Reducing the ABV of a Great Recipe

[Futur]

I'm a big fan of the Brewing Classic Styles APA Recipe which sits at approximately 5.4%ABV. I'd really like to reduce the ABV on this beer to be able to have a few during a weeknight without regretting it early next morning and not forgetting about the calorie reduction. I'd like to achieve this without reducing the flavour/mouth feel of the recipe.

Has anyone had any luck in doing this so far?

Some of the suggestions I've seen involve:
- Increasing mash temp to maintain FG of the original recipe
- Using a less attenuative yeast
- Using more crystal malts
- Maintain the OG:IBU ratio to maintain balance

To try and maintain the balance I've kept the OG:IBU ratio the same while maintaining the same late hop additions, upped the mash temp to 69C, added some carapils to aid head retention and body and subbed out a portion of pilsner malt for vienna.

I feel like I'm running blind here so if anyone has any pointers that would be great! I'm keen to do this for an IPA in the future, but I think starting with a beer that isn't so big might be an easier feat to begin with.

This is the original APA BCS Recipe:



Jamils APA

American Pale Ale (18 B)

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 21.00 l
Boil Size: 26.00 l
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 23.00 l
Final Bottling Vol: 19.00 l
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage

Date: 01 Jul 2015

Equipment: The Grainfather
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.6 %
Taste Rating: 30.0


Ingredients

12.70 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
5.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
2.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 3 -
0.80 g Salt (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 4 -
0.23 ml Lactic Acid - Sparge Water (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 5 -
4.40 kg Pilsner (Weyermann) (3.3 EBC) Grain 6 83.9 %
0.33 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 7 6.2 %
0.33 kg Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (55.2 EBC) Grain 8 6.2 %
0.20 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 9 3.7 %
29.00 g Horizon [10.10 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 10 34.4 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 11 -
1.00 Items Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) Other 12 -
10.00 g Cascade [9.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 13 3.5 IBUs
6.00 g Centennial [11.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 14 2.6 IBUs
18.00 g Cascade [9.10 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
18.00 g Centennial [11.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 17 -


Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.6 %
Bitterness: 40.5 IBUs
Est Color: 11.0 EBC
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 %
Calories: 475.1 kcal/l


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Grainfather 67C
Sparge Water: 12.53 l
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE
Total Grain Weight: 5.25 kg
Grain Temperature: 25.0 C
Tun Temperature: 25.0 C
Mash PH: 5.40


My modified version:



Jamils APA 4%

American Pale Ale (18 B)

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 21.00 l
Boil Size: 26.00 l
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 23.00 l
Final Bottling Vol: 19.00 l
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage


Date: 01 Jul 2015

Equipment: The Grainfather
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.6 %
Taste Rating: 30.0


Ingredients

12.70 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
5.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
2.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 3 -
0.80 g Salt (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 4 -
0.23 ml Lactic Acid - Sparge Water (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 5 -
1.80 kg Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (5.9 EBC) Grain 6 43.7 %
1.45 kg Pilsner (Weyermann) (3.3 EBC) Grain 7 35.2 %
0.26 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 8 6.2 %
0.26 kg Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (55.2 EBC) Grain 9 6.2 %
0.20 kg Carafoam (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC) Grain 10 4.9 %
0.15 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 11 3.7 %
19.00 g Horizon [10.10 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 12 24.9 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 13 -
1.00 Items Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) Other 14 -
10.00 g Cascade [9.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 15 3.9 IBUs
6.00 g Centennial [11.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 16 2.9 IBUs
18.00 g Cascade [9.10 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 17 0.0 IBUs
18.00 g Centennial [11.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 18 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 19 -


Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.044 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.1 %
Bitterness: 31.6 IBUs
Est Color: 10.3 EBC
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 %
Calories: 475.1 kcal/l

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Grainfather 69C
Sparge Water: 14.68 l
Sparge Temperature: 78.0 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE


Total Grain Weight: 4.12 kg
Grain Temperature: 25.0 C
Tun Temperature: 25.0 C
Mash PH: 5.40

 

[Blind Dog]

Grain bill looks too complicated to me. I brew a lot of 4% and lower beers, including the much maligned (but oh so good) session IPA, and find that for all but the darkest, a simple grain bill of 2 or 3 malts is best or there's just too much going on. If I want a hop forward beer with a decent malt backbone, it's usually 75% pale ale malt, 20% Munich or Vienna and 5% wheat, mashed / main sacc rest at 67. For a session IPA the Munich drops to 10% or less and the wheat increases a little.

I'd also reduce your bittering addition a little so that it contributes more like 50% of the IBUs, and increase the late boil hops to keep the IBUs similar. Rather than keep the FG the same, I'd aim to keep it close and try to keep the FG (rather than OG) to IBU ratio the same.