Low carb recommendations

[ChairmanDrew]

So the next brew I've decided to do a low carb. I've already got he enzyme, and I'm going to use a can of Coopers European lager. Was also planning to throw in a 550g can of Maltexo. Do I need the extra fermentable? How much ABV will the Coopers can give me on it's own?

I'd like to add some more hops. I've got a few varieties around, early and late additions. Anyone got any ideas for what would work for this style?

Edited July 19, 2023 by ChairmanDrew

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, ChairmanDrew said:

So the next brew I've decided to do a low carb. I've already got he enzyme, and I'm going to use a can of Coopers European lager. Was also planning to throw in a 550g can of Maltexo. Do I need the extra fermentable? How much ABV will the Coopers can give me on it's own?

I'd like to add some more hops. I've got a few varieties around, early and late additions. Anyone got any ideas for what would work for this style?

Let's assume using enzyme gets you a final gravity of 1.000. 

So for a 23 litre batch a can of European Lager on its own will get you around

• 3.0% unprimed in a keg
• 3.4% primed in bottles

With 550g of Maltexo added you will get around

• 4.0% unprimed in a keg
• 4.4% primed in bottles

I recommend adding the Maltexo.

I would go very easy on any boiled hops because the bitterness to malt ratio will already be high-ish.  Because the beer will be "dry", there will be virtually no sugars left to offset the bitterness.

Late hops you could use anything traditional in a warm steep or dry hop.  If you want a hoppy New Zealand style pilsner dry hop with any New Zealand hop or Australian hop like Galaxy, Eclipse, Ella, etc.

[ChairmanDrew]

7 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Let's assume using enzyme gets you a final gravity of 1.000. 

So for a 23 litre batch a can of European Lager on its own will get you around

• 3.0% unprimed in a keg
• 3.4% primed in bottles

With 550g of Maltexo added you will get around

• 4.0% unprimed in a keg
• 4.4% primed in bottles

I recommend adding the Maltexo.

I would go very easy on any boiled hops because the bitterness to malt ratio will already be high-ish.  Because the beer will be "dry", there will be virtually no sugars left to offset the bitterness.

Late hops you could use anything traditional in a warm steep or dry hop.  If you want a hoppy New Zealand style pilsner dry hop with any New Zealand hop or Australian hop like Galaxy, Eclipse, Ella, etc.

Understood. I'll probably just give it a dry hop then, can try out these Kohatu hops that I bought recently.

 

Thanks again Shamus.

[ChairmanDrew]

Just put this one in the fermentor. OG of only 1.025. That's with the 550g can of maltexo at 23l. Seems quite low, but I don't mind have a lower to mid strength beer for this one.

See how its going in a couple weeks time.

[Shamus O'Sean]

5 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

Just put this one in the fermentor. OG of only 1.025. That's with the 550g can of maltexo at 23l. Seems quite low, but I don't mind have a lower to mid strength beer for this one.

See how its going in a couple weeks time.

That OG does seem a bit low.  The IanH spreadsheet suggests 1.023 for the can alone and 1.030 with the Maltexo.  However, I did assume the Maltexo has the same concentration of sugars as Coopers Liquid Malt Extract.  It will be interesting to read how it turns out.

[BlackSands]

Yeah, Beersmith suggests it should have been an OG of 1.029.  Maltexo, as I've mentioned before, I beleive is identical to Black Rock's Ultra Light LME - i.e. there's a percentage of malt syrup (as opposed to extract) in mix to help achieve a slighly lighter color.   

On the rare occasions I've used enzymes I never actually saw an FG as low as 1.000, from memory those brews settled out around 1.005-ish.   You don't mention which yeast you're using (kit yeast perhaps?) - either way it's worth noting that I high-attenuating yeast can also help bring the FG down.  However, you are trading off carbs vs alcohol so I'm not sure there's really any net benefit in terms of total calories.

By the way, Kohatu is a very nice hop BUT it's very mild - I found I really needed to up the dose to get a good level of hop presence in the beer. 

[ChairmanDrew]

I did lose a few dribbles of the Cooper's goop, but really not much. Who knows, maybe the hydrometer isn't super accurate

I've used the can yeast with it (the old real lager yeast).

I'm really not too worried about having something mild to drink this time (we can call it "sessionable").

I was only going to put in 25g of Kohatu hops, but usually I would only make 19-20l, unlike this time where I've gone the full 23l. What you reckon Blacksands, throw the whole 50g in the dry hop?