Light Beer Recipes needed

I don't know if this topic has been addressed before, but I had no luck searching for "light beer".

I would appreciate any help getting recipes for light beer.  A very close personal friend of mine (my wife... shhhhh!) was trying on swim suits and ended up not buying one... hmmmm. 

This morning, I was assembling a list of beers to make so I could gather a shopping list. When I asked her what beer I should make in the next 6 months she said "light beer".  So here's the big question:  how do you make a beer with some flavor and end up with 4%ish and 140 cal/pint?

Any recipes you folks tried and liked?  Please share them.

I've not seen many "lite" beers that mimic that flavor profile, but I just tinkered with BSmith and found that beers around 1.035 that end up at 1.010 are approx. 144 calories and 3% ABV.  So unless she really prefers that "lite" flavor, perhaps you could make bitters, Scottish 60s, milds, and even a low-end APA with those starting OG's.  Small witbier or even Berliner Weisse if she likes tart. 

With such low OG, you may want to raise mash temps to increase the dextrins for body. 

Calories in beer come from two sources: alcohol and unfermentable sugars.  You see unfermented sugars in your final gravity.  The lower it is, the less unfermented sugar left in the beer.  If you're a kit brewer then this is pretty much out of your control, but if you're starting off with grain then you can control this with mash temperatures.  The lower the temperature the more complete conversion you will have, but the trade off is time.  Mash at 155 and you'll get a complete conversion in under an hour, and you'll have a full bodied beer with a relatively high final gravity.  I try to shoot for a mash temp in the neighborhood of 148, and the conversion can take two hours.  The end result is a lighter bodied beer with a lower final gravity. 
Hope that helps.
-John

Too funny, while I was waiting for replies, I goofed around with a Scottish ale. OG estimate 1.032, FG estimate 1.009.  Mash Light body at 150 deg for 75mins.  Estimated ABV: 2.94% 140 cal/pint.

I'll extend the mash to 2 hours.

However, if anyone has had any successful "light" recipes or recipes in this range they really like and would recommend, I'm always glad to add them to my list.

Hi Beer Tigger
I was experimenting with making lite-ish beers couple years ago, and came up with a couple that worked well, and some that just lacked! The problem I had was that there just was not enough malts in the batch to make it taste like beer... I settled on one that worked fairly well, and one that the wife liked. You should note that you should be absolutely positive that your processes are Spot on! There is not enough malts in these to hide any mistakes. An infection or the wrong fermenting temps can lead to bad beer. This little experiment could actually make you feel different about buying BMC... I know it did me. The only one I make on a regular basis is the Wifes Wit and I buy the rest.

The lager (Spuds Evil Clone #3 "122 Calories") is a Light American Lager. I do a Decoction for 30 min and then add this back into the MT for a Mash Out. I also do a 90 min boil in an attempt to get as much carmelization going as possible. You can add more malts to add more body and flavor if you like. This was an attempt to see just how lite I could go without it being too much like fizzy water.

The Ale (Wifes Wit "179 Calories") is a wheat beer that has been through many iterations. It relies on the fruit additions to give flavor.

Best of luck to you on your adventures, and please share your successful recipes.

Cheers
Preston

In my search for a decent "lite" for my wife, I gave up and struck out on a completely different idea. She loves the Japanese beers, and as a random act of experiment .... I went down to the local health food store and bought  4 jars of BROWN RICE SYRUP. It seemed just wrong to buy an extract like this.... as an AG brewer, but I couldn't find any resources on how to malt & mash rice. I guess I could have with more effort.

At any rate, normal extract boiling with my choice  of hops in a late kettle addition  (Simcoe for me) with a gravty around 32-38 it finished quite low, was VERY pleasant to drink (though some would say beer without Barley isn't beer) and has become the staple summer beer around here. Every one loves it.... ironically even those who turn their nose up  to good beers really like it. A great color (1-2L), a very distinctly unique mouthfeel and flavor, and real unusual head and lacing..... kinda looks like a rice cake!

And if anyone says they are "gluten intolerant" .... this one fits the bill. Don't know what the cal count would be, but it couldn't be that high.

Is there a recipe for that "Beer"? or is it just rice syrup and hops of your choice. My daughter needs some gluten free beer and this might fill the bill?

No...no recipe perse.

I just boiled 3 or 4 jars (appx 1.5lb ea if I remember) for the usual 60 min....  I would usually throw in a "low dose" of simcoes at 60min, and then late in the boil I would add just enough more to give a little pizzaz. No rocket science, just a simple clean rice beer. I love simcoe, but the cascade or chinook worked real well too. I probably used less than 2 oz total (5gal) with at least half-three quarters being late addition. I would carbonate (if bottling) with 3/4cup corn sugar, or in the case of kegging less than a half cup followed by CO2.

I wished I had kept some numbers so's to be able to calculate the potential contribution per oz/lb and so on, but I never have. I just make it as stated above, never fails to turn out a winner!

Please let me know if you try it, or if anyone reading this thread knows how to malt rice, I'd like to take it to the next step. I read somewhere that the process used barley sprouts to use enzymatic action to begin the process, but that's all I remember.

I just found this

"Brown rice syrup, also known as rice syrup, is a sweetener derived by culturing cooked rice with enzymes (usually from dried barley sprouts) to break down the starches, then straining off the liquid and reducing it by cooking until the desired consistency is reached. The final product is roughly 50% soluble complex carbohydrates, 45% maltose, and 3% glucose. Glucose, which has a glycemic index of approximately 100, passes through the stomach and into the liver where it is digested very quickly, as does maltose, which has a slightly higher glycemic index of 105,[1] while the more complex carbohydrates take 2-3 hours to digest. Rice syrup has a shelf life of about a year, and once opened, should be stored in a cool, dry place.

Brown rice syrup is produced commercially by cooking brown rice flour or brown rice starch with enzymes. The final carbohydrate mix can be adjusted, depending upon the desired sweetness and application. The syrup is filtered, and excess water is evaporated to thicken it. The product is produced on a commercial scale by several companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia. It is also accepted within a macrobiotic diet regime as a sweetener because it is all natural and it is not as rapidly absorbed by the body."

Click to expand...

Might give me a clue as to how to process raw rice. I will however, hope for more knowledgable one here to chime in! :