The subject of light and low carb beer has come up a bit on the forum lately so I believe there is some interest for some of us. I hope this thread will give those who are interested in brewing light and/or low carb beers a chance to exchange ideas. Brewers who like to troubleshoot problems might like to chime in too. Previous threads related to this subject have devolved into judgmental diet advice stuff. Please refrain from telling us to just not drink much beer or carbs don’t matter etc.
It would also be great to hear about commercial light brews that you have enjoyed.
My go to low abv beers have been English bitters, often riffs on 3.7ish abv Whitbread ipa or 4.3ish TT Landlord. Good stuff and relatively light but still north of 150 calories and 10 carbs per 12oz.
I am currently trying to make beer I like under 100 calories and close to 3 carbs per 12oz, the carb goal being the hardest. My first try has turned out to be a good proof of concept. I currently have on tap an American ipa that comes in around 95 cal and 6.5 carbs per 12oz. It had an og of I believe 1.031 and a fg of 1.006. I used a crushEd tablet for the enzyme to get more starch converted to fermentable sugar. The beer is great, very refreshing and great hop flavor and aroma as well as the right amount and kind of bitter.
I hope to make some light beers soon with even lower fg to further reduce carbs. Anyone have ideas: enzymes, mash techniques, yeast strains? I see making more ipa, lagers, saisons, and maybe wheat beers that I could make good light beer versions. Maybe brett would help?
That IPA sounds very interesting. How many IBUs? Are you using any adjuncts or all malt?
Regarding low FG, doesn’t saison yeast get the FG way down?
I believe in theory if a lb of sugar is used in place of a lb of base malt a lower FG will be achieved. …but I’ve not done it yet. I have an upcoming Pale Ale I plan to try it with. After replacing the sugar for base malt 1:1, I‘m going to reduce the base malt a little more to lower the OG to get it to sessionable strength (and lower carbs).
Also, I have some gas enzyme capsules I may try at some point. (‘Beano’ substitute)
I think Tommy is on to something with the yeast as well.
My next beer will be a Czech-style Pale Lager. With this beer I am trying lower mash temp (148*F) to hit lower FG.
1.034 OG
1.007 FG
3.5% ABV
10 carbs
23 IBU
Water:
Batch Vol: 6.50 gal
Calcium: 20.3 ppm - Magnesium: 0.0 ppm
Sodium: 0.0 ppm - Sulfate: 22.4 ppm
Chloride: 19.3 ppm - Bicarbonate: 0.0 ppm
Residual Alkalinity: -14.5 ppm
Sulfite/Chloride Ratio: 1.16
Grist:
57% MG Pilsner-style malt
43% MG Vienna-style malt
Hops:
15 IBU Sterling at 10 min
8 IBU Sterling at 5 min
Yeast:
20 grams W34/70
Table sugar (sucrose) ferments nearly completely whereas maltose leaves some starches behind. Since alcohol has a 0.787 SG, more of it causes the overall SG of the beer to decrease.
These examples show the math.
Example:
No sugar (100% pale)
1050 : 1014 = 4.8% ABV
0.7874.8+ 1.025 95.2 = 1014
Sugar (90% pale, 10% table sugar)
1050 : 1010 = 5.3% ABV
0.7875.3 + 1.02294.7 = 1010
It was about 40 ibu, bittered with a little bit of hop shot I had left over and cascade. I also did a hop stand with cascade, simcoe, and citra and dry hopped with the same hop blend during krausen a la NEIPA. I used wy1469 because I had fresh slurry and I know other top cropping English strains use are used in NEIPA. It has a firm bitterness but at a lower level to match the low gravity and has a pronounced grapefruit flavor that is very refreshing. It was all malt, no adjunct, 80% pale malt, 20% wheat malt.I used the beano to lower the fg. I suspect it would have been 3 or 4 points higher without it based on previous experience with the yeast.
I agree about saison yeast and will try making light saison. Because of its unique flavor profile I don’t think I will try it in anything not Belgian. I have never brewed a Belgian ipa, that might be in my future.
Brewbama, I like that your doing a European light lager. I think that consumers are used to light beers being American lagers and that there is a lot of progress to be made with light versions of other styles. The beer that spurred me on to brew a light beer was Peak Organic Slim Hazy ipa which is delicious and comes in at 95 cal and 3g carbs. Lagunitas Daytime has similar stats and is pretty good and probably more widely available. I don’t think I have seen a European lager this light.
I definitely have sugar on the radar to achieve lower fg but for now am experimenting with the beano with the theory that an all malt bill, even with the additional enzymatic action, will have more malt flavor. I also wonder if the residual protein from malt helps the body.
Forgot to mention above that White Labs has Ultra-Ferm to dry the beers out. I haven’t tried it either but may ck it out.
“A beer like a Brown or Irish Stout is also a good candidate for low alcohol beer. These beers have substantial body and flavor from the use of dark malts and adjuncts. The classic Guinness has a starting gravity as low as 1.036 for the native version, and lowering it just down to 1.032 gives a beer with an estimated ABV of 3%” Low Calorie Beer Brewing Recipes at Home – BeerSmith™ Home Brewing Blog
…and there’s another recipe: http://www.olybrew.com/recipes/cascadepale.pdf using Amylase enzyme.
I had a porter once at a brewery that specialized in small beer. I liked it. I think it was sub 4% ABV.
Something to keep in mind as this thread evolves is that carbs get converted to alcohol, so a beer that is truly low in both carbs and alcohol but isn’t watered down is a bit elusive. It probably also depends on your definition of low carb and low ABV.
I am looking for something that is relatively low in calories and carbs. Even though the abv generally follows that I don’t mind if a <100 cal and <5 carb beer is still say 4-4.5% abv. I believe I have noticed that the alcohol not being too low improves the taste and body of the beer. While beers in this range certainly have a lighter mouthfeel I have had somer that don’t taste watered down, especially for summer drinking.
I’m interested in this thread because I’m trying to/needing to reduce my alcohol consumption. I’m more interested in low-ABV beers than low-carb beers per se, but they often go hand in hand. The problem is that since alcohol itself contributes an important flavor component to a beer, low-ABV beers taste watery and insipid to me, no matter how dressed up they are with hops or whatever. It calls for a complete re-calibration of my palate.
The exception is American/International pale lagers and light lagers, which I really enjoy and brew a lot of. My latest sits at 4.4% ABV and while it’s delicious, I think that going lower will make it bland and flavorless. But I’ll try. I simply make a more concentrated wort and then, pre-boil, dilute with water to hit my target OG. It waters down the beer but it works for these styles.
It seems to me that the focus should be on reducing ABV rather than carbs per se, given that gram for gram, alcohol has nearly twice the calorie content of a carbohydrate. Thus, using a diastaticus strain or glucoamylase enzyme would reduce carbs, but wouldn’t it increase ABV and thus calories?
I used to travel to Utah on business in the mid-90s. Beers then were capped at 3.2% ABV by law. And yet the beers were really full and tasty. To achieve this, however, breweries used a LOT of crystal malts to beef up the beers. It’s a reasonable strategy as long as you’re aware of a potential side-effect: gastrointestinal distress from unfermentable carbs that ultimately get broken down in the small intestine.
I keep a keg of carbed water on hand and alternate it with beer. That way I can brew full strength, flavorful beers but only drink half as much.
I had to look this up just now, but that old Utah law of 3.2% was alcohol by weight, which is 4% ABV
I have found that the beer that also has low carbs is very digestible and I can have a few and not get tired. My reality is I want to sometimes have several beers at the lake in summer or bring a couple on a hike. I will still be having regular bodied beer when I want it but when I want more than a couple those beers equal half a days worth of calories and carbs.
Interesting, I was wondering about using some monk fruit I have in liquid form in a beer. I would definitely not want too much.
BTW I told my wife that if I am reducing my calorie intake by 100 calories when I drink a beer then I am doing even better to have 5 beers and reducing by 500 calories.
That’s a super tasty beer for what it is. Had no idea it was that low in carbs and calories.
The goal for my upcoming low calorie/carb beers:
I notice in the recipe that Brewbama posted the enzyme is added both in the mash and in the fermenter. Anyone know the reasoning? Does it convert different starches at different temps?
I’m pretty sure it’s just to achieve maximum break down of the more complex starches/dextrins, beyond what just a mash or fermenter addition alone could do. The activity of this enzyme does not depend on temp except for the usual dynamics involving reaction rates and temp, up to when it gets denatured (IIRC that’s about ~140 F).