Homebrewing a Low Alcohol Beer [Secrets Revealed!] - Brew Dudes
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- Опубліковано 10 тра 2023
- We taste an ultra-low ABV beer brewed by Brew Dude Mike this week.
His goal was not to make non-alcoholic beer, but to see how low of an ABV he could go with traditional brewing practices and make a flavorful low ABV beer.
The result is an English Bitter (almost dark mild) that clocked in at 1.5% ABV. This beer relied on high mash temp and a quick and shortened ferment at slightly higher temperatures.
The high mash temp at 158° F was down to limit the amount of fermentable sugars in the wort. Mike also used a 70°F fermentation temp to get a strong ferment for the first 3-4 days and then crashed cooled the beer to stop or slow down the ferment.
The result was a beer that had a starting gravity of 1.036 and fermented to a gravity of 1.022.
The final beer was quite drinkable and didn't seem to be shorted or lacking in any manner.
RECIPE:
3gal batch
SG 1.036
FG 1.022
1.5lb Maris Otter Malt
12oz Light Munich Malt (7L)
12oz Vienna Malt
2oz Extra Special Malt (Briess)
1oz Midnight Wheat
1oz EKG 4.2%AA 60min
Windsor Ale Yeast Lallemand
Mash temp 158°F
CHEERS!
#LowABVBeers #beerrecipes #brewdudes
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Most of the draught beer here in the UK is in the 3.6 to 4.2% range which I think is the sweet spot for session beers and has settled at this level for a reason. You get highly drinkable beer that doesn't lack anything without taking specific steps to adjust the beer to account for low amounts of ingredients. You can go lower than 3.6 but you start to notice it, I think.
Nice work! This will be my next project. My Dr. says it’s time to cut back!
I know my comments are a bit late from the video date, but they are timely as I am in day 28 of "Dry January 2024." I too love the flavors that are found in the different beer styles, and have focused my brewing to beers in the 5% range in the last year or so. This one sounds great and will definitely try it. Great info for someone looking to replicate. Looking forward to a "yellow" version as well. Thanks guys!
Never been a fan of 6-7% beers. All the English beers I drank were mainly 3.6-3.8% very tasty. Tried making a dark mild (Daniel Thwaites Clone) which was ok but lacked depth of flavour. Was a little watery but did have a little mouth feel also….used West Yorkshire as had some to hand. Mashed at 67c Will try again soon using windsor ale yeast and a higher mash temp. Interesting video thanks.
....I love it when guests tell me I added water to my beer
Interesting concept!
thanks for this, planning to set up a 1 gallon setup to do some experimenting , fancy a go at this ...might go for 2.5 to 3%. for info most beers served in the local pubs North west uk are between 3.6 (greenking IPA, john smiths bitter) to 4.5% (Yardbird pale) with occasional 5% (some lagers and stronger bitters less common as folks have gone towards paler beers)
I did a version of this by accident (low OG and high mash temp) and my APA came in at 3.15%. Good flavor, a little thin, but very drinkable and showcases hops really well.
Great brew. Good points. Very helpful. I may try making something similar. Thx
It looks delicious! I'm intrigued. Thanks guys.
It looks more like a Dark Mild. I guess I could have promoted it as a Dark Mild and still be satisfied. Cheers! -Mike
Great. I`ve been brewing ULB mashing betwwen 76 - 78 Celsius. in the begnning it was a litle biit strange but it works quite well. ULB is like isotonycs` beers
Nice. Thanks for the comment. Cheers! -Mike
Just did one, an American Pale with Citra, Mosaic and Talus, All used in the whirlpool and dry hop to avoid excessive bitterness. came out at 1.4%. Its pretty good but definitely needs more refining. Going to give it another go soon 😊
Sounds great. Cheers! -Mike
Thank you very much for talking about this, it's amazing, I've actually have made a beer, well I don't think it was that low in alcohol but it was low accidentally, and it was pretty good, I will do more of that
I just brewed an ordinary bitter (hopped with amarillo, cuz that’s what I like ;) ), but I didn’t stop the fermentation like you did. That would have been the smart thing to do. My LHBS was out of Windsor so I used London ale instead (same properties) but it did end up fermenting down to 1.010, my target was 1.012… I carbed it just before I left for this trip I’m on. I can’t wait to see how it turned out when I get back tomorrow. My next attempt will be using some of your tips. Great episode (as always!)
Very intriguing. We will be glad to repost this for you. Cheers!
Thanks for the support! Love the Blichmann line up of tools and equipment. CHEERS! -Mike
I also love the taste of beer. Now that I'm older, I have to be careful with the 7% 8%'s. Couple of those and my day is dunzo. There is a trending wave of drinkers that share your vision of no to low (nolo?!) alcohol beers.
Looks really good. An east coast brewing friend of mine and I were talking about a year ago about doing session beers and I never really thought about finishing high to leave something for the palate. I like the philosophy behind that. It makes total sense. Great Vidya Dudes. Thanks.
I really think the high mash temp in my case resulted in the higher end FG. I think fermentation was nearly complete when I finally "pulled the plug" and started chilling. Cheers! -Mike
@@BrewDudes But in your estimation it is that high FG is where the abundance of flavor is coming through?
I have tried making a yellow low-alcohol beer with a small amount of malts it came out very watery. I have another method for you to try because it made a pretty tasty one that came in under 2%. After mashing a 5 gallon pale ale-ish grain bill (SRM probably above 10) just heat up 3 gallons of water to about where you did ~158-160 and then just drop the bag of your "spent" grains in for a secondary mash of 20 mins, boil for 20 mins and throw in 1oz of any hop. The increase of grain material makes it more "chewy" and full. I think I started at 1.023 and finished at 1.009 or something along those lines. Cheers!
Interesting. I'd be afraid of getting some tannins with that method but that's manageable by paying attention to the pH I suppose. Great comment. Cheers! -Mike
Along the same lines, but a bit of a cheaper move - if you want to fix the body a little add a small amount (50-100g) of maltodextrin in the last 5 min of the boil. You can also mash with a lot of rye - generally stays low alc and super thiccc
@@BrewDudes I would think you would want a certain amount of tannins to add some body/mouthfeel. However, I did not perceive any on my two batches using this method.
Munich is a base malt! It's not just the MO as a base malt^^
Solid recipe & beer there. Would you brew it again and maybe try to increase the body? Maltodextrin comes to mind as one of many possibilities to solve that. The last few years I've been brewing session-strength beers almost exclusively. Had a handful come in below 3% in 2022. This year I've brewed twelve 5 gal. batches so far, ranging from 3.7% to 5.2%, with most around 4 - 4.5%. Great video. Cheers! 🍺🍻
I found the body to be medium so I don't think I feel the need to increase the body much more. But yes the addition of some dextrin malt or a shorter mash might help with that. Cheers! -Mike
All the beers I brew are around 4% and have used maltodextrin for better mouth feel and head retention.
@@oldschoolman1444 Yeah, I'm with you on maltodextrin. It's pretty much my go-to for the reasons you mentioned. Cheers! 🍺🍻
Could you do percentages rather than Oz? It is much easier to replicate the recipes
Cold crashing to stop fermenting is surely a ticking bottle bomb if bottling...
Agreed. Making NA beer at home isn't simple and stopping fermentation mid stream won't work for everyone. Cheers! -Mike
Interesting one fella's. On a recent trip to Boston from across the pond I was frustrated in my attempts to find 0% or low abv beers for those days when I did not want to get to loose! Why do you think the tendency for craft brewers is towards higher strength beers, particularly in the states in my experience? My favourite low abv beer in the UK (Guinness zero aside) has to be The Kernel Table Beer - there are some clone recipes knocking about. What it achieves is all the interest of a contemporary neipa without the blow your socks off moments that might be available elsewhere! Growing up, strong beer was considered to be anything over 4%! Great post.
To find NA beer in the Boston area you need to buy from the big brands in stores. I have yet to encounter NA beer at local breweries. The higher ABV trend I think is two fold in America: 1. Americans believe they are getting more value if they have to shell out the same amount of money for 8% vs 6%. 2. I think in the early NEIPA days there was an assumption that the higher ABV was promoting hop oil extraction at dryhop and thereby creating more aroma. I don't full buy into that...but here we are. Cheers! -Mike
Half a year ago I bought half a kilo of expired Windsor yeast for a price of a pack of 5g yeast, to use as a boil addition, something like cheap yeast hulls. I will test it if it still ferments by Parti-Gyle of some other beer and then brew something like this. One tap should always be reserved for something small and sessional.
I always like to try and have a sessionable strength beer on the line up at my house. Cheers! -Mike
I think there's always a conundrum with low alc but high FG. It does have lower alc, meaning you can drink more, but still has ~125 cal per beer. If the beer had finished at 1.010 calories would slightly decrease, but alc moves to 3.4%. just my .02
Its a push and pull for sure. Cheers! -Mike
Do you think following Guinness's example and loading up on flaked barley would help shore up the body and mouth feel.
If that's what's your after sure, but there comes a point where there'll be a lot of starch in the beer too I suppose. Cheers! -Mike
Do you think "un-lightening" it a little by bumping the ABV slightly to say, 2 or 2.5% might help with the watery feel?
Also is there anything that can be added to increase mouth feel? Like using glycerin in wine? Give it the mouth feel of a heavier beer maybe.
I made a small batch for a friend that was barely 3%. It lacked flavor. Thanks for the tips for increasing flavor without creating a high abv btw. 👍👌
I may have to revisit my own light beer experiment.
Cheers!
I think maybe adding some more dextrin malt or mashing even higher or shorter would help. I didn't find it to be watery. That was John's descriptor. There was plenty of malt flavor and aroma. Cheers! -Mike
@@BrewDudes My next experiment - I've been thinking about for a while now - is going to be a session hazy / juicy ipa. I'm still working out the particulars. But you guys have inspired me. 😁
Keep making awesome videos!
I like your approach here to a low alcohol beer, but I have a question. I assume you kegged this beer. I bottle my beer, and I’m concerned that by adding sugar that this may reactivate the yeast and cause bottles to burst. What are your thoughts about this ?
Absolutely it will reactivate, and the bottling sugar will increase your ABV a touch. Cheers! -Mike
Presumably keg only…arrested fermentation could create bottle bombs.
Agreed. That's one of the NA techniques I take issue with. Cheers! -Mike
I can understand were people want a Low or No Alcohol beer. But its like decaffeinated coffee, why?😅
If I want a beer I’ll drink one and if you need a water I’ll drink that, not sure that I see the purpose.
You guys are different and just weird. I love the channel and what you bring to the discussion. Thanks for the work and thanks for sharing with us all.
Thanks for the comments and watching. Here's to being weird I guess. Cheers! -Mike
How about boiling off the alcohol after fermentation and force carbonating it?
Boiling will certainly drive off most of the ethanol. The problem is boiling off alcohol is that with all that heat you are going to accelerate oxidative reactions and get a super cardboard stale beer. We should try that some time! Cheers! -Mike