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Expert: - 12/31/2007


Question
Is there any thing you can substitute for the sugar when brewing beer.  Would like to brew a low carb. and low calorie beer.

Answer
Well, Joseph, you can't really take the sugar out of beer and still have beer, but there are a couple of things that you can do.

If you use less base malt, which can make for a lower alcohol brew, you end up with lower carb, lower calorie, and generally lower flavor beer.  But if you compensate by adding some more flavorful grains, then you can increase the flavor to where you like it.

Look around for recipes for English Mild.  It's a style that is naturally low carb/calorie but is quite flavorful and refreshing. Since it's low alcohol, it makes a nice session beer. You can drink it all day long and not get hammered.

Chris Bushman
Maltose Falcons Homebrewing Society
North Hollywood, California

Beer

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Chris Bushman

Expertise

I've been homebrewing beer and mead for about 15 years. I've made beer trips to the Netherlands, the UK, France, Germany, and Belgium.

Experience

I've brewed a couple of hundred all-grain beers and a few dozen meads. I'm a member of the Maltose Falcon's Homebrew Society, the oldest homebrew club in the US. I've attended the Homebrewers Fantasy Camp at American Brewers Guild. In real life I am Optical Effects Supervisor and Laboratory Supervisor for a large movie visual effects house in Hollywood. I've been a fireman, a teacher of English in Okinawa, a personal computer tutor. Other hobbies include orchid culture, koi keeping, photography, sausage making, pickling, and ham radio.

BS Zoology, UC Davis

Member, Society of Motion Picture/Television Engineers http://www.smpte.org/ - Member, American Radio Relay League http://www.arrl.org/ - Member, Quarter Century Wireless Assn. http://www.lockport-ny.com/radio.htm - President, Zen Nippon Airinkai, So Cal Chapter http://home.earthlink.net/~filmlabrat/ - Member, Maltose Falcons Homebrewing Society http://www.westval.com/mfalcons/ - Alumni, American Brewers' Guild http://www.abgbrew.com/

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