We all know that a good session beer is lower in alcohol, yet still satifies the palate. Alts, Kolsch, Mild, smaller Brown’s, Dry Irish Stout, Classic American Pilsners, and small ales come to mind.
However i am looking for interesting session beers that are not to style. Beers that start at or below 1.040.
I have been thinking around doing a Belgian Single. But rather than just cutting the grain and hop bill by half and risking an inspid and watery brew, I was wondering if anyone else has ever had success with either this “quasi-style”, or other brews that may not be stylistically accurate, but light, refreshing, with lots of good, balanced flavors, but not much alcohol. Recipes would be great, but even just some tips and tricks.
I keep thinking of Belgian style adaptations, because of the wonderful flavor profiles of so many of the Belgian yeast, but I am sure there must be some others out there who may have already either perfected, or are well down the road to creating such satisfying brews.
Additionally, are there particular hops that people find more delightful in a light beer, and others to avoid? I mean, beyond the obvious, such as not using Summit hops. What very low alpha hops shine in the smallest beers?
And finally, what malt additions have you used in a small beer that really gives that brew a satisfying nudge toward this goal?
I’ve never tried this one, but Randy Mosher has a recipe for a 1.050 Belgian Single in Radical Brewing (p. 123):
6 lbs Pilsner malt
3 lbs. pale ale malt
.5 lb aromatic
.75 oz Challenger (7.5%) at 60 min
1 oz Saaz (3%) at 30 min
.5 oz. Northdown at 5 min
.5 oz Saaz at 5 min
Belgian Abbey ale yeast
Looks like mash temp would be 150 degrees.
Good luck on your quest,
Gail
I have brewed that one and it is pretty good. I have brewed just about every recipe in that book. If you want something off the wall it is a great source and probably my favorite beer book I ever bought except for John Palmer’s How to Brew.
IMO Saisons are the best “unusual” session beers. Especially if you can stand to age them with a sour culture (of course, it takes months as opposed to weeks when you sour a beer.)
Here is a recipe that is very low OG that I have played around with (I have 5 gallons aging in a carboy right now that is being aged with a sour culture and oak cubes) - it makes an interesting, very low alcohol session beer. Also, I realize the Maris Otter is out of place for a Saison technically, but you need something besides pils malt to up the “interesting factor”. Also, you can add a small amount of chocolate malt to the recipe for an roasty twist. But here is the basic recipe:
Sharpe Mountain Table Beer
12 gallons
OG 1.039
IBU 39
SRM 9.6
8lbs Pale Malt (I used TF MO)
4 lbs Munich (Best Type I)
2lbs Flaked Wheat
2lbs Cara Vienne
1lb Aromatic
1.25 oz Magnum (14aa) 60 min)
1.5 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker (3.7aa( 20
2oz French Strisselspalt at WP
WLP565
Mash in single infusion at 154-156. 90 min boil. Pitch at 64 and ferment in high 60s, low 70s. Drink young and fresh!
I always go back to a Bitter, pretty rare that a Bitter isnt one of the choices on a tap handle at the house.
Enough of both hops and malt to satisfy all but a Snickers craving
How about a fusion between an ordinary bitter and a vienna lager. Use 60%Pils/40%Vienna blend…add some medium crystal…use German Nobles for bittering and a touch of flavor and ferment at 68F with WLP002. 8)
I made an American styled bitter, simple bitter recipe with American hops. We stole the pale ale and made our own why not Bitters. First was my home grown cascade using the Hop Stand method.
With sparge water, mash water, additional infusions, vessel losses, top-up
water and evaporation rate recorded in the Water Needed Calculator:
Water Needed Pre-Boil Wort Size: 15.31 Gal
Water Needed Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.033 SG 8.34 Plato
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
94.6 17.40 lbs. Lager Malt(2-row) Great Britian 1.037 2
5.4 1.00 lbs. Crystal 75L Great Britian 1.034 75
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
9.00 oz. Cascade-homegrown 2007 Whole 5.75 43.2 15 min.
Yeast
S-04 and WY 1450
I also do small Saisons like Major, I used NB’s petite Saison dEte’ and messed with the grain bill to suit my tastes and inventory. I have gone with sour or oak yet.
Here is one that is unusual, but very tasty!
12 gallon recipe
9# 2 row
3# munich
2# biscuit
1# crystal 40
1 # sugar
Mash at 150
3.5 oz. N.B @ 60
2.5 oz. N.B @ 20
2 oz. N.B @ 5
my O.G came out at 1.040
F.G 1.006
I came up with this when I was Low on 2 row (2.5 hour round trip to lhbs)
Really has a nice malt profile not very hoppy, a good session beer.
Good Luck in your search.
I guess I’ll plug my little “La Fin Du Blond” beer. It is probably higher ABV than you want, but even the Miller Lite crowd seems to like the finish.
It is a lightish farmhouse style beer that has the belgian funk on the frontend with a clean finish and the 1882 brewery standard warming with a smile.
I would suggest cutting the grain down a little before omitting the Jaggery. I think it is a key component for the clean finish.
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Belgian Blond 10Gal
Brewer: Blake
Asst Brewer: Greg
Style: Belgian Blond Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)
Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Boil Size: 12.04 gal
Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 6.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
16 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 68.09 %
4 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 17.02 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.26 %
1 lbs Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.26 %
2.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (90 min) Hops 16.9 IBU
2.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (20 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
0.80 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 lbs 8.0 oz Jaggery (3.0 SRM) Sugar 6.38 %
2 Pkgs Canadian Belgian Ale (Unibroue) (Wyeast #WYeast-Ale
Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 22.00 lb
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
40 min Step Add 29.70 qt of water at 169.6 F 155.0 F
Fred
