Low Gravity Brewing Corey Magers Society of Barley Engineers 7/5/2017 What is a Low Gravity Beer (LGB)?

• Session beer, table beer, small beer • No strict definition. Some say ABV under 4%, 4.5%, some up to 5.5-6% • BJCP 2015 defines session beer both as under 5% and as under 4%, table beer as 3-5% What is a Low Gravity Beer (LGB)?

• Basically “Drinking beers”, not them fancy sippin’ beers • This is a type of beer you can have several pints of over the course of several hours and not get fatigued or intoxicated • Should avoid intense flavors or other sensations that affect drinkability (ex. Biting bitterness or cloying malt character) Let’s Drink!

• Societe Damsel – Belgian Table Beer 3.7% • This New World take on the lowest-alcohol variety of monastic, European abbey ales is crafted to be highly drinkable and light in body, but big on floral and spice character imparted by our house Belgian yeast strain. The Damsel emulates beers brewed by monks as a means of (delicious) sustenance. History

• If you lived pre-1900, you probably had few clean water options. LGBs allowed you to drink clean water without white girl wasted. • Some session styles driven by tax law or wartime rationing. Taxes on grain or mash tun size drove the OG down. • Practicality – some styles created to make use of 2nd runnings. • People just like them. Session beers dominate the global beer market British Alcohol Units

• A British Unit of Alcohol is the amount of ethanol an average human can metabolize in one hour • 1 unit = 10mL pure ethanol • # Units = Volume (mL) * ABV * (1Unit/10mL) • There are 1.4 Units in a 12oz pour of 4% beer, 1.8 Units in a can of Bud, 3.3 units in a pint of Sculpin British Alcohol Units

• If you drink one 16oz beer per hour for 4 hours, how much alcohol is left in your body afterwards? • American IPA (7%): (473mL*. 07*(1Unit/10mL)*4) - 4 = 9.2 Units • Session IPA (4.5%): (473mL*. 045*(1Unit/10mL)*4) - 4 = 4.5 Units Brewing Low Gravity Beers

• GU/BU ratio should be similar to non-session beers if scaling recipes* • Enjoyable session beers don’t necessarily mean heavy-ish malt character. For example American and International Adjunct Lagers • It’s all about balance

* (I found no significant difference in the means of GU/BU between session and non-session beers per 2015 BJCP Guidelines) Let’s Drink!

• Rager - American Lager • OG 1.046, FG 1.008, 14 IBU • WLP830 German Lager • Grain: GW 2-row, Lt Munich, Wheat, Carapils, Caravienne, 17% Flaked Rice • Hops FWH Perle 3 IBU, 15min Citra/Galaxy 11 IBU Brewing Low Gravity Beers

• Very low ABV <4% Session beers can seem thin due to the reduced OG, specialty malts and/or yeast strains with high glycerol production can help boost the body • Higher ABV session beers can also seem thin, although usually a water or yeast problem unless the beer has a hoppy balance • Using soft water can improve mouthfeel for session beers, with increased chloride levels Session IPA • Smaller version of an American IPA • 5-5.5% ABV on the high end • Hoppy punch with less alcohol • Some overlap with American Pale Ale, although Session IPA should be even more balanced toward hops, with less malt character and qty Session IPA

• A difficult style to brew, but can be amazing • Not as much alcohol and malt to hide bitterness or grassy notes from hops • Lacks the sweetness from the alcohol, so need to replace this sweetness with malt and/or hop selection Let’s Drink!

• Weak Sauce - Session IPA • OG 1.052, FG 1.010 • WLP051 Cal V with a little WLP001 • Grain: GW 2-row, Lt Munich, Wheat, Carapils, Carastan • Hops: Amarillo, Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, Perle Brewing Session IPA: Water/Malt

• Use soft water, use at least 50% RO or the beer can seem minerally or watery • Keep the sulfate/chloride ratio lower than normal IPAs since you’re trying to keep bitterness in check • Use high protein malts like wheat, rye and/or dextrin malts to get the body up enough that the beer doesn’t seem thin, without giving the beer excessive malt sweetness Brewing Session IPA: Malt

• An analysis of commercial West Coast IPAs shows a consistent quantity of Real Extract left in beer after fermentation from Triple IPAs on down to Session IPAs • RE = (.1880*OG)+(.8192*FG) = ~5.1

*OG and FG are in degrees Plato Brewing Session IPA: Hops

• Don’t necessarily scale IPA or Double IPA boil hopping rates • Alpha Acids are slightly more soluble in Lower OG beers • IPA and Double IPA wort can get saturated with iso-alpha-acids, Session IPA will have better hop utilization Brewing Session IPA: Hops

• Increase sweetness perception of beer by using new world hops (Mosaic, Huell Melon, Galaxy, etc.) • You can use IPA levels of dry hopping if you use the right ingredients and process to minimize grassy flavors/aromas Brewing Session IPA: Hops

• Rack beer off of dry hops within 2 days of cold crashing to avoid grassy notes • Use high AA content hops to minimize hop matter in wort/beer • Supplement pellets with Lupulin Gland powder to reduce grassy notes. YCH Hops recommends replacing only half of pellets with powder, 1oz powder = 2oz pellets Questions?