Making a lower alcohol beer

[Barbender]

I want to make a lower alcohol full flavour beer using Coopers Real Ale, my proposed recipe is 1 tin Coopers Real Ale, 1 kg Dextrose, I kg dried corn syrup, 1 kg light malt extract powder, all dissolved in hot water , brought to the boil and then hopstand with 50 gms of cascade hops for 20/25 minutes, poured into the fermenter through a sieve to remove hops. Total liquid 30 to 35 litres, 2 packets of coopers yeast. Secondary fermentation on bottling or kegging.

 

I've made this before at a normal 23 liter brew with half a kilo of corn syrup and 25 grams of cascade hops, hopstand for 20 minutes. 1 pack of yeast. It was a very good drop.

 

Any thoughts on this attempt to make a light beer.

[Rowbrew]

Gday Barbender,

 

With all those ingerdients you listed there you will end up with an OG of around 1.068ish and a ABV over 6.5%! I wouldn't really call that a light beer! What ABV range are you aiming for?

 

Edit: Sorry i didnt see your batch size. At 30 litres the OG will be around 1.052ish and at 35 litres it will be around 1.045ish. Still a little high for a light beer i reckon

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'd get rid of the dried corn syrup and steep 400-500g of light crystal malt or Carapils or something similar, and drop the dextrose down to about 500g or less. Keep the rest the same and you should end up with a reasonable mid strength ale.

[rossm]

G'day Bartender,

First of all I guess it depends on what you, or anyone else classes as a decent beer, I see recipes with all sorts of additives and partial or full mashes, I see people who obviously know shit loads more about brewing beer than I will ever know or care to know, all I know is that a beer that tastes good, has a nice appearance and mouth feel, head retention and is generally pleasant to drink....is a good beer.

As I have said on here before, I am a simple brewer, (No not a simpleton, a simple brewer...) I have never used a hydrometer in twenty odd years of brewing and I wouldn't have a clue how to work out ABV by looking at recipes or readings, but I do make a reasonable beer.

My mid strength beer is simply Real Ale, 500gm LDM, 23L kit yeast and brewed at 21C....how do I know it is mid strength you ask, because it doesn't get me pissed....quickly, if I drink full strength beer I can tell fairly early in the session that it is not going to be a good outcome!

Recently I have been adding 12-15 gm Citra as a dry hop, apart from an infection problem I am trying to sort out, that makes another version of my brew that I quite like, I haven't tried any other hop additions at this stage, but that will probably happen down the track, my next door neighbor is an all grain brewer and he put me onto the Citra hops because he uses them a fair bit....he makes some pretty good beer too.

Dunno if this helps, but at least now you have heard my story....

[Ocean's of Ale-]

(Click on home page/ click on brewing info/ go to recipes than click on Midstrenght, apologies my short attention span couldn't be bothered learning to link, so i can't fast track you!!)

I could have saved lots of time and money buy trusting the advice and recipes of this site.

Roger Roger might be what your after....

[Beerlust]

Hi Barbender.

 

I'm getting that you wish to make a larger volume batch of the Real Ale kit based beer you enjoyed?

 

If that is the case, then your ingredient increases need to be linear with that to achieve the same outcome at a higher volume. Your current recipe idea for 30-35 litres will shift the balances dramatically across all areas from what you enjoyed with the 23 litre brew.

 

There are many options open to you about how to maintain similar levels in the beer around the 30-35 litre fermented volume still using the Real Ale kit as a base, but most become quite intricate away from simple kit & kilo brewing.

 

Merely as a suggestion & to keep it simple in kit & kilo territory, for a 30 litre brew that would be comparable for you perhaps try the following...

 

1 x Coopers Real Ale (1.7kg)

1 x Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 (1kg)

Cascade hops 50gms

 

* Note: BE2 = dextrose 500gms, maltodextrin (corn syrup powder) 250gms, dried malt extract 250gms.

 

Method:

 

1). In a suitably sized pot, combine the BE2 + approx. 4-5 litres of water & bring to the boil. Add 25gms of the Cascade hops & continue to boil for 10mins. After the 10mins has elapsed, immediately remove the pot & place in a sink & surround with ice or very cold water for 20-30mins.

 

2). Pour the cooled contents directly into your fermenter & then pour in the contents of the Real Ale kit, & stir well to combine.

 

3). Top up to 30 litres with cold tap water & stir vigorously to aerate the wort, then sprinkle on the kit yeast & seal the fermenter.

 

4). After 4-5 days, add the remaining 25gms of Cascade hops & allow to ferment further until a stable gravity is obtained over 2-3 consecutive days before considering bottling.

 

Try to ferment around 20°C for best results.

 

That should produce something similar to what you enjoyed @ 23 litres fermented. Possibly even better.

 

Cheers & good luck with the brew,

 

Lusty.

[Barbender]

thank you all for your information and assistance, I will take all advice on board, I am just waiting for the weather to cool down and I will post a brew using real ale, I willlet you know how I go, regards Barbender.