolised before other sugars in the blood, so there may be a slight net benefit to lower carb beers, but it is basically a marketing gimmick, like low fat products loaded with sugar.

Alcohol and carbs have similar calories but calories per ml won't be the same if they both have the same amount of alcohol.

If both beers have 5% abv and one is low carb, the low carb one will have less calories.

They start off with a lower gravity (less ingredients - more money for the big breweries), it ferments out more, finishing at a lower gravity giving less carbs but ending up with the same alcohol.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Keep in mind that the calorie per ml in the low carb beers is virtually identical to regular beers, it is just alcohol molecules not carbohydrates.
I am not a dietician but apparently alcohol is metabolised before other sugars in the blood, so there may be a slight net benefit to lower carb beers, but it is basically a marketing gimmick, like low fat products loaded with sugar.

I should have stated in my original post that I am not interested in people trying to state diet related advice. I know what works for me, I have shed 75kg and counting since I last posted a thread on here about my last all grain brew day some 4 years ago. I couldn't care less about the calorie content of beer, it's the carbohydrates that matter for me. Not having a go or aiming this at your killspice. I had searched for previous threads regarding low carb and had to laugh at many of the responses about ill-informed advice regarding carbs and was hoping this wouldn't turn into that

You are correct, the body switches to using alcohol for fuel above anything else when it's consumed, and it also doesn't get stored as glycogen like carbs do which is a small positive! I also agree about point of low-fat products being a gimmick of marketing and unfortunately bad science from many years ago! They are packed full of sugar. :thumbsup I have lost all my weight with no extra exercise, just high fat and low carb diet! Didn't want to go off onto a tangent but maybe it will explain why I am interested in making my own low carb beer! It's gotta taste better than Bigheads, surely!

 

[GalBrew]

You can produce a low carb beer without resorting to enzymes, through recipe design and mashing schedule.

 

[Charst]

Ive been thinking about trying to produce a Low carb beer for a while.

Im planning a Saison with a Characterfull Base malt like Bohemian Pils or Marris Otter or Vienna, Mash for 90 mins @ 62-63. Aiming for 4% and assuming attenuation of 85-90% with a Wyyeast 3711 the carbs left in the beer should be minimal, and the total calories lowish.
Let yeast count and late hops be the interesting components of the beer, 3711 leaves a nice impression of body even with a FG sub 1.005.

 

[user 25501]

6 Potato cakes, 5 fried dim sims, hot dog in batter, $5 of chips and a diet coke.

 

[JDW81]

6 Potato cakes, 5 fried dim sims, hot dog in batter, $5 of chips and a diet coke.

High fat and high carb.

 

[technobabble66]

I'd go with what Galbrew and Charst mentioned.
Mash low and long.
Use high attenuating yeasts - namely Belgian yeasts, as the extra flavour they add compensate for having a lighter body. And they're just awesome!

I wonder if using a little oats, rye or wheat might help add body without increasing the carb level too much - from extra proteins and gums (sort of carbs unfortunately).

So a nice Ale+Wheat+Rye Belgian saison mashed at 62-3*c for 70mins, plus at 20min step at 72*C. Fermented at >25*c.
Yum. O.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it. It has the gears turning in my head of how to attack it. Cheers!

 

[Bribie G]

75K ??? sheeeyuutt :blink:

Before and after photos or it didn't happen

 

[Blind Dog]

Don't suppose you like cider? Just a thought.

Otherwise I'd be thinking saison as a fairly obvious choice.

And congrats on the weight loss. If it works for you, it works for you

 

[Danscraftbeer]

With no additives in mind I tried to make an all grain light beer. Target was 3.5% and low carb. OG = 1.040 (higher than expected) It finished at 1.002. (lower than expected) Not as to plan but a low carb 5% beer and it was quaffable/ gulpable :chug:The yeast was a dry sachet (common shelf home brew kit stuff) oh stuff it! It was Coopers Dry Yeast! recycled from a previous brew that worked well. One of those one off things maybe. I'll have to try it again sometime. It was a light grain bill. Mash started at 64c to 60c over 3 hours. Sparged well with Melbourne tap water and no additives at all. It was when I was very newbie to all grain. Just sharing notes here on the surbject. B)

 

[roastinrich]

I d also recommend wyeast 3711 yeast as is consumes a scheiße load of fermentables. Add some extra rye and late hops to the mix and you end up with with more body extra flavour and low carbs. WIN WIN. Caveat - need to appreciate Belgian Phenolics.

 

[Alchomist]

How does one measure the carb content?

I'd like to see a low carb recipe if anyone has one.

 

[JDW81]

How does one measure the carb content?

I'd like to see a low carb recipe if anyone has one.

On a home-brew scale it would be nigh on impossible to quantify the total sugar/carbohydrate content of a beer. You'd basically be making assumptions based on OG, FG and alcohol content.

As mentioned above, going for a low carb home brew would involve mashing at a low temp for 90-120 minutes then fermenting with a high attenuating yeast to convert those fermentables into ETHOH.

JD

 

[TheWiggman]

Didn't want to go off onto a tangent but maybe it will explain why I am interested in making my own low carb beer! It's gotta taste better than Bigheads, surely!

That shouldn't be too hard
Ultimately low carb will be low FG. Considering the weight loss journey are you interested in doing a mid strength? A dry mid strength will by its very nature have low carbs, and it you'll achieve a lower FG with a low SG. That being said, a flavoursome low gravity/%ABV is hard to achieve - you can't just throw more hops in and get a balanced beer.
I agree with the above posters about using a Belgian yeast. Wyeast 3787 produces loads of flavour, ferments like it's D-day and finishes low. A Patersbier using 100% pils, 17 IBU of Saaz and late Hallertau will give you a very tasty beer.

 

[Leviathan]

I tried keto for a month, dropped an easy 10kg with zero exercise or starvation but couldn't continue having nothing but bigheads beer forever. Great work on the loss mate.