2.8% Beer

[Underground Joe]

I've been asked by a local brewery to make a couple of pilot brews of 2.8% pale ale. 2.8% in the UK is a tax threshold that a number of breweries are looking at cashing in on. They've supplied me with a couple of two three recipes and my friend and I will also be brewing our own recipes to give them some more options and as a feature for our website.

Does anyone have any hints and tips on producing a beer of this strength? I'm thinking of mashing at 69°C/156℉ and using Vienna as my base malt with crystal and caramalt to add body through unfermentable sugars. They've specified US-05 yeast, so using a low attenuating yeast isn't an option.

[Bobbie Dooley]

Check out Gineu Riner, it's a Spanish hop bomb that's ~2.5%. It's a little thin but still pretty damned good, you could try asking them about it.

[Underground Joe]

Thanks for the tip, I'll look it up.

[Underground Joe]

This is what I've come up with so far. The weights look a bit odd as I've converted from metric.

Batch size: 6.6 gal
Boil volume: 8.2 gal
OG: 1.029
FG: 1.007
Bitterness (IBU): 29.4
Color (SRM): 7.6
ABV: 2.8%

Grain/Sugars:

6.39 lb Vienna (US), 77.3%
0.77 lb Caramalt, 9.3%
0.55 lb Wheat (US), 6.7%
0.55 lb Crystal 60L, 6.7%

Hops:

1.06 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Pellet) 5 min, 10.8 IBU
1.06 oz Galaxy (AA 14.4%, Pellet) 5 min, 10.1 IBU
1.06 oz Mosaic (AA 12.1%, Pellet) 5 min, 8.5 IBU
0.88 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Pellet) 0 min, 0.0 IBU
0.88 oz Galaxy (AA 14.4%, Pellet) 0 min, 0.0 IBU
0.71 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Pellet) dry hop
0.71 oz Galaxy (AA 14.4%, Pellet) dry hop
0.71 oz Mosaic (AA 12.1%, Pellet) dry hop

Yeast:

US-05