How to remove alcohol from beer

So I was thinking the other day about how to make good alcoholic beer into good non-alcoholic beer. The practice nowadays is to cook the wort post fermentation, which produces beer like odouls. You see where I am going...

That said, after thinking about it, I wonder what would happen if Catalase enzyme was added to wort post-fermentation. I studied biology in college, but I am by no means in a bio chemist. Would the resultant reaction cause the ethanol to convert to water + acetaldehyde? And theoretically, wouldn't the acetaldehyde come out of suspension and boil off after some time?(Acetaldehyde has a boiling point of 69 deg).

I think what would be left, assuming you could convert all the ethanol, would be a slightly watered down non-alcoholic beer. What do you think?

Acetaldehyde is much more toxic than ethanol. It is fully miscible with water, and I assume you cannot boil *all* of it away. Boiling away most of it might not be good enough.

So it's a good thought experiment, but I don't think it will work.

I'm thinking you could freeze the beer and then pour off the alcohol since it has a much lower freezing point. Send the poured off stuff to me!

I have a proven two-step process for this.

1. Drink the beer.
2. Urinate.

TallDan said:

I have a proven two-step process for this.

1. Drink the beer.
2. Urinate.

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+1 to this....I'm an expert in those two things.

TallDan said:

I have a proven two-step process for this.

1. Drink the beer.
2. Urinate.

Click to expand...

Dammit TD!

Rockn_M said:

+1 to this....I'm an expert in those two things.

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I've developed my efficiency at it so well I can do both simultaneously. Maybe even continuously if I tried hard enough to stay vertical.

TallDan said:

I have a proven two-step process for this.

1. Drink the beer.
2. Urinate.

Click to expand...

You forgot a step...

3. Repeat

why would you want to do this?



(Not the pee talk part, we know why we pee. . . we drink beer)

Given that I have never tasted a de-alcoholized beer of which I would want another I conclude that freeze separation, heating separation, low alcohol producing yeast strains, dialysis etc. do not, at the state of the art, produce an acceptable result.

IMO, the only proper way to remove alcohol from beer is to force it to become Malt Vinegar.

TallDan said:

I have a proven two-step process for this.

1. Drink the beer.
2. Urinate.

Click to expand...

Yeah I like to remove alcohol from beer using my liver. Time tested and traditional method.

GilaMinumBeer said:

I've developed my efficiency at it so well I can do both simultaneously. Maybe even continuously if I tried hard enough to stay vertical.

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OMG....haha!!!! Made my day man.

ajdelange said:

Given that I have never tasted a de-alcoholized beer of which I would want another I conclude that freeze separation, heating separation, low alcohol producing yeast strains, dialysis etc. do not, at the state of the art, produce an acceptable result.

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And that is what I was thinking.

I'd love to produce a fabulous low ABV beer, under 1%. Then you could enjoy the taste, and not have the effects. The best I've done is a 3.3% mild. I did a session IPA that clocked in at 3.9%, and it was not bad. I'd love to be able to find a good way to dealcohol a great beer but since even the big boys can't do it, I'm not holding my breath.