Brewing a Low ABV Session Beer.
Why do home brewers brew? Because home brewers like to drink. Like you, I’m a fan of many beer varieties; pale ales, stouts, pilsners, porters, imperial stouts, IPAs, Trippels, Trappist… the list goes on. I favor beers with big flavor, but unfortunately the bigger flavors have a bigger ABV as well. Russian imperial stouts and Trappist ales hitting upwards of 9% or more, IPAs almost always hovering around 7 or 7.5.
I started getting annoyed with such high ABV. It just seems like everything is getting stronger, like stronger is better or something. Worried about the potential negative health impacts of too much alcohol, and also (at least in my neck of the woods), the rising cost of micro brews, I decided to start home brewing a lower ABV beer.
So how do we brew a low ABV session beer? I basically cut the standard extract batch in half. After all, the amount of sugar in the wort is directly related to the alcohol level in a finished beer. I brewed five gallons, but used only 3.3 lbs of fermentable sugars. In this case, one can of Muntons LME. I added specialty grains to help with the color and body, and used a fairly standard hops schedule for an amber ale.
After 10 days in the primary and another 10 in the secondary, the brew was bottled this past weekend. Nice color, and aroma, tasted good although flat. Now we just need to wait for the carbonation to be complete so we can get a serious taste. Final calculation shows an ABV of just about 2%. Too low? Maybe, maybe not. That remains to be seen. This is the first batch in a series of super-session beers I plan to produce. Going forward we can just play with the sugar amounts to boost the ABV little by little.
Sure, I’ll still buy my treasured IPAs and Russian Imperial Stouts, but the bottom line is, I can enjoy more than just two of my home brewed low ABV session beers, and not get hammered.
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Update: My low ABV beer sucks. Well, it isn’t horrible, but 2% ABV is just too low. At the very least I should have boosted the bittering hops, and since there was very little fermentable sugars the maltiness was practically nil. It tasted a little watered down. Just brewed an all grain pale ale with 9lbs of malted barley, and 4 oz of Simcoe. This one should be nice, but it counters my low ABV effort. Oh well. I’ll try a low ABV stout this winter or something.
Hey Neil, thanks. I agree with the smaller batches on more complex brews. By the way, my 2.2% ABV ale is not too bad. I’d probably use a little more hops, and step up the sugars a bit to bring the ABV to between 3.5 and 4. I think 2% is too low. May as well be an NA offering.
I’m with you, the higher ABV and more outlandish beers I have had recently are ok in moderation but I will always have a session beer on tap to drink when I get in from work.
I have found myself brewing lower ABV beers and kegging and brewing a smaller batch of more complex beer in between. This arrangement has been working pretty well. Great site BTW.
The beer is in bottles. Giving it another week to carbonate and smooth out. I’ll comment on how it turns out and share the recipe later. I wonder if there’s a market for low ABV clones? I did a nice Sierra Nevada clone recipe, maybe I should tweak it for a lower alcohol level and see how it tastes.
I’m with you. I like strong beers, but I want flavor and refreshment more than I want a buzz. I’ll be watching your blog to see your progress.
Brilliant! I love IPAs, but as a professional, I cannot in good conscience drink more than two when I have to drive home. I love that you have found a way to maintain the flavor, yet made a much safer beer!