Cutting fermentation short for less ABV

[arjanvos]

Hello, I'm new to brewing and new to this forum. I'm looking for some pointers on the above: we have a plan to try to make a tasty beer with less alcohol by putting the fermenter in 0 deg and letting the yeast drop out and remove it. This sounds better to us than to try to boil off the alcohol.

Anyone has done this before? Any tips and tricks?

Cheers, Arjan

[Oginme]

Are you trying to make a non-alcoholic beer or just a very low alcohol content beer.

I have never tried the method you describe and have not read anywhere else of that approach to making a low/non- alcoholic beer.   I make some low alcohol beers (<3% ABV) by mashing at pretty high temperatures 158F to 164F (70C to 73C) and aiming for a low starting gravity (<1.036 sg).  I generally end up with beers in the 2.4% to 3% ABV range depending upon temperature and grist.

In doing a quick search, I found this link which may be helpful to you: https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/5VGRSbEfTv/

[arjanvos]

Hi Oginme,

We're trying to make a low ABV blonde, around 3-4 % alcohol but with a strong taste, a bit like Leffe but no sugar added. So, we're trying not to go low in OG but cutting the fermentation short and clearing up the beer at the same time.

Thanks for the link. I read that if fermentation is cut short, there is a 'worty flavour'. Not sure if this is desirable or bad.

Cheers, Arjan

[Oginme]

The one issue with cutting the fermentation short is that the final product will still have fermentable sugars.  Any potential source of contamination could then restart fermentation and result in exploding packaging.  That is one of the reasons that fermenting at a high temperature and leaving non-fermentable dextrins will give you more body in a low alcohol beer.  When you get to 3% to 4%, I have brewed a lot of recipes in that range which have medium to high body and a full mouthfeel brewed even at medium mash temperatures of 156F to 160F (69C to 71C).