The Great Light (but not Lite) Beer Experiment

Yesterday I concluded my month long study of the effects of the alpha-galactosidase enzyme on polysacharrides. Or, in other words, I added Beano to my fermented beer to reduce the carbohydrates. Reduced carbs equals lighter beer! Here’s the theory:

When beer has finished fermenting (see “My Love Affair with Yeast” blog in my earlier post) there are still carbohydrates in it. Yeast can only ferment simple sugars and will not utilize complex carbohydrates, such as polysacharrides or dextrins. If I could somehow break up the unfermentable carbs into simple sugars, the yeast would be free to consume them and I would have a lower carb beer. And more alcohol baby! Commercial brewers do this with the enzyme amyloglucosidase. I used Beaneaux (the Louisiana version of Beano).

Each tablet of Beaneaux delivers 150 units (150 GALUs to my geek friends) of enzyme. I tried 3 tablets per 5 gallon batch of beer. I chose to add the Beaneaux after primary fermentation was complete and I had racked to the secondary fermenter. The beauty of adding it later is that I can measure my initial gravity after fermentation, and then measure it again after the alpha-galactosidase enzyme has done its thing, thus letting me measure its effectiveness! But wait, there’s more!

Taking the carbohydrates out of the homebrew makes it taste thinner, because carbs give your beer mouthfeel. This is not a good thing. Well, it is not a good thing if Coors light is not your mainstay. To compensate for this, I need to add back something that is non-carbohydrate and non-fermentable. Enter the other secret ingredient…Splenda! Yeah baby, I’m talking that good old fashioned mixture of maltodextrin and sucralose in the yellow packets that you find on the counter at IHOP ( BTW – the packets actually have dextrose in them, so make sure you use the stuff in the box). For every gravity point removed by the Beaneaux, I wanted to add back an equivalent amount with Splenda.

So here’s the math. Feel free to skip to the end if you’re not a beer-math geek. My first batch was a Blonde Ale (see “It’s a Blonde” blog in my earlier post). Actually, I went a bit heavy on the specialty grains, so she turned out to be a Brunette. My original gravity before primary fermentation was 1.051. My final gravity (pre-Beaneaux) was 1.012 (all measurements converted to 60 deg F). That should yield a beer that is 5.4% ABV (alcohol by volume). I added 3 Beaneaux tablets when I racked to the secondary and, low and behold, she was bubbling the next day. Amazing…it works! After 2 weeks I checked the gravity again. I had reduced it to 1.004! Yeah baby, another 8 points worth of gravity reduction, or a 6.4% ABV brewski. I have created a Lighter beer! Less carbs…more alcohol…great mouthfeel. You won’t hear that on a Sunday afternoon ball game ad.

A little blurry, but you can see the gravity at just over 0.000

Once the excitement had become controllable, I calculated how much Splenda I would need to replace the mouthfeel in the beer. Splenda can be swapped for sugar on a per volume basis (a 3.8 oz box of Splenda is equivalent to 2 lbs of sugar). A rule of thumb for sucrose is to add just short of 2 oz. for every gravity point lost in a 5 gal batch. So, for my really cool 8 gravity point drop, I needed to add 8 x 2 = 16 oz equivalent volume of Splenda. I dumped 2 cups of Splenda in the beer and now she sits and conditions for a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for the final chapter on the Brunette…

I also had a batch of Bridgeport IPA that I made with a final gravity of 1.017. I added 4 tablets of Beaneaux and after 2 weeks measured my gravity at 1.006. Whoa – another success with an 11 point gravity drop! That’s another 1.5% ABV with fewer carbs. I added the calculated amount of Splenda to this batch and she also sits in the conditioning mode for a couple of weeks. Actually, I used less that the calculated amount because my box of Splenda ran out and I didn’t feel like driving to the store after consuming many homebrews, so this in itself will be a relative mouthfeel comparison.

Finally, some notes on the laboratory experience. The Splenda foams upon introduction to the beer. The natural inclination is to want to stir it in, but in an effort to minimize oxygen entrainment (aka skunky beer) this stirring must be done very carefully and quietly – a very difficult combination to achieve when you are trying to mix a solid into a liquid. I think that next time I will add the Splenda to some hot water and dissolve it before I add it to the beer.

The Brunette, the Splenda, the hydrometer, and the Beaneaux. Oh...and a homebrew...

Note: portions of my text were excerpted from Charles Parker in BYO magazine May-June 2004