Low in alcool recipe

Hi all,

Reading CAMRA news today, I've found an interesting topic on brewing low in alcool beer and a discussion about the next beer brewing revolution.

I wonder if someone has ever tried to brew such beer.

From my point view I would say that we could brew it using part of fermentable malt, with multiple yeast strains like brettanomyces and saccharomyces. I though, brewing an amber ale could make the beer tastier.

I would like to brew next week so if you have some tips or recipe to share :)
Cheers

Loic

This thread might be helpful: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/low-alcohol-beers.77734/

Contains a few signposts to other useful threads too.

How low do you want to go?

I've a thread from some of my recent experiences here: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/peebees-brewday-low-alcohol-beer.77965/. It's also linked in the thread @-Bezza- posted about. It didn't produce the beer I was aiming at, but did discuss useful techniques and potential pitfalls (better to know about the pitfalls than fall in them like I did!).

That was brewed a while back (July) but a problem with brewing large amounts of 0.5% beer (40L is still my smallest brew length) is it takes a few months to get through! Makes for slow "testing" of new techniques and recipes.

But I've two recipes planned for the next couple of months (ingredients ordered) so expect more scribbling from me soon. It really is bleeding edge stuff, so I'm always encouraging folk doing this - that way I get to hear about new ideas coming in. The next two batches will be a repeat of the last one (0.5% ABV) with a lot less hopping, because it was sound apart from hopping errors, and a 2% ABV rye/wheat based one that @Sadfield posted a link to in one of the threads mentioned above.

Both these beers will also be BIAB jobs utilising the boiler (not mashtun) and full brew length of mashing water (new shortcut for me), and fermentation under "spunding valve" in the dispensing keg (old proven shortcut for me). It will also see me playing with 74C mashes and low attenuating yeast (S-33). And avoid heavy dry-hopping and low IBU boil hops which I think caused me issues last time (the rye recipe is all steep hops and dry hops - no boil hops).

Hi Peebee,

Thanks for this information; your thread is very interesting I will take all of your feeback.

Good ideas, brewing at high temperature, you won’t extract all fermentable sugar but keep a malty aroma and of course playing with yeast.

As your say, using a low attenuation yeat could help, I would like to use multiple strains to add yeast aroma without for example a "Fruity ale" and a "Phenolic". Anyway I look forward to brewing such new recipe.

Cheers have a nice weekend


Loic

Loic said:

… I would like to use multiple strains to add yeast aroma without for example a "Fruity ale" and a "Phenolic". ...

Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother (or do bother to prove me right, or not). Yeasts develop their flavours growing in reaction to all the food. Except in this case … "all the food"? I use dried yeast, about 1/2 11g pack in 20L, and that is over-pitching! Dried yeast is provisioned with as much oxygen as possible during manufacturer, so no need to oxygenate such a low gravity wort either.

Thanks for this advice; I use to brew with 11g for dry yeast like Allemand or safal dry yeast for 15 or 20L batch. I do a filtration after 10 days so I use to remove lot of the yeast before the lagering and bottle the beer.

Let’s try with 1/2 pack of yeast for this time and the S33 :).

My recipe should be ready by Monday, I'm challenging my recipe reading some tips in my favourite book "designing a great beer" for the non-fermentable malts and other temperature steps.

cheers

loic

hello !

I'm moving back to this topic, Big thanks to PEEBEE for sharing your knowledge on this topic.

below all information I gathered from different articles :

Low in alcohol beer is a beer containing alcohol within the range 0.5 to 1.2%

Biological method :

• Yeast with low attenuation like Fermentis S-33
• Concentration 109 cfu/cm3 fermentation at 5 -7 - 12°C for 7 days

Mashing temperatures

• High temperature from 72 to 80°C for Beta amylase
• Low temperature below 60 °C for Alpha amylase

To mashing profile from the study:

• Step 1 - 50°C for 30 min
• Step 2 - from 72 to 77°C for 60 min
• Heating rate average 1.5°C/min

Then tomorrow I'm brewing this :

For a 10 L batch - 12L for mashing and 4L for sparging.

Brown Bristif Low in alcohol Beer

fermentables :

• 1,7kg of Maris Otter
• 0,5kg of Caramalt
• 0,1kg of chocolat mal
• 0,2 of Wheat malt

2 steps

1. 50°C for 20min
2. 72°C for 40min

hops

1. fuggles 10g - 60 min
2. East Kent Golding 10g - 15min
3. fuggle and EK Golding 7g each - 5min
4. East Kent Golding 20g - 1min

S33 fermentation at 13-15°C

If you have any comment ? :)

cheers

Loic

Good luck!

Probably not exactly what I'd do, but I'm a "jump in, both feet" sort and you are probably wise to cling onto bits of what you know when messing with these beers. Yours should beat what I did first - a BrewDog Nanny State clone - which was okay but left one thinking "surely I can do better?". And you should certainly be better off for not following my "technique" of brewing 40L "test" brews (I've got to do something about that).

I think you might have "Alpha" and "Beta" the wrong way round above, but of no consequence to what you are doing.

thanks, Peebee,

Now wait and see, the fermentation temperature is well controlled round 18 and 19°C, might be a little higher than I wanted but never mind I run out of space in fridge.

I was quite indecisive; my heart was balanced between just a quick step like 30min at 30°C for a clearer and light beer or one with lot of B amylase more bodied.

the second try will be better :)