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Has anybody brewed a low alcohol lager, say 3% to 3.5%?

I'm looking for recipe and process suggestions. I would like something tasty that would be good for a couple of pints on a weeknight.

I have got a Munich Helles in the fermenter right now. My first lager and I am hoping to reuse the yeast (W34/70). Should I just try the same recipe but trim the grain bill and raise the mash temp? Maybe a Munich Dunkel?

hi,
can't help with the low gravity lager but i'm interested in hearing about your helles. i've yet to have brewed a lager and i am planning on starting with a Munich helles.

I think it is going well. I was following Jamil's recipe from the Jamil Show. It has fermented from 1.048 down to 1.009 in about 3 weeks at 12 deg C using W34/70. I am just about to get it into a keg and begin lagering.

The hydrometer samples taste really good. Definitely showcasing the pilsner malt and seems like a nice amount of bitterness but still more malty than bitter. It tastes like I should do a double batch next time. This should be manageable since my basement is now cool enough that I can probably just use a water bath with two ice cubes a day to keep the temperature in the target range.

will you be fource carbonating while lagering at 0C? for how long?

I will be doing some Googling before the weekend.

Probably lager for 4 to 6 weeks while maybe taking a 100 mL sample each week to taste the progress of the lagering.

Not sure about the carbonating. I will for sure give the keg a good shot of CO2 to make sure things are sealed. I'm not sure how active lager yeast will be at near freezing temperatures. If they are inactive then being carbonated shouldn't affect lagering. Lagering while carbonated will insure it is ready to drink right away at the end of lagering.

You could take a cue from BMC brewers and brew up a stronger lager and dilute it down. Tasty on the BN talks about doing that with his beers. I think he says he force carbonates some water in a keg and pushes from the keg with beer onto the water. You can try it by pouring some of your stronger lager into a glass with soda water. Figure out your volumes needed to hit your desired ABV. Just a thought.

That is a good idea.

I was considering doing up a keg of boiled and cooled water and then carbonating it. I assume I would carbonate it up a little more than the brews I am watering down. Could be handy to have for other drinks during the holidays too.

I see you mentioned a Munich Dunkell CB. That comes up pretty well at low alcohol.

A very easy beer to brew at low alcohol (I have done it as low as 2.5% ABV) is a Schwartzbier.

To brew either of these (and even pale ales) all you have to do is the following...

1. Reduce the original grain bill accordingly.

2. Keep the original hop bill. Do not adjust it from the full-strength recipe.

3. Mash at 70C.

You'll be surprised at how well the above formula works. Very tasty beer! The higher mash temperature adds body etc while retaining the original hop bill balances out the increased 'sweetness' caused by the higher mash temp.

Hashie will have a good Schwartzbier recipe I think. I should modify then post up the Schwartzbier recipe I used in the original BIAB guide. It's a great recipe. Until then, you can get it by downloading the "BIAB Checklist Black Beer.xls" file in Post #1 of this thread.

The Schwartz drinks very well straight away even if brewed as an ale with US-56.

Cheers,
PP

Thank you PistolPatch.

That is interesting about the hopping. I was planning on raising the mash temp but I definitely wasn't thinking to keep the hops the same.

I went to save the checklist for the black beer and it turned out that I had already downloaded it. Turns out you gave me the answer a quite a while ago and then helped me to find it... again.

Now to report back on the progress in a couple of months.