I've been collecting recipes for beers that would be great to drink while tailgating before American football games this fall. Light, low abv, but still flavorful. James Spencer (of Basic Brewing Radio/Video fame) has been experimenting with ultra low gravity rye beers for a few years now with reportedly good results so I decided to give one a try.

I brewed a hoppy wheat ale from this episode of Basic Brewing Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOBROqq0d98" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) beginning around 5:30 into the video. He doesn't provide a ton of details on the recipe so I had to fill in some of the blanks myself which led me to make a mistake when scaling the recipe, but I'll get to that later.


[center]BIABacus Pre-Release 1.3T RECIPE REPORT[/center]
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[center]Tailgate Hoppy Wheat Ale - Batch 1[/center]

Recipe Overview

Brewer: flhb
Style: Rye/Wheat Session Ale
Source Recipe Link:
ABV: 2.9% (assumes any priming sugar used is diluted.)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.03
IBU's (Tinseth): 15
Bitterness to Gravity Ratio: 0.5
Colour:

Kettle Efficiency (as in EIB and EAW): 88.5 %
Efficiency into Fermentor (EIF): 75.9 %

Note: This is a Pure BIAB (Full Volume Mash)

Times and Temperatures

Mash: 90 mins at 66.7 C = 152 F
Boil: 60 min
Ferment: 7 days at 20 C = 68 F

Volumes & Gravities
(Note that VAW below is the Volume at Flame-Out (VFO) less shrinkage.)
The, "Clear Brewing Terminology," thread at http://www.biabrewer.info/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Total Water Needed (TWN): 17.73 L = 4.68 G
Volume into Boil (VIB): 16.77 L = 4.43 G @ 1.025
Volume of Ambient Wort (VAW): 13.25 L = 3.5 G @ 1.03
Volume into Fermentor (VIF): 11.36 L = 3 G @ 1.03
Volume into Packaging (VIP): 10.52 L = 2.78 G @ 1.008 assuming apparent attenuation of 75 %

The Grain Bill (Also includes extracts, sugars and adjuncts)

Note: If extracts, sugars or adjuncts are not followed by an exclamation mark, go to http://www.biabrewer.info" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (needs link)

75% Malted Wheat 1137 grams = 2.51 pounds
25% Malted Rye 379 grams = 0.84 pounds







The Hop Bill (Based on Tinseth Formula)

15 IBU Fuggles Pellets (4.1%AA) 16 grams = 0.563 ounces at 60 mins
0 IBU Mosaic Pellets (11.3%AA) 31.9 grams = 1.126 ounces at 0 mins
0 IBU Cascade Pellets (6.9%AA) 31.9 grams = 1.126 ounces at mins (Dry Hopped)






Mash Steps

Mash Type: Pure BIAB (Full-Volume Mash): Saccharifiaction for 90 mins at 66.7 C = 152 F
Water Held Back from Mash: 2.57 L = 0.68 G
Strike Water Needed (SWN): 15.45 L = 4.08 G 70 C = 158 F



Water Used in a Sparge: 2.57 L = 0.68 G





Miscellaneous Ingredients








Chilling & Hop Management Methods

Hopsock Used: N



Fermentation & Conditioning

Fermentation: Safale US-05 for 7 days at 20 C = 68 F









Special Instructions/Notes on this Beer



BIAB Variations

Water Held Back from Mash: 2.57 L = 0.68 G
Water Used in a Sparge: 2.57 L = 0.68 G




I was very happy with the way this turned out. Light but satisfying body, very flavorful but not overbearing so you can drink a lot of it. You really can't tell that it is a sub 3.0% abv beer. It's going to be great in the Florida heat and humidity.

As I mentioned before, I made a mistake when scaling the recipe down to my 3G batch size. I overshot the IBUs (had I played around with the Biabacus a little more I would have realized that his recipe works out to around 8 IBUs instead of my guess of 15), so next time I'm going to reduce the IBUs down to about 8. This beer was a bit too bitter which left it out of balance a bit. I was disappointed that the bitterness covered up the late hop additions.

The only other change I plan on making to this recipe is changing the bittering hop variety to Cascade and the late addition to Galaxy. I just like those hop varieties more.