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Author Topic: Brewing Light Beer  (Read 8867 times)

Offline erockrph

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #45 on: May 30, 2021, 11:12:08 am »
The Band, The Weight?  Wait a minute, Chester....
Very good, and I just realized the clue was auto corrected (which I just fixed) . The rye malt is called danko. The stanza with Chester and his dog was sung by Rick Danko, at least in the Last Waltz version. And I think “ Jack, my dog” is funny out of context, especially with a missing comma.
Yes, it brings to mind the chocolate eclair scene from Van Wilder...

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Offline Saccharomyces

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #46 on: June 05, 2021, 09:12:52 am »
Y-7408 may be a good choice for well-attenuated beer.  I am on my third batch with the culture.  It took 1.066 and 1.070 all-malt (mostly TF Golden Promise) worts down to 1.010 and 1.012, respectively.  Neither beer tastes thin.  It is currently fermenting a big blonde ale, so I am curious as to what it will do with that wort.  If the goal is 80%+ attenuation without tasting thin, this culture may do the trick when mashing in the low 150s.  Ballantine XXX was not a big beer. Y-7408 is available periodically as ECY-10. 

Offline BrewBama

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #47 on: June 05, 2021, 06:20:52 pm »
So I was reviewing G Strong’s Porter recipe and noticed something I hadn’t before. At the bottom he describes a ‘session’ version of his Porter. I quickly adjusted my recipe to the lower ABV recipe which gets me down to 12 carbs. Not exactly low carb but better that the 6% or 7%+ versions.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/gordon-strong-american-porter/



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Offline Joe_Beer

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #48 on: June 12, 2021, 05:12:38 am »
A comment on another thread about overnight mashing in an anvil inspired me to try it in hopes of making a very fermentable wort. I mashed from 11 pm to 7:oo am at 148, ramping up to 160 around 6:30 a.m. while drinking my first cup of coffee.

I know it's only been a couple weeks but any update? Maybe I missed it? Curious how things turned out.

Offline pete b

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #49 on: June 12, 2021, 05:35:41 am »
A comment on another thread about overnight mashing in an anvil inspired me to try it in hopes of making a very fermentable wort. I mashed from 11 pm to 7:oo am at 148, ramping up to 160 around 6:30 a.m. while drinking my first cup of coffee.

I know it's only been a couple weeks but any update? Maybe I missed it? Curious how things turned out.
I do believe it worked well. I am kegging this morning. The night before last the beer had dropped clear and the FG was 1.002. That was with enzymes but a similar brew at a similar OG with enzymes only dropped to 1.006 so I would say that was a pretty fermentable wort. I also got a few more points on OG than expected. And I had wort in a fermenter with yeast and everything cleaned up and put away by 10:00 in the morning. Not only is this a good way to increase efficiency and fermentability but it can be very convenient. Next I will mash in in the morning, go to work, and finish when I get home.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2021, 05:40:01 am by pete b »
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Offline BrewBama

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Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #50 on: June 12, 2021, 05:58:35 am »
My Czech Lager ended up at 1.005. Not bad for not using enzymes yet. …just mash temp, table sugar, and lower OG.



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« Last Edit: June 12, 2021, 06:01:11 am by BrewBama »

Offline pete b

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #51 on: June 12, 2021, 06:17:14 am »
My Czech Lager ended up at 1.005. Not bad for not using enzymes yet. …just mash temp, table sugar, and lower OG.



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That is good. What was your mash temp and OG?
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Offline BrewBama

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #52 on: June 12, 2021, 12:20:16 pm »
I used 148*F for 30 min then 150*F 30 min. OG was 1.037 for 4.2% ABV. It’s lagering now so we’ll see…



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Offline denny

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #53 on: June 12, 2021, 12:47:44 pm »
I used 148*F for 30 min then 150*F 30 min. OG was 1.037 for 4.2% ABV. It’s lagering now so we’ll see…



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Any thoughts on if that 2F change really made a difference compared to just holding one or the other?
« Last Edit: June 12, 2021, 12:55:38 pm by denny »
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Offline BrewBama

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #54 on: June 12, 2021, 01:07:19 pm »
No. I was shooting for 150* but forgot to turn on the PID controller so my mash ended up at 148*F for about 30 min. When I realized what was happening I pulled my head out and it hit 150*F for the duration. Oh well. I can’t imagine 2*F matters that much (if at all).



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Offline denny

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #55 on: June 12, 2021, 03:43:48 pm »
No. I was shooting for 150* but forgot to turn on the PID controller so my mash ended up at 148*F for about 30 min. When I realized what was happening I pulled my head out and it hit 150*F for the duration. Oh well. I can’t imagine 2*F matters that much (if at all).



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Yeah, neither can I.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline Joe_Beer

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #56 on: June 13, 2021, 04:38:38 am »
I do believe it worked well. I am kegging this morning. The night before last the beer had dropped clear and the FG was 1.002. ...

Thanks for the update! I want to try this now! I'm kind of curious how much energy it would use keeping the mash at temp all night but I have a watt-a-meter I could hook up. Hopefully not too bad since the Foundry has that double wall.

Offline pete b

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #57 on: June 13, 2021, 05:57:18 am »
I do believe it worked well. I am kegging this morning. The night before last the beer had dropped clear and the FG was 1.002. ...

Thanks for the update! I want to try this now! I'm kind of curious how much energy it would use keeping the mash at temp all night but I have a watt-a-meter I could hook up. Hopefully not too bad since the Foundry has that double wall.
I don’t know how much energy but I will mention that I don’t recirculate and put the power on 50%. I actually would have finished my brew day even earlier if I had remembered to put the power back up to 100% for the boil instead of realizing half an hour later. :'(
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Offline pete b

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #58 on: June 13, 2021, 05:59:13 am »
I used 148*F for 30 min then 150*F 30 min. OG was 1.037 for 4.2% ABV. It’s lagering now so we’ll see…



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Sounds good. A Czech lager and a saison will be my next two light beer experiments. An English bitter is in the fermenter now.
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Offline pete b

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Re: Brewing Light Beer
« Reply #59 on: June 13, 2021, 07:31:33 pm »
I am drinking my IPA that I kegged yesterday. It will be a few days at least before it hits it’s stride: it needs to carb a bit more, clear up, and I tend to find the first few pulls of an IPA to have a sharper bitterness than the rest of the keg.
The stats as I remember are 3.9% abv, 98 calories and 4 carbs per 12 oz. Very happy with that.
What I am most happy with though is the body of this beer. It really drinks like a “regular “ beer. My previous light/low carb brew had a pretty thin body as did commercial beers that have similar stats. I was prepared to accept this and was actually ok with it for summer beers as they are refreshing.
There are multiple factors so I can’t say for certain why this drinks like a 5 or 6 percent IPA and it’s probably a combination. I used a pretty high percentage, almost 30%, of rye malt. I also used wy1450, known for leaving a full mouthfeel.
The new to me thing is that I used monk fruit, in liquid form, at kegging. I think that was probably the biggest factor. I dosed some water to get a sense of the amount and ended up adding a half teaspoon to five gallons. It was just enough to not actually taste sweet (I can’t taste it at all) but give the mouthfeel that balances the hops. I am very sensitive to sweet and don’t at all like it where I don’t think it belongs so I was very dubious about this working but it really does and I am very excited about future brews.
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.