Homebrewing has been increasing in popularity since it was "legalized" in 1978 and commercial craft brewing has become hugely popular over the last decade. These two phenomenon have greatly increased the diversity of beer that is brewed and consumed in the United States. These days there seems to be a beer to suit every taste. However, one genre still seems to be overlooked: Session Beer.

The "session beer," a low ABV beer that can be consumed in high volumes at a lower risk of inducing mental and motor malfunction, is a style that craft breweries still haven't quite embraced. Homebrewers seem to have overlooked this style as well. Both camps seem to resonate more with the "bigger is better" theory than the opposite. For example, doubles, triples, robust styles, imperials all seem to be much more common than their lighter and less flavorful counterparts.

However, the Clawhammer team loves light, clean, crispy, low ABV beers. That's why we brewed our most recent creation, The Sloth Session IPA. It's a super light 3.8% ABV beer with low (35) IBUs but a fair amount of hop aroma. The brew day video is directly below and full recipe details can be found a bit further down.

This recipe is for a 5 gallon batch and it is tailored for Clawhammer Supply's 10 Gallon 120 Volt Brewing System

Water

Beginning water volume: 7.83 gallons (29.6 liters).

If you're trying to replicate this recipe you'll want to shoot for the following stats:

Calcium: 100ppm

Chloride: 136ppm

Sulfates: 75ppm

Sodium: 14ppm

Magnesium: 6ppm

Bicarbonates: 25ppm

We did adjust chemistry based on Asheville's city water chem. This part won't be applicable to you unless you're water chemistry matches ours, but here's what we had to add:

• Calcium Chloride 7.5g
• gypsum 3.6g
• Epsom Salt 0.6g.

Malts

• Pilsner (2 row) Ger (2.0 SRM) - 6lbs. (2.7 kg) (71.5%)
• Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) - 12.8oz. (363 grams) (9.5%)
• Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) - 12.8oz. (363 grams) (9.5%)
• Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) - 12.8oz. (363 grams) (9.5%)

Mashing

We mashed at 152F (66.7C) for 60 minutes, then raised the temperature directly to a boil from there since we're using a brew in a bag (BIAB) and aren't sparging.

It's important to stir your mash in order to break up any clumps

Pulling grains after our 60-minute mash is over

Boil Hops

2oz (56.7 grams) Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25%] in a whirlpool once we start the chilling process, for about 20 minutes. 

Fermentation

We're using London Ale 3 (#1318) from Wyeast. 

We'll ferment at 66 degrees F (18.9 C) for 7-10 days.

Pitching yeast

Dry Hops

We dry hopped it with 1oz (28.3 grams) of Mosaic for 2-3 days. 

Benchmarks

• Pre-boil gravity - Estimated: 1.034, Actual: 1.035  
• Pre-boil water volume – 7.04 gallons (26.6 liters), Actual: 7.0 (26.5 liters)
• Post boil volume - Estimated: 6.04 gal (22.9 liters), Actual: 5.80 gal (22 liters) 
• Post-boil gravity - Estimated: 1.041, Actual: 1.040
• Volume into the fermenter - Estimated: 5.5 gallons (20.8 liters), Actual: 5.8 (22 liters)
• Final keg volume: 5.0 gallons (18.9 liters)
• ABV - Estimated: 4.0%, Actual 3.8%