Low alcohol pale ale, Improvements?

[triskelion]

I attempted to brew a low alcohol beer a few months ago.

50% pale rye
50% maris otter
OG: 1.022
FG: 1.011
11 IBU of galaxy from one 20 minute addition and a whole load of galaxy for dry hops.
1.5% ABV

It's too not bad. There's not enough body, and the bitterness is just right for what I was going for. Hop flavour and aroma haven't really come out, don't think its bottle conditioned enough yet. There's no head to speak of.

I mashed at the high end, to keep attenuation low. I might just increase the grain bill a bit and maybe add some wheat, to help with head retention. What would be the maximum mash temperature that I could use? Is there anything else that I should consider for increasing body and keeping the abv low?

 

[dcp27]

rye is at least as good as wheat at building head and head retention, so if 50% rye isn't doing it, adding some wheat probably won't help. i'm not sure there's much else you can do to get more body than what you already did (maybe some oats?) beyond going higher in OG.

why attempting such a low abv brew btw?

 

[Setesh]

What was your mash temp exactly, you say on the high end but that might mean 154 to you, in which case I would tell you to go to 158. Have you thought about adding maltodextrine? That can add mouthfeel and body. Maybe 8oz for 5gal?

 

[norsk]

We just drew our first beers out of the keg from our low alcohol Pale Ale we brewed three weeks ago. Of course for us low alcohol is 6%... Tasted great... I have little to no experience with beers that low in ABV, but I like the 50% Rye and Maris. What temp did you mash at? Surprised there wasn't more body with a higher temp mash...

 

[triskelion]

I mashed at 70*c (158*F). Maybe a stepped mash might help my with head retention if wheat doesn't, I made a lager a while ago and tried pretty much every type of rest, a thick head lasted to the end! I guess a low alcohol beer that tastes good is just a challenge really, although sometimes its good to be able to have a beer and still drive afterwards, I'm not going to start the session beer discussion as it seems a little controversial, lol. Good call on the maltodextrin, I will investigate this more, I've never used it before.

 

[dcp27]

forgot about malto-dextrin, that could help as its just adding unfermentables, but as is you're only getting 50% attenuation so I dunno how much more you need to have body.

what yeast did you use? some strains, like most saison strains, produce more glycol which makes it seem like there is more body.

, I'm not going to start the session beer discussion as it seems a little controversial.

oh sorry, i dont mean i'm against session beers, but when i think of sessionable tho I think of like 3-4%. 1.5% is borderline non-alcoholic

 

[triskelion]

I used mangrove jacks british ale yeast