How to lower ABV

[Franham]

1 hour ago, Pickles Jones said:

That is very misleading, to me anyway.

Good pick up. I will look closer in future.

There is a good chance I would have used the whole KG of dextrose.

i did! lol. Oh well, i'm still going to drink it

[Franham]

1 minute ago, Franham said:

i did! lol. Oh well, i'm still going to drink it

The OG reading was 1005, which i thought was quite low, or am i reading that incorrectly?

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, Franham said:

The OG reading was 1005, which i thought was quite low, or am i reading that incorrectly?

1005 looks like a Final Gravity (FG), not an Original Gravity (OG).  I would expect an OG of around 1020.  Maybe yours was not stirred enough.  It is really hard to stir in the extract, especially if it is stuck to the bottom bottom of the fermenter. 

[Pickles Jones]

3 hours ago, Franham said:

i did! lol. Oh well, i'm still going to drink it

I would too. You may find it to be to your liking.

[Graculus]

OK, I've read the thread and seen the recipes.

I want to make a lower ABV beer for a friend.

Rather than follow the recipes I was thinking of.

Coopers Pale Ale
200 grams LDME
25 grams each of Cascade & Galaxy (I think I've made a Pale Ale with those hops, but I'd have to check)
05 yeast which rarely goes below 1.010

or

Coopers Cerveza
200 grams LDME
50 grams Citra
Lager yeast that I have in the fridge.

Is there any reason I can't just use the Coopers Pale Ale, Cerveza, Real Ale and just add a small amount of LDME & hops
to make a reasonably low alcohol beer with some taste?

[loafing_about]

I’d go the pale ale over the cerveza for a bit more flavour. Think the hop combo on that as a steep  or maybe dry hop would be really nice. I’ve made a few brews using pale ale can and 500 g light dry malt and I’ve been really happy with the flavour and ABV in the order of 4. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

13 hours ago, Graculus said:

Coopers Pale Ale
200 grams LDME
25 grams each of Cascade & Galaxy (I think I've made a Pale Ale with those hops, but I'd have to check)
05 yeast which rarely goes below 1.010

or

Coopers Cerveza
200 grams LDME
50 grams Citra
Lager yeast that I have in the fridge.

Both sound perfect.  Maybe you could add a steep of 100g of one of the more flavoursome malts.  I do not know which one, but I have read about Melanoidin, Aromatic and Biscuit Malt to mention a couple.  Or just go with what you have planned, see how you like it, and adjust from there.

[Tone boy]

13 hours ago, Graculus said:

OK, I've read the thread and seen the recipes.

I want to make a lower ABV beer for a friend.

Rather than follow the recipes I was thinking of.

Coopers Pale Ale
200 grams LDME
25 grams each of Cascade & Galaxy (I think I've made a Pale Ale with those hops, but I'd have to check)
05 yeast which rarely goes below 1.010

or

Coopers Cerveza
200 grams LDME
50 grams Citra
Lager yeast that I have in the fridge.

Is there any reason I can't just use the Coopers Pale Ale, Cerveza, Real Ale and just add a small amount of LDME & hops
to make a reasonably low alcohol beer with some taste?

I agree both do look good. Another way to lower the ABV could be using a low attenuating yeast. For example if you brewed your pale ale recipe with lallemand London yeast you would end up with a higher FG. You’d get less ABV and a little more body. You could offset any additional sweetness with more bitterness if needed (but I think the Galaxy will take care of that). London doesn’t floc very well though unless you cold crash. 
Not sure what lager yeast you have…

[ChristinaS1]

On 8/29/2021 at 6:14 AM, Graculus said:

OK, I've read the thread and seen the recipes.

I want to make a lower ABV beer for a friend.

Rather than follow the recipes I was thinking of.

Coopers Pale Ale
200 grams LDME
25 grams each of Cascade & Galaxy (I think I've made a Pale Ale with those hops, but I'd have to check)
05 yeast which rarely goes below 1.010

or

Coopers Cerveza
200 grams LDME
50 grams Citra
Lager yeast that I have in the fridge.

Is there any reason I can't just use the Coopers Pale Ale, Cerveza, Real Ale and just add a small amount of LDME & hops
to make a reasonably low alcohol beer with some taste?

Hi Grac. In my experience you need a low IBU kit for a low ABV beer . Personally I would stick to the wheat and Cervesa kits, as they have the lowest IBUs. I would not use the Real Ale kit, or any of the other kits for that matter, as they all have much higher IBUs. Without the malt to balance it out they will come across as very bitter. For a slightly higher ABV beer, say 3.5%, you could use the APA kit.

I agree with @Tone boy about Lallemand London Ale being a good choice for the yeast, and also Fermentis S-33, MJ Liberty Bell, and Windsor; none of these can ferment maltotriose and will leave behind more body. If you have an OS series kit yeast laying around, Coopers yeast is not bad either. I would stay away from for attenuating yeasts such as US-05, Nottingham, S-04, any  lager yeast, and the kit yeast that come with the Cervesa and APA kits (they are half lager yeast + half Coopers ale yeast). 

You may wish to consider steeping 200g of oats, to provide a bit of mouthfeel. 

Remember that if you use a third party yeast, you would only need to use about half of the 10-11g of yeast in the package. A whole package would be a massive over-pitch for such a low ABV beer. 

I would also go easy on the dry hops (maybe 30g max) as there is not enough malt to support a large dry hop addition, but suit yourself. Good luck.

Cheers,

Christina.

[Graculus]

On 8/29/2021 at 11:08 PM, loafing_about said:

I’d go the pale ale over the cerveza for a bit more flavour. Think the hop combo on that as a steep  or maybe dry hop would be really nice. I’ve made a few brews using pale ale can and 500 g light dry malt and I’ve been really happy with the flavour and ABV in the order of 4. 

Yes, I was leaning more to use the Pale Ale due to more flavour.

On 8/30/2021 at 8:22 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

Both sound perfect.  Maybe you could add a steep of 100g of one of the more flavoursome malts.  I do not know which one, but I have read about Melanoidin, Aromatic and Biscuit Malt to mention a couple.  Or just go with what you have planned, see how you like it, and adjust from there.

Thanks, I'm not sure I'd be able to get those malts locally. Maybe next week when  I pass a homebrew store when I'm working.

10 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said:

Hi Grac. In my experience you need a low IBU kit for a low ABV beer . Personally I would stick to the wheat and Cervesa kits, as they have the lowest IBUs. I would not use the Real Ale kit, or any of the other kits for that matter, as they all have much higher IBUs. Without the malt to balance it out they will come across as very bitter. For a slightly higher ABV beer, say 3.5%, you could use the APA kit.

I agree with @Tone boy about Lallemand London Ale being a good choice for the yeast, and also Fermentis S-33, MJ Liberty Bell, and Windsor; none of these can ferment maltotriose and will leave behind more body. If you have an OS series kit yeast laying around, Coopers yeast is not bad either. I would stay away from for attenuating yeasts such as US-05, Nottingham, S-04, any  lager yeast, and the kit yeast that come with the Cervesa and APA kits (they are half lager yeast + half Coopers ale yeast). 

You may wish to consider steeping 200g of oats, to provide a bit of mouthfeel. 

Remember that if you use a third party yeast, you would only need to use about half of the 10-11g of yeast in the package. A whole package would be a massive over-pitch for such a low ABV beer. 

I would also go easy on the dry hops (maybe 30g max) as there is not enough malt to support a large dry hop addition, but suit yourself. Good luck.

Cheers,

Christina.

Thanks Christina.

I was going to use the 05 yeast. I can't recall a beer where it's finished below 1.010. Whereas the Coopers yeast is always a bit of a beast and finishes lower.
I was thinking of Maltodextrin for mouthfeel.

I don't really want to go to too much trouble. This is just an experiment for a neighbour.
He wants something lower in alcohol but tasty. He's thinking of getting in to homebrew himself.

 

I guess I'll try it and see what happens.