Pasteurized Beer. What's the story?

Ok, so I'm always hearing from people that their best beer memories are of beers that are "fresh and unpasteurized". But I don't understand what this means. I know pasteurizing is basically just boiling something to sanitize it.

But all beer is like that.

So, is this about boiling after fermentation? Is this just a myth? Or do commercial breweries "pasteurize" their beer in some way? If so, why?

Thanks for the help.

Pasteurization is not boiling, it's raising the temperature to 161F for at least 30 seconds (according to FDA standards).

Most beers in the US are pasteurized. It helps extend shelf life for commercial breweries by effectively stopping all yeast conditioning activity (i.e., killing the remaining yeast). Thus, the beer flavor doesn't change significantly over a longer period of time.

When do they do that? Right before bottling?

I belive it is usualy done in-line on the way to the bottling line.

Orangevango said:

I belive it is usualy done in-line on the way to the bottling line.

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In the abattoir then. That's a good place to kill living things.

Ya, flash pasteurization is normally inline.

I was under the impression that raising the temp like that got rid of the alcohol. So does it just need to be a higher temp to take the alcohol out or have I lost my mind and started making things up?

Even if you raised it high enough to evaporate the alcohol, that takes time. Generally they take it to pasteurization temps for the required amount of time and then immediately chill it back down before the heat can affect the beer... in theory.

bigzippo said:

I was under the impression that raising the temp like that got rid of the alcohol. So does it just need to be a higher temp to take the alcohol out or have I lost my mind and started making things up?

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It is in line, which literally means they heat and re-chill the beer in the pipe on the way to the bottling line. Since it is a sealed pipe, nothing can escape.

EtOH has a higher vapor pressure than water, but it does not really boil away nearly as fast as you might think, especially at lower concentrations (as in beer).

Budwieser does it with a giant oven that all the bottles pass thru after capping.

@bigzippo
If what lamarguy says is true (FDA standards for pasteurization are 161F) then that is actually below the boiling point of ethanol (172F) so the alcohol will not evaporate out of solution.