The progress in the production of non-alcoholic beer over recent years is truly remarkable. There was a time when your choices were limited to brands like O’Doul’s. However, now, there’s a wide variety of non-alcoholic beer options, including pilsners, IPAs, porters, and stouts. But what is non-alcoholic beer, and how is it produced?
Interestingly, there isn’t a single answer to that. Non-alcoholic beer, legally containing up to 0.5% ABV and thus distinct from alcohol-free beer, which contains 0.0% ABV, can be produced in two ways. It can be made either without any alcohol or with the alcohol subsequently removed. Both methods have their pros and cons. Quite amusingly, it’s mostly the beers produced without alcohol that end up containing 0.5% ABV. In contrast, beers that have their alcohol removed are more likely to be genuinely alcohol-free.
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To comprehend this, it’s helpful to understand the beer-making process. Initially, the grains used for the beer, like barley, wheat, or rice, are ground and combined with hot water. The mix is left to steep until it forms a dense sludge called mash. The remaining liquid is then strained out and boiled, with different varieties of hops added to achieve the desired flavor. The liquid is later cooled and placed in a fermentation chamber, where yeast is introduced. The yeast is crucial as it converts the sugars in the mixture into alcohol. The beer is then aged— the duration varies on the beer type. The key point here is the yeast phase, as that’s when the beer gets its alcohol content.
One method involves brewing beer without alcohol from the start. This is a cost-effective approach as it doesn’t necessitate expensive apparatus. It does, however, require time and meticulous attention during mashing to ensure the resulting sugars don’t contain maltose – the primary sugar that changes into alcohol during fermentation. However, the process still creates other sugars which do convert into alcohol, albeit in minuscule quantities. This is how you acquire non-alcoholic beer that still contains trace amounts of alcohol.
On the other hand, de-alcoholization is more likely to yield completely alcohol-free beer. There are two core methods here; they require specific equipment which is by no means inexpensive. The more traditional method is vacuum distillation, where the beer is heated in a vacuum causing the ethanol to evaporate, much like the process used in distilling spirits such as vodka.
The second method is reverse osmosis. This somewhat more complex approach employs pressure to force the beer through a fine membrane, isolating water and alcohol from the beer and retaining only the beer flavor. This results in non-alcoholic beers that taste more beer-like. Water is reintroduced to the mixture later, making this the most effective technique for producing alcohol-free beer. However, the downside is the requisite high-cost apparatus.
All these methods successfully produce non-alcoholic beer. The choice of method hinges on the preference of the brewer and the taste appreciated by the consumer.
Read the original article on Daily Meal.
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