Low Alcohol (hypothetical)

[Pugh]

"Hypothetical" might be the wrong word, but I'm interested in knowing the ways to reduce the abv of a particular recipe.

Are there any other options in addition to the following?

- use less malt
- cold crash earlier and then rack off, away from the yeast
- dilute the wort

Is the repercussion of cold crashing and then racking away from some of the sleepy yeast a sweeter end beer?

Thanks!

 

[terrym]

Using less malt and diluting the wort are fine, in terms of simple reduction of ABV. But for a homebrewer less malt and more dilution usually means less flavour.
Premature crash cool and racking of a normal OG beer will however result in unfermented sugars remaining in the beer, the higher the SG the sweeter it will taste. And crash cooling and racking off does not guarantee all the yeast will be removed. As soon as the beer returns to the lower yeast working temperature any residual yeast will wake up and the fermentation is likely to restart, although that is increasingly unlikely as the SG gets lower, but that rather defeats the object of the exercise.
If you want to brew a low ABV beer try this for a few tips, other similar threads are available
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/low-alcohol-homebrew-beer.84831/

 

[MmmBeer]

My first thought was mash at a higher temperature, which will leave more unfermentable sugars (dextrins etc.) in the wort, these will also add to the body and flavour of the beer. Depending on the style of beer you are looking to make, using speciality malts like Munich, Amber and Chocolate can also add malty flavour.

 

[GerritT]

Low alcohol, as in 3%-ish? Or lower? There are many pretty good commercial non-alcohol varieties of all styles of beer, but manufacturing often includes boiling at near-vacuum.

Leaving sugars out of the recipe is the way to go, but do you have a specific recipe in mind? Maybe someone here already invented that specific wheel.

 

[Pugh]

Low alcohol, as in 3%-ish? Or lower? There are many pretty good commercial non-alcohol varieties of all styles of beer, but manufacturing often includes boiling at near-vacuum.

Leaving sugars out of the recipe is the way to go, but do you have a specific recipe in mind? Maybe someone here already invented that specific wheel.

Thanks all.

I mentioned 'hypothetical' as my question was in order to better understand the process and what actions affect that element of the finished beer. e.g. reducing the amount of malt but using some darker malts to maintain colour. Thanks for the other threads, I'll take a look!