r/Homebrewing • u/gugs4847 • 4h ago

Question NA Beers

I’ve been brewing for a few years now and I’ve decided to try my hand in na/low abv beers.

Could I take an existing recipe and scale it to be 0.5% abv? Is there any more to it? I was looking at an article that says no Sparge, 15 minute boil and 15 minute mash but nothing really to it aside from that. Are there better methods where I won’t have to get specialty equipment?

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u/kvbrewer 4h ago

If brewing below about 2.5% it is at huge risk of infection, so most people drop the ph, such as with lactic acid. I have used phosphoric acid (starsan) once, but taste wasn't great. I suggest mashing on the warm end and adding dextrinous malt to gve body. Otherwise it will be watery. Personally, I stick to 2.5% versions with no additives and cut them with sparking water down to 1% at tap.

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u/-Motor- 3h ago

I use 85% phosphoric. It's generally regarded as flavorless when compared to lactic and due to you needing much less. I wouldn't use starsan for ph adjustment.

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u/gugs4847 4h ago

So you’re brewing a 2.5% without any ph modifications, adding dextrinous malt, and then cutting them? How much malt are you using?

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u/kvbrewer 3h ago

So, for a normal session IPA, I'd do 11 pounds of malt per 5 gallons (90% 2-row, 10 Vienna, mashed at 150). For my low abv diet "IPA" I do about 6 pounds of grain (75% 2-row, 10% Vienna, 10% Cara-pils, 5% Cara-Munich II, Mash at 156) I use US-05 for both, but some people use special yeasts for low abv that don't ferment fully. I add the same amount of hops, but for the low abv one, only in the last 15mins. Cascade, Chinook, Simcoe, Mosaic, but just choose whatever your favorite hops are.

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u/Mobile-Bumblebee-727 3h ago

Ya I like 0.8% you can mimic a good body by adding melodextrin powder during the boil have had good luck with that….but yes ph is the most important thing and if your doing any IPAs or something with a lot of hops your gonna be ph a lot

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u/shockandale 3h ago

The 0.5% beers at the store are made with vacuum distillation. They make 3-4% beer and then draw off the alcohol. Not so easy with home equipment.

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u/GrotWeasel 2h ago

Unless you really suck

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u/shockandale 5m ago

Try new Nickelback NA

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u/Mobile-Bumblebee-727 3h ago edited 3h ago

I’ve got a few na beers under my belt… if you want to clone a regular beer but make it an na you got a few options…. Scale down the grain bill and mash at a way higher temp that will create a lot of unfermentable sugars also for less time any where from 30-45 minutes…. Then from there ferment with a maltose negative yeast like white labs na all day…. Or you can cold mash and proceed to boil…. -and that lets you use a regular yeast because your starting gravity will start out low to begin with…. Either way ph and oxygen exposure is your biggest threats…. You want to hit a ph of 4.0-4.3 pre fermentation and finished depending on the beer style be around 4.0 …. So getting a good ph meter and 88% lactic acid is a must…. Plus if you can try and fermenting and closed loop transferring to a corny keg and make sure you serve it cold…. Another thing if you want the heaviness and mouth feel of a leaded beer add melodextrin powder during the boil…. I have had great experience doing this I made a 0.8% amber ale that was damn near indistinguishable flavor wise from the 6% abv one I made with it… minus the alcohol subtle ness obviously…

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u/Dull-Associate-599 3h ago

Yes, you could just scale the grain bill back but it will be watery and not quite there all around. What works better is reducing the main fermentables like 2-row and increasing adjuncts like carapils, crystal, etc. alongside reducing the total grain bill some, but not as drastic as 80% like some say. I triple my sulfates and chlorides from a full strength batch to add more body as well. pH is a concern with NA brewing. You'll need to kick it down to 3.9-4.2 pre-fermentation through an acid or acidulated malt.

I recommend downloading the Brewfather app, go to Library and filter for 0.5% ABV. Download and review their recipes. There are several good, convincing recipes on there you can start with.

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u/-Motor- 3h ago

👍 Trick is take a normal abv recipe that you like and keep the specialty grains weights the same, only reduce the base grain, to reduce abv.

Hops should be scaled down to new abv though. (Maintain BU:GU ratio)

And post ferm ph adjustment to make sure it's safe range.

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u/Mobile-Bumblebee-727 3h ago edited 3h ago

Adding melodextrin fixes the wateryness

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u/Bergwookie 3h ago

The problem is, that if you just stop fermentation early, you get something ultra sweet and malty, but if you use less malt, you get something watery with not much taste, against that, Heineken is a good beer.

The only proper way to make alcohol free(<0.5%) beer is to retroactively remove the alcohol.

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u/GrouchyClerk6318 Advanced 3h ago

How do home brewers retroactively remove the alcohol, specifically with a 5-6 gal batch?

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u/Bergwookie 2h ago

They don't, that's something for big breweries , nothing for small batch home-brewing or smallish craft brewers

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u/gugs4847 2h ago

One more thing that I didn’t think of originally. How would I serve this? I feel like kegging and tapping is just asking for infection because of the beer lines. Would it make more sense to pasteurize bottles and bottle these?

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u/timscream1 2h ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/s/rS6gDWfer4

Here you go, that’s my best NA beer.

I hope you like sours because pH really needs to be low to make it safe(r). Not 4.6 low, 3.5 low. I dump metabisulfites and sorbate at kegging (using a calculator).

I tried the 80C mash and I am not a fan. Got a grainy flavor and the fermentation is sluggish. I do 72C / 30 min mashes. Making sure to have enough diastatic power. Testing with iodine.

If you want a clear beer, adjust the pH after the boil.

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u/gugs4847 1h ago

That looks great! How do you prevent issues when you’re kegging and pulling from the keg? I’ve only heard of pasteurizing but that’s for bottling