A low Alcohol beer

[Richardb22]

I will be brief . Love beer but drinking too much ( not according to me never missed a days work etc ) but with kids lovely wife got to cut down . Actually its not so much too much but every day for 35 years and though I am more mellow now I have passed 50 I am also more worried about my history. Anyway

I came across a psuedo lager recipie ( brewed at ale temps etc ) and lager is what I like .

The interesting thing is that it includes a killo of rice flakes.

I am guessing ( and thats my question ) that they ( the rice flakes ) add nothing but fermentable alcohol rather than taste feel etc.

So if I follow that recipie without the rice do I get tasty brew ( dependant I know on all the other ingredients ) but most importantly less alcohol.

Any info would be helpfull. Thanks Richard

 

[freisste]

You are correct that adjuncts like rice add very little flavor. I think your process sounds more or less accurate. One thing to consider though, is the balance of a beer. Generally speaking, three things affect balance: residual sugar for sweetness, hops for bitterness, and alcohol for dryness. Sometimes these contrast each other and sometimes they complement each other. Occasionally, they overpower one another. But randomly changing one of the three will likely not meet the original intentions of the recipe.

Not that it would inevitably make bad beer. Try it and see if you like it. If you do, maybe you've found your new favorite beer.

 

[masscarriers]

Hi Richard,
Flaked rice actually adds fermentables to a brew, less than regular malted barley but still... You can look up at HBT's wiki reference for flaked rice if you want to calculate how much it gives, or use a brewing software(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Adjunct#Flaked_Rice). It is used mainly to add some fermentable while keeping the beer light in body and flavors.

If you want a lager-like beer fermented at ale temperatures, you might want to look at some Cream Ale recipes, most of them use adjuncts such as rice and maize to keep the body and flavor lower, providing a beer that ressembles a lager more than pretty much any other type of ales.

There's several tricks you can try to keep the %ABV low. I suggest you take a look at Session Beers, low ABV but full flavored brews. There's a good article on that in BYO if you want to take a closer look: https://byo.com/stories/item/2264-session-beers-techniques

Good luck!

 

[C-Rider]

I will be brief . Love beer but drinking too much ( not according to me never missed a days work etc ) but with kids lovely wife got to cut down . Actually its not so much too much but every day for 35 years and though I am more mellow now I have passed 50 I am also more worried about my history. Anyway

I came across a psuedo lager recipie ( brewed at ale temps etc ) and lager is what I like .

The interesting thing is that it includes a killo of rice flakes.

I am guessing ( and thats my question ) that they ( the rice flakes ) add nothing but fermentable alcohol rather than taste feel etc.

So if I follow that recipie without the rice do I get tasty brew ( dependant I know on all the other ingredients ) but most importantly less alcohol.

Any info would be helpfull. Thanks Richard

My dad was born in Germany and till the day he died at almost 84 he had two beers a day as long as I can remember. One for lunch and one for dinner. Never thought of that as to much. He drank more than I don now at 71 that's for sure.

 

[Richardb22]

I hope I too will be enjoying a beer in my 70s . Thanks guys will have a read on session beers and cream ales . If I find a suitable recipie I will post it here. Richard



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