Low Alcohol Homebrew Beer

[chrisb8]

Currently attempting dry january and cracked whilst in Tescos and bought a 0.5% Shipyard pale ale. Have to say it was the best low alcohol beer I've ever had. Just tasted like a pale ale.
Looking at the ingredients listed on the label - water, barley, hops and lactose. I'm guessing it was brewed as normal to give 0.5% ABV and the lactose is there to give body and replace the unfermentable sugars you would normally get from a proper quantity of malt.
Think I might give this a go. Not as low as 0.5% but maybe start at 3% and see if I can work it down from there to maybe 2%.

I have attempted to make a couple of low alcohol brews recently and for my second attempt I used lactose to improve the body and add a bit of sweetness - as you say to replicate the unfermented sugars left behind in a normal fermentation. First impressions are good but I have only just bottled it so we will see. Brew day thread here https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/low-alcohol-brewday.84223/

I agree with other sentiments that making a normally alcoholic beer is on the face of it a lot easier than a low alcohol one. It seems like a simple idea but trying to balance the hops, bitterness and body is quite tricky and it doesn't work in the same way as a normal brew.

 

[terrym]

Update....
Just bottled about 8.2 litres of 'low ABV' beer, after 8 days in the FV. Apart from a 10g Cascade hop tea at day 4 (all of which went into the FV) nothing was different to the recipe and method as in post #13 above which had two good dessert spoons of GV12 trub from a recent brew. Primary set at 19*C. Airlock bubbling slowly but steadily within 6 hours and primary substantially over by day 2 and certainly over by day 4. I did notice the fermentation was steady rather than vigorous at its peak. Last two days in a cold garage (beer temperature at bottling, 5*C). OG 1.017, FG 1.004 as BF predictor, = ABV=1.7%, so with an allowance for the priming sugar should be about 2% ABV.
Taster was Cascade hoppy and bitterness about right, colour light straw, but a bit on the thin side (what a surprise!). However I have to say it has turned out better than I expected. It would not be my drink of choice but most of this is for someone else.
I'll find out what they think of it in about 3 weeks time after carbing and some cold conditioning and will give a last update then, with a view on the likelihood of a repeat.
Finally if anyone is thinking of having a go note @peebee comments on being conservative with the bittering hops, as I did and it seems to have worked

 

[terrym]

Final Update:-
After two weeks carbing and conditioning and now having opened the first bottles, my 'customer' was very pleased with the beer and I was pleased it had turned out much better than I had anticipated for a first attempt, and I am likely get a repeat order. However I suspect it is a beer that will need drinking fairly quickly as the flavours may diminish quite quickly.
If I were to change anything it would be to try and get more body into it, since it is on the thin side, but obviously without increasing the ABV. Although I have not used it before I had thought using maltodextrin (say 5-10g per litre) might be worth trying.
Anyway if anybody out there is thinking of having a go its definitely worth it subject to my comments about lack of body, since it will probably make good lawnmower beer when summer arrives, and even if you don't get to like it and it has to go down the sink, beer for less than 20p per litre is not going to hurt.

 

[savagefan]

Lighten up Francis, the big brewers do it that way.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Lighten up Francis, the big brewers do it that way.

Is that a fact, or merely annecdotal?

 

[prog99]

Is that a fact, or merely annecdotal?

Fact. I think it even made it to the bbc factory series when they visited carling.

 

[Sadfield]

Fact. I think it even made it to the bbc factory series when they visited carling.

Not actually fact. What some large brewers do is high gravity brewing, then water down to standard abv, to accurately hit the minimum legal tolerance on the stated abv, too save themselves money. For example, Carling is stated as 4.0%, but they are permitted a 0.3% tolerance, so brew stronger and dilute to 3.7%.

They use other processes such as reverse osmosis to remove alcohol from normal strength beers to make low abv beers, and not by watering them down.

 

[prog99]

Not actually fact. What some large brewers do is high gravity brewing, then water down to standard abv, to accurately hit the minimum legal tolerance on the stated abv, too save themselves money. For example, Carling is stated as 4.0%, but they are permitted a 0.3% tolerance, so brew stronger and dilute to 3.7%.

That’s what I meant even if it didn’t come across that way.

 

[terrym]

Update #2
I made another Low ABV beer similar to the previous beer above, but this time using Amarillo instead of Cascade as a late hop and hop tea, and using oats in the mash, instead of wheat malt, to try and give it some more body which was noticeably lacking last time, and 145EBC Crystal instead of 82EBC
Recipe:-
500g Pale Malt
100g Amber Malt
45g Porridge Oats
40g Crystal Malt 145EBC
60min mash at about 67*C (I use roughly 3:1 w/w mash and sparge waters to grain)
30 mins boil 4g Summit 15% AA
3 mins boil 8g Amarillo 8.2%
6g Amarillo as a hop tea then all added to the FV at day 4
9 litres in the FV fermented with a GV12 3rd generation yeast trub.
Giving (using BF calculator)
Target OG 1.017; ABV 1.7%; IBUs 21. FG 1.004
Actual OG 1.017; FG 1.004
I have to say this was an improvement on the last one. A little bit more body, seemed slightly maltier and I think the Amarillo suits it better than the Cascade. Lasting slight bitterness, and some lacing down the glass.
I am really quite surprised how good it has turned out, since I wasn't expecting much.
And all for under 20p a pint!

 

[RichK]

Tomorrow I'm bottling my second low)er) ABV brew.

1.65 kg pale
200g lager malt (leftovers)
125g flaked barley

40 mins @71C mash - simple jug sparge to 20L pre-boil. I misjudged & overdid the sparge having originally intended for more like 16L preboil.

12g Simcoe @30 mins
whirlfloc @5 mins
33g Citra @0 mins
15g Citra dry hop 3 days

Mangrove Bohemian lager yeast - 10 days @12 then raised to 17 over a couple of days (diacetyl rest) then cold crash.

Has come out about 16L @ 1.7% abv. Should have been more like 12L @ <~3%

I've nearly finished drinking my first batch of lower abv brew (see here) That's been quite drinkable, but could do with a bit more body, hence the slightly higher mash temp this time. I'm wary of going over about 72 if I can help it.

Will give Amarillo a go in a future brew.