I’ve been kicking around the idea of brewing something low in alcohol lately (4% or lower) that isn’t a sour. I figured it’d be easier to rip through a keg by myself if it tasted good!
Has anyone brewed something recently that fits the bill and turned out well?
wide open-you can pick just about anything you like and brew it low abv. Ive done it with pale ales, pils, amber ale, etc.
depends what you feel like!
Beers that don’t suck ;D
precisely…pick a beer style you enjoy and drop the grist to desired abv.
edit: if it sucks…well, blame the brewer ;D
Mash high and use a flavorful base malt.
Look into small Scottish beers.
Special bitters are great for this as is a low gravity saison (think around 1.045 starting gravity).
Still working on my 4-4.5% American mild recipe. First 3 tries tasted like water.
I made what I called a New England Bitter this past fall. It was 80% Pale Malt and 20% Munich. IIRC it was about 4% and malty. IMO don’t try this with an IPA/APA. Hoppiness is anathema to a sessionable beer.
English Mild comes to mind. I’ve tried many recipes but this one floats my boat the best out of all of them:
1.036 OG
80% MO
16.5% C-60 (or English medium crystal)
3.5% Chocolate Malt
12 IBU Fuggles @ 45 min
6 IBU Fuggles @ 15 min
I recently made a trans-atlantic mild with english malts (similar to recipe above) and Denny’s Favorite 50 (WY1450). Should be ready to drink in the next week. Looking forward to it as from what people say, 1450 accentuates malt character nicely.
I’m sure that’s a great beer, but my goal is to make an American mild without British ingredients. That’s the challenge part…
FWIW I’ve mashed as high as 163 without making an appreciable difference in body or flavor.
Interesting. Do you think a 148F mash beer and a 160F mash beer would be indistinguishable?
Also, I agree… I don’t think there are many options for flavorful American base malts.
I’ve been working on session beers too. I have an English bitter, an I.S.A. and a Saison that are all pretty darn tasty and right around 4%.
How about a Gratzer? 100% Oak smoked wheat malt. Then using you favorite noble, or noblish hop, bitter with 1 oz at 60 min, 2 oz at 15, and 3 oz at flameout. Ferment with 1007 German ale. My OG is usually between 1.036 and 1.044.
I’m brewing a dry stout that came out of the kettle at 1.040. Is that low enough? I haven’t tasted the finished product yet but in my imagination it doesn’t suck.
If haze doesn’t matter maybe try some unflavored fiber?
Do you find subbing 2-row for MO in a lot of these recipes gives poor results?
Denny’s not a MO fan. Personally, i like it. use some aromatic, crystal of choice, carapils to mix in and get some mouthfeel and body.
I brew a beer very similar to dilluh98’s recipe, and I love it. OP might try something like that. Sometimes I like to add oats or rye for fun and body, or an extra ounce of kent goldings at flameout.
The keys are maris otter, good english yeast (I like 1968/002), and low carbonation. I shoot for about 1.6 volumes.
This Pale Mild was posted here in another recent thread. I enjoyed it immensely. Came out at 3.3%abv if thats sounds OK. It relies mostly on a flavorful base malt with complementary specialty malts and a characterful yeast. ferment at 66-67ºF. Was lighter in color than the shady pictures convey.
6 gallons
OG-1.037
FG-1.012
ABV 3.3%
IBU-20
SRM-6
92% Warminster Floor Malted MO
7% Baird’s Carastan
1% Fawcett Pale Chocolate
Mash @156F, no-sparge
32g EKG @60
10g EKG @10
WY1469 West Yorkshire
