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Atkins diet and beer

H

Howardo

Hi folks,

Having read a previous thread on low-carb beer I'm at a bit of a loss. I want to brew an all-grain beer with as few carbs as possible (the number of calories doesn't matter a bit). Am I right in thinking that the way to go would be to use a long, low temperature mash to produce maximum fermentables?

Thanks!
 
Howardo,
 My understanding of the situation is that the alcohol portion of the calories are not considered carbohydrates, while the other portion (i.e. the unfermentable part) does consist of carbohydrates.

Therefore to get a rough idea (not exact) of carbohydrates you can use the original gravity and final gravity in our "Alcohol - Attenuation" tool to get an idea of how many calories are from alcohol and (if you can subtract that from the total) how many are from residual carbohydrates.

The "ideal" low carb beer would be:
 - Low in starting gravity
 - As low as possible ending gravity
 - Very high in fermentation attenuation
    (i.e. us a highly attentive yeast)
 - Have few if any unfermentable adjuncts
 - Might use a portion of highly fermentable additions
   such as corn, rice, or sugar.
 - Be mashed at low mash temperature over an extended time to increase fermentables.

 A good all-grain example (other than the typical low flavor American lager) might be Koelsch brewed with a lower than normal starting gravity - it uses very few adjuncts, a low mash temperature, and a highly attentive yeast.  You would modify it to have lower starting gravity.

Cheers!
Brad
 
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