God forbid - how do you make a light beer?

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Longbeach Brewer
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Joined: Monday Sep 13, 2004 10:00 pm
Location: Melbourne

God forbid - how do you make a light beer?

Post by Longbeach Brewer »

:shock: Don't look like that! I wouldn't normally drink the stuff, but desparate times call for desparate measures...
With the silly season fast approaching, I'm thinking of making a light beer to (a) give to the relies for christmas, (b) offer to people who wan't some beer, but have to drive home and (c) drink when I have to drive home...
Does anyone have any advice on creating a special brew with a low alcohol content? I understand less fermentable sugar creates less alcohol, but how do I get the flavour without the sugar?

I'd rather learn from others mistakes than stuff it up all by myself! :roll:

Chris
I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings...
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gregb
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Post by gregb »

This is probably heresey, but, having had f'kall success with lights, my tip is splash out on a slab of Cascade Premium Light.

My appologies that this is of no help to the actual question of brewing a light.

Cheers,

Greg.
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thehipone
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Joined: Tuesday Sep 21, 2004 12:20 pm
Location: Brisbane, QLD

Post by thehipone »

Its not too hard to make a midstrength, just cut out about 750g of fermentables (approx) in a 23L batch and your ABV is reduced from about 5 to about 3.5%. To keep some flavor use malt instead of dextrose.
And malt is only ~80% fermentable so some will be left to impart flavor at the end.

Some other options are to do a higher gravity brew with a FG of about 1.01, with increased hops in the initial recipe. You can then dilute this down with water to the required strength. The other way that alcohol is reduced is to boil off the ethanol. The hop flavor leaves with it, and its pretty hard to do at home.

That said, Cascade Light is probably the best light beer going, and its pretty cheap.
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Guest

Post by Guest »

easy one :)
just grab a decent can of brew kit and don't add anything to it. just yeast.
i think a decent light beer could be made from one particular can kit made by morgan's called stockman's draught. it's a nice kit and comes with hop aroma added to the can - very nice and a good low effort way to make nice light beer.
otherwise, just pick one of the cooper's cans and brew one out. i think the cooper's pale ale can would be just as perfect as the morgan's one.
just remember that the cooper's premium kits or any other kit that specifies the use of malt extract instead of sugar should not be used as the resulting beer will be very bitter as the bitterness is there to balance out the sweetness of the extra 1.5kg of malt they want you to add.
just a can with nothing else added should give you an alc. content of roughly 2.7% alcohol.
-wombat
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Dogger Dan
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Post by Dogger Dan »

I have heard that you can buy a can and not add anything to it. Personally, I wouldn't go to the effort to make it. It ties up your brew equipment which you would be better off buying

Dogger
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wombat
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Post by wombat »

Dogger Dan makes a strong point. Light beer isn't so heavily taxed, so it makes sense to go and spend $29.95 on a case of Hahn Premium Light or Cascade Premium Light. Both not bad as far as light beers go.
-wombat
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Longbeach Brewer
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Joined: Monday Sep 13, 2004 10:00 pm
Location: Melbourne

Post by Longbeach Brewer »

The truth is in the tasting! I tried my light beer after a month in the bottle, and all things considered, I'm impressed! Good head and retention, crystal clear and pretty good flavour.
I made a can of Coopers Pale ale up to 20L, just adding the yeast from under the lid, nothing else. ABV under 3%.
For ten bucks I'd much rather drink mine than blow $50-60 on an equivalent amount of a premium light.
Next time (I thought I was going to only ever make one, but this is going to be a hit with the visitors over the silly season!), I'll use the same Coopers Pale ale kit make it up to 23L, but I'll add a little light dry malt (maybe 250g?) and possibly some hops (I'm open to suggestions!).
Anyway, for those who said I shouldn't/couldn't, I've proved you wrong. For those who've wondered about churning out a light, give it a go - if you don't like it, I'm sure your mates will appreciate it!
Here's to a Merry and SAFE Christmas, hopefully everyone is here next year to share their Christmas Homebrew experiences!
Chris
I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings...
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wombat
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Post by wombat »

yes, you've proved us wrong.
try pride of ringwood pellets - about 10g.
-wombat
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Dogger Dan
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Location: Lucan, Ontario, Canada

Post by Dogger Dan »

Long Beach

Good for you chief, if it works excellent

Merry Merry
Dooger
"Listening to someone who brews their own beer is like listening to a religous fanatic talk about the day he saw the light" Ross Murray, Montreal Gazette
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Marty
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Joined: Tuesday Oct 12, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Melbourne

Post by Marty »

Wombat suggested 10g POR. How about 5g Saaz as well for aroma. Boil the POR for 5-10 mins and add Saaz (or another aromatic hop) for a couple of minutes.

This thread has really got me thinking about doing a light beer in the future. My Dad is a light beer drinker I reckon it would be a hit with him. Chris, keep us posted with continuing flavour development and feedback!

Marty
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