sorry, want a low strength session beer!!

[timbo41]

ok I know this may seem wierd but I'd like to kit brew a session bevvy. Recent footy watching sessions with current brews have left me feeling a bit shall we say under the weather! Forgot that what we do is bigger than your average bear!! So I was wondering can i use a kit brew to 40 pts( lots of mates) without extra sugar/malt/lme etc to maybe 3.5% maybe slightly less WITHOUT changing the taste profile. Favourite current bevvies are coopers cerveza and geordie scottish export both about 5% if i did hydrometer right naughty but nice.. do i just halve the kit or what. Piss taking accepted with decent advice!!

[john_drummer]

I'd lower the quantity of fermentables and/or perhaps use a little more water. Say you normally use 1kg of BKE to get a 1040 og, try it with say 600g instead and aim at say 1035. if the gravity is too low with the full amount of liquid, you could add say another 100g. if still too low, add a bit more, until you get the required OG. I wouldn't aim much lower than 1035. If you find you've gone too high, add a bit more water... but not too much more

[timbo41]

cheers john. OG at 1035 would give potential abv of 4.4ish i reckon. any way of dropping it just slightly more sorry I'm a bit of a wussy what I'm not sure about is whether i need to add anything to basic malt at all except primer woudl it come out really crap?

[wxmexile]

I read a coopers recipe once for 'lawnmower lager' (think it was called that) , it was basically a low strength lager. . think the recipe was printed on the side of one of their BKE packs. . maybe search for that?

[john_drummer]

OG at 1035 would give potential abv of 4.4ish i reckon. any way of dropping it just slightly more sorry I'm a bit of a wussy what I'm not sure about is whether i need to add anything to basic malt at all except primer woudl it come out really crap?

well that depends entirely on the finishing gravity, but let's say FG of 1008 - not unreasonable. And also on the calculation you use...

I use a calculation that states ABV = (OG - FG) * 131, when OG and FG are expressed as 1.035 and 1.008 respectively; if you use (1035 - 1008) then divide by 1000 before multiplying by 131.
I calculate this as 3.537%, which is kind of in the ball park you're looking for.

If you're looking at even lower, then start with less sugar/BKE/DME/spraymalt. If it's too low, add a bit more. If it's too high, add a bit more water. I'd start measuring the gravity when you get to about 80-85% of your planned volume - so if you're aiming at 23 litres (typical 40 pint kit), start measuring OG when you've got 19 litres in the FV.

Best to calibrate your FV first so you know how much is really in, do not rely on the scale on the side!
There are at least 2 ways of doing this:
1) use a 1 litre or 2 litre bottle full of water & some masking tape up the outside. Mark off increments on the masking tape from 10 litres upwards, or
2) weigh the empty FV. As water has a mass of 1kg per litre, add water while the FV is still on the scales and mark off increments on the masking tape as required.

I've never deliberately brewed a kit to longer than the suggested volume so I don't know how much (or how little) extra water would leave it tasting watered, but I wouldn't recommend overdoing it...

[hommebru]

depends how you make your kits really. the only problem with adding more water, say brewing a 5 gallon batch to 6 instead would be that you'd mostly lose hop bitterness and flavour. if you used hops in your beer, either dry-hopping or with a boil, you could easily use the same amount of fermentables and just extend the brewlength with no real side-effects. if you don't add hops then i'd just reduce fermentables, use only DME or LME to maintain flavour and cut out all sugar which only adds strength. i'd say that a kit with 500g DME would do you right. the beer being watery is not the problem, as using less fermentables and producing a lower abv beer will often mean a more watery beer anyway you make it.

[AnthonyUK]

I don't think there is anything wrong with making a session beer so no need to apologise.
I hope we will start to see some interesting brews that take advantage of the lower duty rate.

Here is the link to Coopers recipes including the Lawnmower Lager mentioned - http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... troduction

[timbo41]

As always sound advice from all thankyou . Also for not extracting the dirty liquor too much( crap pun intended!). I'm just a bit of a lightweight really but like quaffing. abv formula i use is coopers own FG-OG /7.46 forgetting decimal point then add 0.5% for priming, but there are obviously better ways and a decent hydrometer would prob help. The coopers site is quite funky as well!! Not sure what was meant by lower tax rate will that affect us homebrewers? anyhows will probably go for full volume coopers cerveza with 600g medium spray malt, incorporating measurin og from 80% of liquor volume. will be happy to get anything between 3.5 and 4 %. LESS IS MORE AS THE SAYING GOES, and theres always monday morning to think about cheers all

[AnthonyUK]

The lower tax rate won't affect us per se but if any interesting brews do come about people do tend to try to replicate successful commercial brews.

[bazookajoe]

Have a look on the coopers website, their diy recipe of the month a month or so ago might fit the bill. It used nelson sauvin hops. Think it was coming out at 3.5%

Just doublechecked, it was the March recipe - Nelson's Light, around 2.9% http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... on's-light

The journey of making beer can lead to experimentation with greater quantities of additives, producing more aromatic and flavoursome results. Once accustomed to beer of such high quality, bland beer is not easily tolerated, regardless of how hot conditions may be and how strong the thirst!
Nelson’s Light is intended to produce generous amounts of aroma and flavour while maintaining drinkability. One could argue that this recipe fits closest to BJCP Style 8A (English Pale Ale, Standard /Ordinary Bitter), only with slightly less alcohol.

Ingredients
1.5kg Coopers Light Dry Malt (3 x 500g)
300g Crystal Malt
25g Centennial hops
20g Nelson Sauvin hops
25g Nelson Sauvin hops
Coopers commercial yeast culture or an ale yeast of your choice

There's also a Zephyr's Light http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... phyr-light

Coopers Original Series Draught Beer Kit produces a flavour and aroma suited to making Light Beer. The recipe should make a beer at approx 2.9%A/Vol.

Ingredients
* 1.7kg can Coopers Draught
* 100g Dextrose/Sugar

There's also quite a few mid-strength recipes including Kilted Ale at 3.8%

Most brewers know of the India Pale Ale (IPA) story behind the style - being a strong beer, high in bitterness, alcohol and hop aroma (BJCP style guidelines 14A). However as much as we accept this story, there remains some possibility that IPA was supplied to the troops as a finished mid-strength beer while a higher alcohol beverage, in the form of Porter, was supplied to the Officers and gentry. This may account for the multitude of mid-strength commercial IPAs, many of which are award winning ales. This recipe is an attempt at emulating one such IPA, brewed in Scotland.

Ingredients
1.7kg Thomas Coopers IPA beer kit
500g Light Dry Malt
300g Crystal Malt
30g Fuggles Hop Pellets
11.5g Fermentis S-04 (or kit yeast)

Worth a look through, some are just normal 1can kits with less spraymalt added (like the Aztec Gold recipe).

[timbo41]

exactly the type of recipes i was looking for cheers!
just went and had a good look around the coopers site.. excellent thanx all very much

[john_drummer]

abv formula i use is coopers own FG-OG /7.46

I used to use that too. But it's not that accurate IMO, can be a whole 0.5% out. You think you're drinking a 4.5% beer but in fact it's actually 4.0% - can make a difference