Citra Adjunct Lager

I would just throw out there that you should look into how the big breweries make their light AALs and try to emulate their processes, but use more flavorful ingredients and more hops.

One thing I remember reading is that some of them "high gravity brew" their light beers. That is, they make a high gravity brew of smaller size, then they add water until it reaches their desired FG. That way, you're reducing the concentration of everything in the beer (except water, obviously), including carbs. Not totally sure of the benefits of this vs simply using less malt, but they must do it for some reason. Maybe someone else can chime in.

 

Well, yes, watering the beer is definitely one way to lower the abv, bittering, calories and flavor too.
Large brewhouses are also concerned with maximizing the production of the factory. High abv brewing allows for more beer out the door with the same equipment.

If you do want to water the beer, it is a good idea to boil the water and cool it before adding to the finished beer. Otherwise you risk adding oxygen to your finished beer.

Personally i think adding water post fermentation is against the homebrewers ethic, if one exists.
Cheers.

 

They do it to effectively increase boil/fermenter capacity.

 

I agree, but as a matter of curiosity, would there really be a difference in the final product?

For example, say you wanted to brew 10 gallons of a beer with a starting gravity of 1.030 and 25 IBUS. (I'm going to assume no dry-hopping in this recipe) Could you just brew 5 gallons of wort with a starting gravity of 1.060 and 50 IBUs, add an equal amount of water at bottling, and more or less wind up with the same beer in the end?

 

I would be concerned with some of the metrics that do not lend well to simple math.

The final product is the result of all things. Alcohol, bitterness, aroma, malt character, CO2 content, water profile and so on.

So 50 IBUs is definitely twice the value of 25 IBUs, but that does not make the beer twice as bitter because of perceived bitterness. And we don't have an accessible method to measure aroma for example. ABV certainly makes a big difference. 9% abv is more boozy than 5%, but is 13% abv the same change in perception in alcohol from 9%? And so on. Then all of that in combination.

I'm not sure how far high abv brewers push the limits, and they have access to much more sophisticated measuring tools. @jesskidden could have some data available. He always does.

Cheers.

 

Again, I'm not a

My understanding is that they do it to use less fermentor space, since that gets held up for a bit. More beer is produced for less square footage, and that means a lower bottom line. I seem to remember one cheaper AAL brand advertising "High-gravity brewed for bolder flavor" or something along those lines several years ago. Just a neat way to put a positive spin on pinching pennies.

 

If you define "same beer" via the metrics of IBU and ABV then this may likely be the case.

If you define "same beer" more broadly then I suspect that it won't achieve the same beer. Some fermentation qualities are impacted by the original gravity of the wort. Two aspects that come to mind are esters and higher alcohols (fusel oils); both of these compounds have a tendency to be increased as the OG increases. Perhaps in a given beer style and for a given yeast strain the resulting beers would not be remarkably different but I would suggest that the term of "same beer" would not be applicable.

Cheers!

 

That is entirely possible in that higher gravity fermentations can yield increased compounds of esters and higher alcohols (and others?). Whether a brewer would want to achieve this for an AAL is something I would wonder about.

Cheers!

 

If you want to consider Randy Mosher as the authority, the section in his book Tasting Beer where he describes the various beer styles he says light lagers are created by:

"Fungally derived enzymes are used to reduce all starches present into fermentable sugars, ensuring that there will be no residual carbohydrates and that the maximum alcohol is produced with a minimum calorie count."

This sounds to me like a description of the mashing process, so maybe this isn't the answer to how the calories are reduced. But if this makes sense, then it would seem that the beer would end up with an alcohol level that is higher than what is typical of 'light' beers, although he doesn't explain that. Maybe water is added at this point to get to a low abv?

 

Fungally derived enzymes are things like AG300 which the basically what the OP said he is using, amylase enzyme. This is what the big boys do and it should definitely take you down to 1.000 from 1.030. I’ve used them before and 1ml in 6 gallons got me down to 1.006 instead of 1.012 mashed at 1.050. OG was around 1.045 I think, been a while. I didn’t use it in the mash, just in the fermenter.

Interested to hear how the beer turns out and how low the FG gets.

 

Years ago a guy in our club toured the AB brewery in St. Louis as part of MCAB. He said they got to taste the high gravity beer, and he was impressed.