Brewing Non-alcoholic Beer

What is non-alcoholic beer?

Despite its name, non-alcoholic beer can have an alcohol content (ABV) of up to 0.5%. Because the typical brewing method for non-alcoholic beer struggles to reach absolute zero, trace amounts of alcohol are allowed. However, there are also beers with a true 0.0% alcohol content, known as non-alcoholic beer. Some non-alcoholic beers have a soda-like texture and are made by mixing water with non-alcoholic malt and hop syrup.

Non-alcoholic beer ingredients

Like regular alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic beer is brewed with four standard ingredients: water, grain, hops, and yeast. Water is the primary ingredient. Grain provides sugar, which yeast converts into alcohol through a fermentation process. Hops impart the bitterness and aroma common in many beers. Breweries often add spices and other ingredients to create non-alcoholic beers, but all beers are made with these four basic ingredients.

How is alcohol-free beer brewed?

Many common methods for producing alcohol-free beer rely on expensive, specialized equipment to remove ethanol from beer, but this approach can only be applied on a large scale. This process is not only costly for craft brewers but also removes volatile compounds and other flavor compounds, affecting the beer's quality. To address this challenge, small breweries are using novel biological methods to produce low-alcohol beer, rather than using filtration to remove alcohol.

Alcohol-free beer is brewed primarily using one of four methods: controlled fermentation, dealcoholization, dilution, or simulated fermentation.

Dealcoholization

There are many methods for dealcoholization, many of which are new to the market. Large breweries are increasingly using dealcoholization to produce alcohol-free beer due to the higher equipment costs. Dealcoholization processes include heat and membrane-based processes such as vacuum distillation, membrane filtration, and reverse osmosis.

Dilution

Dilution involves adding water to the finished leaded beer to reduce the alcohol content by diluting it with water.

The amount of water added depends on the alcohol content of the base beer, typically around 10%. This means that if your beer is 5% alcohol by volume (ABV), diluting it with 10% water will reduce the alcohol content to 4%. This can be done before or after fermentation.

Controlled Fermentation

Controlled fermentation is a technique used to produce non-alcoholic beer. It prevents the production of alcohol during fermentation by controlling the temperature and duration of yeast contact with sugar. Yeast is added to sugar in large fermentation tanks, but the amount used is smaller than for alcoholic beer. The goal is to create beer's distinctive head and aroma without producing alcohol. In non-alcoholic brewing, the fermentation process continues until carbonation, after which the mixture is heated to remove the alcohol.

Simulated Fermentation

In some cases, brewers wish to avoid fermentation of sugar. They employ simulated fermentation, skipping the fermentation stage during brewing and adding ingredients and enzymes to simulate the same effect. This method ensures that the beer contains no alcohol.

How is alcohol removed from traditional beer?

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis uses high pressure to push beer through a semipermeable membrane. Water is then separated from the alcohol by distillation and returned to the beer using specialized dealcoholization equipment.

Boiling

The most common method involves adding water or steam to a liquid and bringing it to a boil under pressure. The alcohol is then released as vapor into a condenser, where it is collected and drained.

Vacuum Distillation

To mitigate this, some breweries have switched to vacuum distillation. While alcohol's natural boiling point is approximately 74 degrees Celsius (173.1 degrees Fahrenheit), vacuum distillation helps lower it to 33 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit). This way, the beer isn't heated to a point where it might lose flavor, but rather heated to a certain temperature. This allows the beer to retain its flavor while still evaporating the alcohol from the mixture.

Benefits of Non-Alcoholic Beer

Craft brewers are taking non-alcoholic beer to the next level, making it easier to incorporate into a full, active life. You're meeting friends for lunch but have new plans, so you might want to try a non-alcoholic beer.

What does non-alcoholic beer taste like?

Since the brewing process for non-alcoholic beer is exactly the same as traditional alcoholic beer, with the alcohol removed at the very end, the resulting beer should taste very similar. Removing all the alcohol will change the flavor of the beer, but the overall flavor should remain the same. If you're looking to completely give up alcohol for some reason, non-alcoholic beer is your best option.