Session Beer Convert

[reuliss]

My doctor recently gave me grief over elevated liver enzymes, and it's been a chronic condition for me so I had to soul search about my obsession with this hobby. I really love high alcohol beers, but I had to face the music. Either I adjusted my habits to more reasonable alcohol intake, or I needed to stop altogether. This lit a fire in my belly to start brewing some low alcohol beers that I could use as my "go to" brews, but I wanted to make them as bold and flavorful as possible. I have to say that I've had some wonderful successes and I could not be happier when I think about how much less alcohol is making its way to my liver. Right now I'm sipping on a 4.5% oatmeal stout that is just lovely, but my crowning achievement is a 2.8% pale ale. That beer is damn tasty and not watery, thanks to ingredient and process choices. Keep in mind that, until recently, "session" strength to me was anything below 6%. It really makes me wonder why I hadn't tried this sooner.

Anyways, I'm writing this hoping that I can inspire others to try. I'm not one of those "session beer zealots," but really it is something that many of us should look at more closely. Cheers!

 

[Calder]

I don't have any health issues, but I have changed to doing a lot of session type beers.

I got tired off drinking a few(+) bombers of 7 to 10% beers and getting a little drunk (unsteady when walking, double vision, etc).

Now I'm making mostly 5% beers and being fine at the end of the evening. Still using the same amount of hops for my IPAs, but a lot less alcohol.

 

[Subdivisions]

Uses less grains too. Good luck on your session venture.

 

[serum]

I think I need to get on this for my mid-week drink. I'm also a sucker for high strength beers and I can't see it being great over indulging on that.

 

[misterkidd]

Brewing up a nice little Ordinary Bitter right now. Expecting it to come in at around 3.6% abv if I hit my numbers. Then again, I've also got 5 gallons of 10% abv Belgian Golden Strong bottle conditioning, so...

 

[catdaddy66]

I recently did a smoked porter partial mash but missed my OG on the low side. It came in at 3.5% abv and I was pretty disappointed. But it is drinking SO well! Awesome end result and I can drink my weight in them! Lol (not quite!)

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I converted mainly because I like to be able to drink quite a few but I stopped enjoying the buzz except for rare occasions years ago.

I make a dark Mild, Session Pale Ale, Moose Drool'ish brown ale and a Dry Stout that are all at or under 4%. I am still playing with my RyePA lawnmower beer but even the "failures" are very drinkable.

I have no desire to go back to higher alcohol beers...

 

[reuliss]

Another thing that appeals to the "lazy" side of me is that, for many of these beers, you can just pitch a vial with no need for a starter. That, in and of itself, is not a good enough reason, but let's call it a nice fringe benefit when the OG is low enough.

With the right base malt, yeast, mash temp, and water adjustments it really is possible to make a great session beer with quality mouth feel. There are enough levers we brewers can pull that make it hard to realize that thsee beers are not in the mid 5s. I think the session IPA craze (I like many of them, by the way) is doing the cause no favors, if only because most of those are designed to have a low finishing gravity. I personally try to avoid that and that tactic really avoids that watery mouthfeel that can result in an extremely low alcohol beer.

 

[Raving_Elk]

Same here. I needed to reduce my alcohol intake a bit. Also, I like drinking beer, but don't want to get drunk all the time.

[...] but my crowning achievement is a 2.8% pale ale. That beer is damn tasty and not watery, thanks to ingredient and process choices. [...]

@ Reuliss: I would love to try this pale ale, do you have the recipe posted somewhere?

 

[Hello]

I too would be interested in that pale ale recipe.

 

[Psylocide]

I'm about to go down this road as well... I like to put down 5-6 beers after work, which was fine when I mostly drank Busch Light.

Now I find myself wanting to drink the same quantity of beer, but am drinking/brewing mainly ~6-7% beers. I end up catching a stronger buzz, which isn't terrible, but isn't ideal every night of the week either.

I just want something where I can still put down that sixer and feel fine. For my next beer, I'll be targeting ~3.5-4%.

I used to think that if it wasn't over 5%, it wasn't worth brewing.

Starting to realize that line of thinking was wrong.

 

[GHBWNY]

I used to think that if it wasn't over 5%, it wasn't worth brewing.

Starting to realize that line of thinking was wrong.

I started brewing under the illusion that a higher ABV beer = "better" beer. However, nowhere in the BJCP Style Guidelines do I see "the perceptible presence/effect of alcohol" being a criterion for judging a beer's quality. I just want to make beer that tastes good.

 

[xandersaml]

As much as I like BIG beers (7.5%+++) I have great appreciation for a good session beer with low ABV% (I consider 3% - 5%) session level.

I will admit though, that it drives me crazy when buying sessions instead of brewing them. They still want the same (or nearly them same) $$$ for beer with 1/3 of the ABV

 

[Psylocide]

I started brewing under the illusion that a higher ABV beer = "better" beer. However, nowhere in the BJCP Style Guidelines do I see "the perceptible presence/effect of alcohol" being a criterion for judging a beer's quality. I just want to make beer that tastes good.

My beer consumption has changed drastically since I started brewing (not that long ago). I even poo-pooed craft beers that were less than 5%, because if I was going to spend the money on the "expensive" beer, there had better be a decent amount of alcohol in it.

So, yeah... it's been interesting to see how my tastes have changed. Mostly though, I just want to continue to drink beer all day, but remember going to bed. Most days anyway.

 

[reuliss]

I too would be interested in that pale ale recipe.

Happy to. Here it is. If your not the Simcoe fan that I am, you could always go with your own personal favorite. But the key here is the base malt selection, yeast, and mash temps. I also tilted my water toward calcium chloride and added no gypsum. I did a hop steep, so actual bittering load is more than calculated,though honestly I'd probably add another 10 IBU next time.

Micro Simcoe Pale Ale

Style: American Pale Ale
Type: (null)Calories: 121.31
Rating: 0.0Boil Size: 7.88 Gals
IBU's: 16.07Batch Size: 6.00 Gals
Color: 6.0 SRM Boil Time: 60 minutes
Preboil OG: 1.031
EstimatedActual
Brew Date: - 05/17/2015
OG: 1.036 1.036
FG: 1.014 1.014
ABV: 2.94 % 2.87 %
Efficiency:78.00 % 76.84 %
Carbs:13 13
Serve Date: 05/17/2015 -

Grains & Adjuncts
AmountPercentageNameTimeGravity
8.00 lbs 86.49 %British Golden Promise60 mins1.034
8.00 ozs 5.41 %Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L60 mins1.035
6.00 ozs 4.05 %Victory Malt60 mins1.034
6.00 ozs 4.05 %Bairds Carastan Malt60 mins1.035

Hops
AmountIBU'sNameTimeAA %
1.00 ozs 16.07Simcoe10 mins13.00
2.00 ozs 0.00Simcoe0 mins13.00
2.00 ozs 0.00Simcoe60 days13.00

Yeasts
AmountNameLaboratory / ID
1 vialsEnglish AleWhite Labs 0002

Additions
AmountNameTimeStage
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 60 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Profile Name: Mashtun Cooler

Grain Temp: 70.00 °FMash Tun Vol Loss: 0.75 Gals
Grain Absorption: 0.13 Gals/lbTun Temp Loss: 2.00 °F
Cooling Shrinkage: 4.00 %Kettle Trub Loss: 0.75 Gals
Hourly Boiloff: 12.00 %

Mash Steps:
Infusion75 [email protected]°F
Add 18.50 qts water @ 168.8°F
Batch Sparge
Sparge 20.81 qts water @ 170.00 °F

Water Profile
(none)

Fermentation Steps
NameDays / TempEstimatedActual
(none)

Carbonation
(none)

Notes
Mash ph 5.16. Sparge ph 5.3.

Pre-boiled gravity 1.032.
www.iBrewMaster.comVersion: 1.2.6

 

[reuliss]

Happy to. Here it is. If your not the Simcoe fan that I am, you could always go with your own personal favorite. But the key here is the base malt selection, yeast, and mash temps. I also tilted my water toward calcium chloride and added no gypsum. I did a hop steep, so actual bittering load is more than calculated,though honestly I'd probably add another 10 IBU next time.

Micro Simcoe Pale Ale

Style: American Pale Ale
Type: (null)Calories: 121.31
Rating: 0.0Boil Size: 7.88 Gals
IBU's: 16.07Batch Size: 6.00 Gals
Color: 6.0 SRM Boil Time: 60 minutes
Preboil OG: 1.031
EstimatedActual
Brew Date: - 05/17/2015
OG: 1.036 1.036
FG: 1.014 1.014
ABV: 2.94 % 2.87 %
Efficiency:78.00 % 76.84 %
Carbs:13 13
Serve Date: 05/17/2015 -

Grains & Adjuncts
AmountPercentageNameTimeGravity
8.00 lbs 86.49 %British Golden Promise60 mins1.034
8.00 ozs 5.41 %Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L60 mins1.035
6.00 ozs 4.05 %Victory Malt60 mins1.034
6.00 ozs 4.05 %Bairds Carastan Malt60 mins1.035

Hops
AmountIBU'sNameTimeAA %
1.00 ozs 16.07Simcoe10 mins13.00
2.00 ozs 0.00Simcoe0 mins13.00
2.00 ozs 0.00Simcoe60 days13.00

Yeasts
AmountNameLaboratory / ID
1 vialsEnglish AleWhite Labs 0002

Additions
AmountNameTimeStage
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 60 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Profile Name: Mashtun Cooler

Grain Temp: 70.00 °FMash Tun Vol Loss: 0.75 Gals
Grain Absorption: 0.13 Gals/lbTun Temp Loss: 2.00 °F
Cooling Shrinkage: 4.00 %Kettle Trub Loss: 0.75 Gals
Hourly Boiloff: 12.00 %

Mash Steps:
Infusion75 [email protected]°F
Add 18.50 qts water @ 168.8°F
Batch Sparge
Sparge 20.81 qts water @ 170.00 °F

Water Profile
(none)

Fermentation Steps
NameDays / TempEstimatedActual
(none)

Carbonation
(none)

Notes
Mash ph 5.16. Sparge ph 5.3.

Pre-boiled gravity 1.032.
www.iBrewMaster.comVersion: 1.2.6

Looking back at that post and realizing not all of my notes are correct. Dry hopped three days (not 60!), fermented at 62, and Whirlfloc at 15 min. Most of this was just default setting on my software that I know to ignore.

 

[Owly055]

My last Tap-a-Draft bottle of a session saison (Amarillo, Simco, Chinook) just blew. At about 3.5% at first it seemed lacking something. I like being able to drink a number of these without getting buzzed............. I don't drink fast enough to get a buzz from this. I'm liking it, and plan to brew a similar saison next week. It's also CHEAP to brew. Less than 4 pounds of grain in 3 gallons of beer.......... I have more in the 2 ounces of hops than in the grain..... but I love hops!

H.W.

 

[Raving_Elk]

Thanks! This looks like a beer I might enjoy will definitely try it sometime!

I also tilted my water toward calcium chloride and added no gypsum.

Did you add the calcium chloride specifically bcs this is a low gravity beer? What does it do exactly?

 

[reuliss]

Thanks! This looks like a beer I might enjoy will definitely try it sometime!







Did you add the calcium chloride specifically bcs this is a low gravity beer? What does it do exactly?

When adding calcium to strike water for ph and other purposes, one generally can choose between calcium chloride and sulfate (gypsum). Calcium chloride generally accentuates malt, while gypsum lends perception of dryness and hop bitterness. With so little malt in this beer, I when the calcium chloride route with no gypsum.