Beer Newbie - Lowering ABV in kits

[lewysapllyn]

Hi all,

I'm totally new to beer, though I've a bit of experience with cider and fruit wine from a few years ago, so understand general brewing ideas.

I'm thinking of starting my exploration of beer using one of the inexpensive Wilko kits, likely a bitter or something like that. I.e: Caxton Best Bitter

I notice, however, that the kits suggest that they will brew out to 4.8% ABV, which is a bit on the strong side for me. I'm curious as to whether halving the amount of sugar that goes in will lead to a rough halving of the ABV? I've seen some other threads on this forum which suggests reducing sugar content rather than increasing water content in order to keep a decent flavour, but reduce ABV. Does anyone have any experience of this and could give some advice?

A secondary question is that I've seen threads mentioning cold-crashing. I've yet to read up on this fully, but I know for a fact that I'm not going to be able to do that easily (3rd floor flat with no outdoor space doesn't help the situation). Is cold-crashing essential or can I get around it?

Cheers

 

[jof]

First, yes you can reduce or not bother with the sugar at all if you want a lower abv.
There are malt derived sugars in the extract, so even adding no sugar should get you something with around 2.5-3%

You don't need to cold crash. It's just a way to get your beer to clear faster, so just be a bit more patient.
I don't cold crash & I leave my wort to cool naturally. Why waste energy when it's so expensive?

In my opinion, the forced cooling is only important if you are trying to copy a beer style that requires it and you have added a lot of expensive specialised ingredients that you can't afford to risk (like stupid amounts of hops in these trendy yank style beers)

 

[lewysapllyn]

First, yes you can reduce or not bother with the sugar at all if you want a lower abv.
There are malt derived sugars in the extract, so even adding no sugar should get you something with around 2.5-3%

You don't need to cold crash. It's just a way to get your beer to clear faster, so just be a bit more patient.
I don't cold crash & I leave my wort to cool naturally. Why waste energy when it's so expensive?

In my opinion, the forced cooling is only important if you are trying to copy a beer style that requires it and you have added a lot of expensive specialised ingredients that you can't afford to risk (like stupid amounts of hops in these trendy yank style beers)

Cheers jof, I appreciate the info!

I'm trying to switch from cider to ale partly to reduce my booze intake, so something like 2.5% to 3.8% is the goal.

 

[jof]

I found a nice table online not that long ago that showed specific gravity, sugar/litre & potential alcohol strength, but I can't find it instantly.

But this website says 1% = 17g/l
So 1kg bag of sugar in say 21l (I think that's 40 pint kit volume) is potentially 2.8%.
But is a "degree" of alcohol equivalent to 1%?

https://www.decanter.com/learn/advice/how-many-grams-of-sugar-do-you-need-to-make-1-alcohol-51644/
Usually these things are easy to search for, but today it seems to think I want all my measurements in ****y American units, not SI or even proper pints & gallons