What's Your Fav Low Alcohol Recipe?

[mb83]

Help me lower my alcohol intake without lowering my beer intake.

Cheers,

Michael

 

[razz]

I'm planning Doc's "Yardglass session lite" for my next brew. It's in the recipeDB.

 

[buttersd70]

Brewing low alc beer that still has body and flavour can be a bit of a challenge....one I set myself some time ago. Particularly if you want to use a certain yeast, for the flavour, but it is normally fairly high in attenuation. The hard part is getting the malt flavour and body to remain. In order to do that, you really need to lower the limit of attenuation.....
So, with help from others on this forum (MHB in particular), I came up with the following.(which due to the smaller grain bill, is easily done as a double batch, even in equipment that normally doesn't allow for doubles.). This is a german technique, called in english, jump mashing.

JW trad ale 88%
caraaroma 6%
carafa special 1 6%

OG 1028

mash in at 1.2-1.5 (no thats not a typo) L/kg to 35C. Just enough water to fully wet the grain.
hold for 20 min
add boiling water to bring to 72C. Make sure you are not under. (very important. If under 70C, it will attenuate too far and be watery. 72C-74C is perfect.)
Hold for 45 minutes.
Mash out to 77C, using the full volume of water. (ie, it's a no sparge.) Hold for 10min and drain.

90 minute boil
hop with fuggle (or fuggle/styrian equaly) at 1g/L for 20 min
bitter for 60 with fuggle, northern brewer, target, or challenger
hop to total 18IBU

ferment 18C with nottingham (or 1275 or 1469).

I now get consistant 1010 fg using this method, even with a fairly high attenuater like nottingham. The first one I did ended at 1008, and was a bit thin at temps under 9C.....but I could knock 10 Pints back and not feel it.

Its very imprtant imo not to over hop. The malt flavour is fairly low due to the small OG, so even if you manage to keep the body in, the flavour is still quite low. Overhopping will kill any malt flavour.

Currently have one I just kegged which was 1030/1010....(2.3%), and if you didn't know it was so low in alc, you'd never ever guess.

I find that in a 55L esky, all the water additions basically take it to the top of the esky, if I'm doing enough for a 42L final volume. Easy, quick catch up beer to fill kegs in a hurry.

 

[staggalee]

Brewing low alc beer that still has body and flavour can be a bit of a challenge....one I set myself some time ago. Particularly if you want to use a certain yeast, for the flavour, but it is normally fairly high in attenuation. The hard part is getting the malt flavour and body to remain. In order to do that, you really need to lower the limit of attenuation.....
So, with help from others on this forum (MHB in particular), I came up with the following.(which due to the smaller grain bill, is easily done as a double batch, even in equipment that normally doesn't allow for doubles.). This is a german technique, called in english, jump mashing.

JW trad ale 88%
caraaroma 6%
carafa special 1 6%

OG 1028

mash in at 1.2-1.5 (no thats not a typo) L/kg to 35C. Just enough water to fully wet the grain.
hold for 20 min
add boiling water to bring to 72C. Make sure you are not under. (very important. If under 70C, it will attenuate too far and be watery. 72C-74C is perfect.)
Hold for 45 minutes.
Mash out to 77C, using the full volume of water. (ie, it's a no sparge.) Hold for 10min and drain.

90 minute boil
hop with fuggle (or fuggle/styrian equaly) at 1g/L for 20 min
bitter for 60 with fuggle, northern brewer, target, or challenger
hop to total 18IBU

ferment 18C with nottingham (or 1275 or 1469).

I now get consistant 1010 fg using this method, even with a fairly high attenuater like nottingham. The first one I did ended at 1008, and was a bit thin at temps under 9C.....but I could knock 10 Pints back and not feel it.

Its very imprtant imo not to over hop. The malt flavour is fairly low due to the small OG, so even if you manage to keep the body in, the flavour is still quite low. Overhopping will kill any malt flavour.

Currently have one I just kegged which was 1030/1010....(2.3%), and if you didn't know it was so low in alc, you'd never ever guess.

I find that in a 55L esky, all the water additions basically take it to the top of the esky, if I'm doing enough for a 42L final volume. Easy, quick catch up beer to fill kegs in a hurry.

Any chance of coming up with an xtract recipe in it`s place? I`ve done a couple all malt with carapils , por hops and dry hopped with Cascade, us56 yeast at 18*, but they just lacked any "bite" and seemed a bit watery.
35* under the pergola here today, just too bloody hot for full strength beers.

stagga.

 

[buttersd70]

Any chance of coming up with an xtract recipe in it`s place? I`ve done a couple all malt with carapils , por hops and dry hopped with Cascade, us56 yeast at 18*, but they just lacked any "bite" and seemed a bit watery.
35* under the pergola here today, just too bloody hot for full strength beers.

stagga.

Stagga
the problem with it is that for extract, the mash is done.....with the AG you have control. THe Jump mash is outside the "normal" parameters of a mash, which is normally at 60-70C. The hotter the mash, the more dextrins are produced, which lowers the fermentability. It's so much harder with extract, you need to lower the fermentability in other ways......give me a bit of time, and I'll work on it, see what I can come up with.

One thing I forgot to mention in my post, is the no-sparge will reduce efficiency.....so work on 10% lower efficiency than what your used to..

 

[staggalee]

Stagga
the problem with it is that for extract, the mash is done.....with the AG you have control. THe Jump mash is outside the "normal" parameters of a mash, which is normally at 60-70C. The hotter the mash, the more dextrins are produced, which lowers the fermentability. It's so much harder with extract, you need to lower the fermentability in other ways......give me a bit of time, and I'll work on it, see what I can come up with.

One thing I forgot to mention in my post, is the no-sparge will reduce efficiency.....so work on 10% lower efficiency than what your used to..

10/4
Gracias.

stagga.

 

[dicko]

Hi all,

This is one I make from time to time.
Don't be frightened of the amount of Carapils as it does come out OK.
If you use the lager yeast you need to give it time to mature (lager)
I have done it with US 56 and it is good.
It is actually a mid strength but at least it doesn't belt you in the head when you least expect it.

Cheers



LINCOLN LITE LAGER

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 51.00 Wort Size (L): 51.00
Total Grain (kg): 7.58
Anticipated OG: 1.035 Plato: 8.67
Anticipated EBC: 10.5
Anticipated IBU: 17.4
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 13.00 L Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 64.00 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.028 SG 6.95 Plato

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.3 0.02 kg. JWM Roast Barley Australia 1.036 1400
79.2 6.00 kg. Bairds Marris Otter Ale Malt England 1.038 7
20.5 1.55 kg. Caramel Pils Malt Belgium 1.034 4

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
60.00 g. HALLERTAU Pellet 4.50 17.4 60 min.


Yeast
-----

Fermentis 34 /70 German Lager





Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step

Grain kg: 7.58
Water Qts: 20.91 - Before Additional Infusions
Water L: 19.79 - Before Additional Infusions

L Water Per kg Grain: 2.61 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 67 Time: 60
Mash-out Rest Temp : 72 Time: 20
Sparge Temp : 78 Time: 40


Total Mash Volume L: 24.85 - Dough-In Infusion Only

All temperature measurements are degrees Celsius.

 

[3G]

JW trad ale 88%
caraaroma 6%
carafa special 1 6%

OG 1028

mash in at 1.2-1.5 (no thats not a typo) L/kg to 35C. Just enough water to fully wet the grain.
hold for 20 min
add boiling water to bring to 72C. Make sure you are not under. (very important. If under 70C, it will attenuate too far and be watery. 72C-74C is perfect.)
Hold for 45 minutes.
Mash out to 77C, using the full volume of water. (ie, it's a no sparge.) Hold for 10min and drain.

Looks good Butters, will have to add to the list.

 

[reg]

I'm planning Doc's "Yardglass session lite" for my next brew. It's in the recipeDB.

Got this in the keg at the moment.
Havent tried yet just need to carb up.

but I hope its a good session beer for those hot days.

Will let you know my thoughts after the weekend trial session..

 

[buttersd70]

Looks good Butters, will have to add to the list.

As I said, just make sure the strike isn't under, and all is good. I did this as an experiment more than anything, but have done it 4 times now. An easy drinker.

Would probably work well with some melanoiden or a hefty whack of munich in there, as well. One thing Ive found with the sub 1030 OGs is that the malt flavour is pretty subdued....

The technique was actually developed in Berlin in the early part of last century for low alc lagers...but haven't tried a lager version of it yet. If I did, I'd probably push the OG up slightly, to low 30's.

If you're going to the next AMB meeting I'll probably have some tasters with me, cos I've just kegged one.

 

[buttersd70]

Oh, I just realised....
No-sparge on the jumpmash is only needed if you are going to do a concentrated boil for a double batch. (ie grain for 2, water for 1, hop for 2 then dilute to the fermenter)

If doing a standard single batch (or if your boiler is big enough for a double batch), just mash out to 77, and batch sparge as normal.

 

[muckanic]

Some general ideas about making low alc beers seem bigger than they really are:

1. As has already been mentioned, generous amounts of crystal/caramel malt are the go. Both for boosting malt flavour and for increasing the terminal gravity. It's hard to emulate this with pale brews, but corn syrups and the like can help.

2. You also want body. Look no further than malted wheat or rye. Unmalted ingredients have the disadvantage of less flavor for the viscosity.

3. Fermentation technique. For ales, ferment it warm and at a high gravity to get the ester content up, even if you have to dilute it later.

4. Hop aroma techniques can add to the illusion of body.

 

[yardy]

this is my low alc (sort of) that came out pretty good, i think the combo of the highish mash temp and TFFM Marris Otter is the key, imho.

TFFM Summer Ale 25lt

3.200 TFFM MO 80%
.500 Wey Wheat 12.5%
.100 Melanoidian 2.5%
.100 Pale Crystal 2.5%
.100 Caraaroma 2.5%

Single Infusion @ 69*C
Mash Out @ 77*C

All Northern Brewer to 24 IBU 60 / 20 / 10 additions

Nottingham @ 17*C

Yard

 

[samhighley]

TFFM

For anyone wondering, TFFM stands for "Thomas Fawcetts Floor Malted".

I've only recently discovered this for myself.

Sam