Just stopping by to introduce myself. I have been brewing for about 12 years and I brew Non-alcoholic beer. Though I do reserve around a gallon of full alcohol for gifts everything else is N/A. I love beer but can't do the alcohol thing. When no decent alternative was available I just made my own. I am an all grain brewer and haven't done an extract in 10 years. I'm not putting down extract brewers, I just love all grain. This site has just what I've been looking for. All information is right here for me. I'm going to start transferring all my brewing info I have in various folders, binders, scraps of paper, excel sheets, etc. Happy brewing.
Welcome to the site! We're also working on the ability to import BeeXML files which will go out in the next release!
Hey Praetor, I've been a homebrewer since 1986. I recently came across my old brewing notebooks and, like you, will transfer them to this site. According my records, my first 5 batches were extract and everything since has been all-grain. My old brewing system was a 3 tier propane fired, gravity setup that was based on something I'd seen a magazine. Some years ago when we retired to Baja Mexico I upgraded to a 220V system like "The Electric Brewery" with kettles from Stout Tanks in Oregon. It's also a 10 gallon setup but a couple pumps and a HERMS coil make the brewing process easier and more pleasant and the product more consistent. Excuse the long intro. A beer drinking friend of mine was recently informed by the court that he's an alcoholic. He's embraced his new way of living and has asked if I can brew NA beer. After much reading I'm about to make a standard IPA and after fermenting, divide it and boil the alcohol off 1/2 of it. To do this I'll put it in the MT and run it through the HERMS coil to heat it to 173F. I understand it takes a couple hours at this temp to get the ABV down to 0.5%. From what I've read, the hop bitterness won't be affected by this boil but that I'll lose all the hop flavor and aroma so I plan to steep some finishing hops late in the process and also dryhop in the keg. I'm wondering about your process for NA brewing. Do you boil the alcohol out or brew a low alcohol beer from the get-go? Anything you can suggest to help me produce a great NA beer so my friend can continue to hang with his beer drinking pals would be much appreciated. Ron
Welcome Ron! Love the look of both your old and new systems. Unfortunately, the post you replied to is from 2012 (don't worry, we've all done it...some more than once). I just didn't want you to wait for a reply from Praetor. But, maybe I can help by pointing you to the February 2021 issue of BYO magazine. It has a four-page article on brewing low-alcohol and NA beers. It gives a good overview of the process and gives tips and recommendations for the home brewer. It also has a recipe at the end. Good luck to you and to your friend as well. It's awesome you are helping him out this way!
I haven't listened to this one yet but Drew and Denny are big proponents of session brews so NA takes it a step further! Here's a quick half hour on it... https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/brew-files-episode-63-run-athlete and like @BarbarianBrewer said, good luck and good on you for helping your friend!
We're passing through Lubbock next week... Triple J's Chop House has good beer and food. Any other recommendations?
