| Author |
Message |
    
Eric Lord (207.206.223.97)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 02:49 pm: | 
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Is it possible, or feasable for an all grain home brewer to brew a low carb beer? I hate to say this, but my wife wants me to make her one. My first thoughts are mashing at low temp, and using some adjucts like honey and flaked maise. Has anyone tried this with good results? I make light beers often but, nothing this light. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. |
fob (199.184.119.58)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 03:03 pm: |
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Low mash temps & beano. I wouldn't want to drink it. There was a discussion on the HBD on making low carb beers in last few months. You might try a search there. |
Doug Pescatore (141.232.1.10)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 03:06 pm: |
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Eric,
You have the right idea. Mash low and long to make a very fermentable wort. Add some carapils to the mash to hold the body up (maltodextrin is not digestable by humans - or yeats for that matter) or just add a couple of oz. of maltodextrin powder to the boil.
-Doug |
Doug Pescatore (141.232.1.10)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 03:40 pm: |
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I think it is a complete myth that a low carb beer has to taste bad. Mich ultra taste no worse that michalob or any other mega-brew produced today. Most homebrews are relatively low carb to start. As long as you have good attentuation most of what you can metabolize into you blood stream as sugar have already been eaten by the yeast. Alcohol only has a temporary effect on the system. That is why hard alcohol is okay in the maintanance phase of any low carb diet.
-Doug |
Hophead (209.86.16.41)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 04:41 pm: |
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Mich ultra has no taste at all, and "most homebrews" that I've had are NOT low carb.
Eric, I typically attenuate my beers below 1.010, 'cause that's the way I like 'em, and depending on the style, I go downto 1.004, and they still taste great. Adjuncts, just say no (CAP aside). Mash in the mid 140s and use a yeast starter.
Prost! |
Fredrik (213.114.44.219)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 05:01 pm: |
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I really don't like to be picky but I'd definitely think maltodextrin is digestible by humans and thus add to the calorie count? If I am not mixing this up atm, I think maltodextrin is used in sports beverages?
/Fredrik |
Doug Pescatore (141.232.1.10)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 05:13 pm: |
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Maltodextrin is the filler used in many low carb sweeteners because it does not affect the blood sugar. The yeasts don't digest it and either do we.
-Doug |
fob (199.184.119.58)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 05:30 pm: |
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Dextrin is a carbohydrate and it has a high glycemic index. It's not very sweet, until the amylase enzymes in saliva break it down into glucose, but it produces a similar glycemic response to glucose. To make a low-carb beer I think you need to add the beano, and it won't have much body. |
Chris Colby (66.25.196.39)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 05:56 pm: |
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Maybe with all the talk these days about low-carb beers, one of the homebrew magazines will cover this topic.
Chris Colby
Bastrop, TX |
Eric Lord (207.206.223.79)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 05:57 pm: |
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I guess I am not up on Beano. Is it a highly fermentable sugar? Could you use honey istead? Because, that is what I have on hand. |
craig white (205.188.116.67)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 06:04 pm: |
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beano turns all the unfermentables into fermentable. it is for flatulance. the one and only time i used it it brought my beer down to .098 it was very bland, and highly alcoholic. sorry if i spelled (farts) wrong.:^} |
fob (24.208.97.245)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 06:07 pm: |
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Beano is an enzyme designed to help you digest beans better and fart less. Beans contain rafinose, that we don't readily digest leaving it for the bugs in our intestines to digest, hence the gas. Added to a beer it breaks down the dextrins that yeast can't process into simple sugars that they can. |
Denny Conn (63.114.138.2)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 06:12 pm: |
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Chris, I thought BYO already did! Isn't that where the whole Beano thing came from? IIRC, I did one according to the article. A low OG beer with a large % of rice, mashed low to be highly fermentable, Beano added. Or did you just leave out the smiley?? |
Doug Pescatore (141.232.1.10)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 06:27 pm: |
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My bad....Maltodextrin does raise the blood sugar. |
Bryin Tugade (199.182.111.188)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 06:30 pm: |
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Fredrik & Doug... there are alpha and beta maltodextrins which are starches and soluble fibers respectively. I may have the order backwards though. Obviously the starch would be digestible (Glycemic index of ~ 40-60) and the fiber would not be digestible.
FOB, the whole low carb=bland thing is part of why I asked about polyols in another post. Although now I'm thinking of maltodextrin. |
Chris Colby (66.25.196.39)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 08:17 pm: |
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Hey Denny,
Yes, our technical editor (Ashton Lewis) did a light beer story a few year's ago (March 2001) and introduced the idea of using Beano in homebrew.
However, recently my email inbox has filled up with more requests for low-carb beers than I could ignore. (I tried, believe me 8-)
So anywho, some guy named Colby has an article dedicated to brewing low-carb beers that compensate for the lack of carbs by substituting other standard beer flavors in their place. (Commercial low-carb beers deal with the dearth of healthy, yummy, life-affirming carbohydrates by scaling back on all other flavors.) It's in the next issue.
In the same issue, some guy named Conn has an article about brewing with rye. Hasn't this Conn fellow read the BJCP guidelines? There's no rye in IPAs 8-)
Chris Colby
Bastrop, TX |
Denny Conn (140.211.82.4)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 08:20 pm: |
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OUCH!!!  ...or pilsner, or hefs, or... |
Steve Hardter (216.164.203.48)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 09:33 pm: |
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Here is a related BYO article on "Beano Brau"
http://www.byo.com/mrwizard/1089.html
Steve |
Hophead (209.86.19.196)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 10:52 pm: |
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low carb = bland is hogwash. IMHO.
First Beano Brau, now Skittle Brau. Yummy. |
PalerThanAle (24.223.215.138)
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 11:06 pm: |
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mmmmmmmmm, Lime Tic-Tac Corona.
PTA |
John Cote (66.57.74.157)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 04:02 am: |
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I have no idea what this is about, but I stumbled onto it one day. It is about "low carb powder" to be used in brewing...
http://www.iwantmybeer.com/en-us/dept_136.html
I'd be curious to know if anyone has a clue about this product. |
JimTanguay (24.18.211.7)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 07:23 pm: |
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it must be amylse |
Bill Pierce (24.141.129.137)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 07:58 pm: |
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I thought so, too, Jim, although it claims the powder must be refrigerated until it is used. Amylase enzyme powder is relatively temperature stable. At any rate, I'm skeptical of any claims about a "power additive formula." That sounds a lot like snake oil to me. |
Brews and Views Archive 2004