Brewing Low CHO Beer

[GuingesRock]

There is an immunologist in Wolfville who believes in the yeast theory and has kind of an exclusion diet followed by gradual reintroduction of foods, combined with an ongoing low carbohydrate diet.

I don’t believe in the yeast theory personally, but I do believe in low carb and avoiding wheat and refined carbohydrates.

People feel great and look great on his diet. We eat very close to that any way, but I thought it was interesting, so I went to see him today, and I’m going to try his diet as a New Year’s resolution thing.

It got me thinking of designing and brewing a crisp, dry as possible and hoppy beer.

How do you brew a really dry beer with the lowest amount of carbohydrates, dextrins and sugars please, hopefully in a way that it won’t taste awful.

Thanks

[HoweFox]

What exactly is the "yeast theory"? To get low fg mash at lower temp and for longer. Also probably want to add some sugar.

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[GuingesRock]

Something to do with an overgrowth of yeast in the gut, caused by the huge amount of sugars and carbohydrates we consume, leading to tiredness and a multitude of symptoms and chronic ailments. I don't fully understand it myself. I believe I understand more the high glycemic affects of these foods. They lead to a sudden and abnormally high blood sugar. That causes an insulin surge, and the excess sugar is quickly converted to fat by the insulin, which is it's function. The blood sugar then drops too low, because of the massive insulin surge, and you get starving hungry and repeat the cycle. This process leads to obesity and all it's related illnesses. On the other hand, if you eat proteins, healthy fats and vegetables, (the kind of foods we were designed to eat when we were evolving, running around in the jungle, catching wild animals and foraging for green stuff, to eat) then you settle down at a healthy weight, you feel well, you stay well, and you have plenty of energy. The first people ever in history, to become overweight, were the ancient Egyptians, believed to be because they were the first to grow cereal crops.

More simply put...If you stay away from foods that contain flour or added sugar. You will loose weight until you reach your ideal, you will feel well and energetic, and will be very much more likely to stay in good health!

Avoiding foods that contain flour (white and whole-wheat) or added sugar (natural sugar in fruit is fine) is a simple and effective way to lose weight and improve health. Doing this eliminates most high glycemic-index foods from the diet that cause weight gain. Harmful “junk foods” containing hydrogenated fats, are also eliminated since these foods often contain flour and/or sugar.

[HoweFox]

This could get long...be prepared

The reason I asked is because I thought this was probably related to my research field. I am currently a post-doc and I have been at Dal for 2.5 years. In January I start as an Assistant Professor in the department of pharmacology and my major research focus is to better understand what has been recently called the "human microbiome". These are basically the natural bacteria that live in and on our bodies. We have about 10X more bacteria cells than human cells, 100-1000X more bacterial genes, and about 3KG in weight of bacteria in and on our bodies (mostly in our guts...but surprisingly in other places as well...some of which were thought to be sterile, including urine). You may have seen many recent stories in the news about how our microbiome is possibly affecting everything from weight gain, IBS, Crohn's, ...even links to autism. One of the big success stories already have been the effectiveness of fecal transplants for C. difficile infections.

Most of what you posted does have some scientific evidence, although the science still lags a bit behind many of the more pseudoscience probiotic pushers. I would suggest that by "yeast" theory he was actually referring to bacteria (they are quite different...eukaryotic vs prokaryotic), although there are some yeast in the gut it hasn't been linked to much in the way of health concerns. I would agree that the modern "western" diet is not what our bodies AND our microbes have evolved to metabolize in a "normal" system. Lowering carbs is probably not a bad idea, but with anything I think I would pick my battles....beer is one I personally don't want to mess with, but to each there own. My personal opinion is that low carb and other diets, often lead to eating less processed foods....which I think is almost always a good outcome.

Anyway, I don't want to get into health recommendations, but I thought I would share my background. I am actually hoping to lead Dal in this field, and already have several clinicians that are looking to collect samples so we can start to look at the effect of the microbiome in various diseases.

[GuingesRock]

That's interesting.

I have quite an interest in nutrition and have been to many lectures, including lectures by people who worked on the glycemic index. I'm out there in the field working as a GP and I have developed my own diet. The keystone of which is the no flour and no sugar thing. It's hard to do because those foods are addictive, but it has the advantage of being extremely simple. I now have a lot of people who have lost massive amounts of weight and will never go back, because they feel so much better. The rest of my diet is all about cholesterol modification and healthy eating in general. The no sugar, no flour thing is becoming quite well known around here and has spread by word of mouth, because of its success.

As for the beer, I was getting bored again, and needed another project. But if I am going try this Guy's diet seriously I will have to come up with something. I'm trying his diet, not because I believe it is based on any sound theory, (I already said I didn't believe it was) but because it seems to make people feel really well.

[NASH]

It got me thinking of designing and brewing a crisp, dry as possible and hoppy beer.

How do you brew a really dry beer with the lowest amount of carbohydrates, dextrins and sugars please, hopefully in a way that it won’t taste awful.

Thanks

I don't know about the diet but I know a bit about beer

You'd likely want to whip up a fairly low gravity beer then add alpha amylase enzyme during fermentation. I made one, once. Local honey made up 35% of the fermentables, FG was ~ 1.002. It seems Mr O'Keefe didn't care for 'Gutless' that much at all http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/john-shipp ... arb/33561/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CartoonCod]

Just throwing this out there.
You can get a low FG by fermenting with brettanomyces (so called "wild yeast") which can ferment more complex sugars. It does take a bit longer to ferment but I've read the results can be impressive, and you don't have to change your recipe. Once the brew is finished run through a randall to get all the hops you want, or drink it as is and enjoy brett!

I've been reading this blog lately, it's got lots of good information about wild yeast and wild fermentations.
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;