Easy Weiss, just a Weiss but low alcohol
Easy Weiss, just a Weiss but low alcohol
Easy Weiss, is our version of low alcohol Weiss. With less then 3.5%, you can enjoy a Weiss with no difference in flavor compared to the traditional one. How we came up with it? Well, let’s have a look to the rest of the post.
The challenge
In the last few years BestMalz, leader in malts production, is arranging a Brew Challenge for home brewers and small breweries around the world.
Brewers joining the challenge have to start the mash all at same time, and share their brew day moment tagging #bestbrewchallenge and #maltitup, on their preferred social network.
For the Brew challenge 2021, the challenge was to create a low alcohol Weizen bier.
Our challenge: Easy Weiss
Low Alcohol beers recently are more and more appreciated by the beer lovers, in my opinion, because is nice to try different beers or to have just one more with no risk of getting drunk (always drink responsibly).
We didn’t have any low alcohol experience before the challenge so one more reason to join it.
My idea was to brew a beer that would stick to the style as much as possible, so not losing anything from a standard Weiss (that was actually the real challenge).
A pale, refreshing German wheat beer with high carbonation, dry finish, a fluffy mouthfeel, and a distinctive banana-and-clove yeast character.
Weiss style overview from the BJCP Style
While drafting the recipe, I had to improve my knowledge about low alcohol beers, and after some reading and test, I realized how to strike my point.
I decided to avoid usage of low alcohol yeasts, and approached my recipe lowering the OG and mashing at an higher temperature. In that way, is possible to keep more body and create less sugar that the yeast can transform in alcohol. In another article I will tell you more about that.
The Recipe
As I was saying before, I thought to lower the OG reducing the amount of used malts, mashing at higher temperature and adopt a fermentation profile in line with the style. The result? According to the people drunk it, is a real surprise. Nice banana flavor coming from the yeast, good body, nice foam, highly drinkable and not watery at all.
So guys, just give a try and share with us the results. Cheers!
Vital Params
| OG | 1.033 |
| FG | 1.014 |
| ABV | 3.03% |
| IBU | 8 |
| Batch size (lt) | 20 |
Grain Bill
| Malt Name | EBC Color | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Best Heidelberg Wheat | 3 | 65 % |
| Best Pilsner | 4 | 35 % |
Mash Profile
| Step Name | Target Temp. (°C) | Duration (min) | Ramp (min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mash-In | 54 | ||
| Protein Rest | 52 | 20 | 5 |
| Alpha | 71 | 60 | 30 |
| Mash-out | 74 | 15 | 5 |
Hopping Profile
| Name | A.A (%) | Usage | Duration (min) | Quantity (gr) | IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallertau Magnum | 14 | Bitterness | 60 | 6 | 8 |
Fermentation Profile
Yeast: Fermentis SafAle™ WB-06
| Temperature (°C) | Duration (days) |
|---|---|
| 20 | 3 |
| 22 | 10 |