New member

[Lefty]

New AHB member but been brewing for 4 years, mainly small batch for 9.4 litre kegs using G30 and pressure fermenting in Spike Flex Plus. Member of Hunter United Brewers. Currently on the holy grail to brew a good low ABV/ low Carb beer and overcoming the many obstacles to do this. Have previously brewed most styles with good results but there are always improvements to be made. Look forward to huge amount of experience and knowledge available from forum members.

 

[philrob]

Welcome hayes, enjoy the forum.

 

[AHB_Admin]

Hello and welcome to AHB, enjoy the forum. What are the ABV and Carb levels you want to attain?

 

[Lefty]

1.5-2% ABV and 2-3 carbs/100 mL

 

[AHB_Admin]

1.5-2% ABV and 2-3 carbs/100 mL

Cool, hope you'll be able to achieve it smoothly. Keep us updated?

Thanks for the reply.

 

[AHB_Admin]

Currently on the holy grail to brew a good low ABV/ low Carb beer and overcoming the many obstacles to do this.

1.5-2% ABV and 2-3 carbs/100 mL

Hello Hayes, any updates?

 

[Lefty]

Have brewed a number of Low ABV and NA beers but still searching for that good grain combination that gives the optimum body and mouthfeel given the small grain bills. I'm building with speciality malts first ( biscuit/melanoidins etc, supplementing with flaked barley oats and wheat (not all at the same time) with the base malts added last and using more expressive, less attenuating yeasts-S04, Windsor, Wyeast 1968 and S33. The beers brewed have been very crushable but I'm just looking for something better. Today I did a Parti-gyle beer and used the second runnings for the NA beer component @ 0.5% and have the first runnings as a full strength brew using the same hops and yeast. So it's still a work in progress.

 

[yankinoz]

Low abv and low-carb, with body? Are you trying to rely on dissolved proteins for body? You may hit a ceiling there. In any event melanoidin malts are probably a good choice. Caramel and dextrin malts are standbyes with many brewers of low abv beers but do leave plenty of carbs in the beer.

By definition the less-attenuating yeasts will leave more unfermented sugars., not less.

 

[Lefty]

Yes there is a fine line, Low ABV with high carbs or higher ABV with lower carbs and with some body if that's possible. Somewhere in between is where I'm heading. I'm also playing around with different mash temps, different hops/hop schedules to mask the lack of body. Brewing small batches 9L means I'm brewing regularly and able to experiment.

 

[AHB_Admin]

There's a fine line indeed, an indication that you're almost there? Good luck with your experiments.