Beer Forum

Hi peoples. Im looking at brewing some recipes out of Brewing Classic Style. My problem is i like mid strength beers.

Its easy to adjust the gravity but im unsure of the hops. Do i keep the IBU/SG ratio the same or keep the IBUs the same?

Any advice on converting these recipes to a lower gravity version, very welcome.

TYVM Damian

Austin44 wrote:Hi peoples. Im looking at brewing some recipes out of Brewing Classic Style. My problem is i like mid strength beers.

Its easy to adjust the gravity but im unsure of the hops. Do i keep the IBU/SG ratio the same or keep the IBUs the same?

Any advice on converting these recipes to a lower gravity version, very welcome.

TYVM Damian

most of the beers in there are "mid-strength" just pick the styles that have low gravities and brew them. if you're trying to make a 4% ABV tripel you're just going to wind up with...i dunno what, but not a tripel. patersbier i guess.

to paraphrase jamil's schwarzbier quote. "i'm going to make an ESB but at 3.5% ABV...."

I'm not looking at brewing the high gravity beers, just the ones at around 5% and reducing them too 4%. I find three 5% beers give me a hangover but three at 4% and I'm fine. Im getting old hey.

With the APAs would i leave the flavor and aroma hops the same and reduce the bittering hops?

TYVM Damian

Austin44 wrote:I'm not looking at brewing the high gravity beers, just the ones at around 5% and reducing them too 4%. I find three 5% beers give me a hangover but three at 4% and I'm fine. Im getting old hey.

With the APAs would i leave the flavor and aroma hops the same and reduce the bittering hops?

TYVM Damian

You sure it's the ABV? I took what Palmer has said over and over about long chain alcohols causing hangovers and have run with it. I used to be prone to hangovers on commercial beer. With MY beer, I have never had a hangover yet. Even on 9.16% Tripel. Control your fermentation temps, and you should only get ethanol. Probably no hangovers.

I'd start by reducing the base malt and bittering hops to keep the original BU/GU ratio, and leaving the specialty malts and finishing hops the same.

I second the keeping your fermentation temp under control. I've noticed that just a couple uncontrolled temp beers gives me a hang over. Listen to the Jamil shows. He says get temp control before a keg or conical. Start at 64F at least for the first day and let it rise slowly. That's what she said.

Thanks guys. Ive got a brew fridge so temps are ok. The last plus 5% beer i did was 50% pale and 50% wheat, maybe thats why it gave me such a fierce hangovers.

For a smaller beer, decrease the base malt/DME/LME amount until you hit your gravity keeping the specialty grains the same. Keep the same overall number of IBU's being sure to include original flavor and aroma amounts but decreasing boil additions appropriately as the gravity of your beer decreases.