For a number of reasons, I have become interested in brewing my own non alcoholic beers. I should clarify that when I say NA, I am talking about the legal limit of 0.5%.
I've brewed six of them. The first two were actually above that, the last four were right on target.
My approach was to simply reduce the grain bill to an OG of 1.012 and ferment. In five gallons that worked out to 1 pound of base malt, 1.5 pounds cara, and .5 pound crystal/caramel. It's worked well, but I want to now brew actual NA beer at 0%.
My plan is to eliminate the base malt, conduct a normal boil with normal hop additions, chill as normal, but skip the addition of yeast and thereby fermentation. Chilled wort goes into sanitized "fermenter" for settling. Transfer clear wort to sanitized keg. Carbonation will be forced in kegs.
My concern is related to food safety, botulism specifically.
My previous working assumption was that alcohol, in conjunction with a good sanitation regimen, keeps myself and those I share my beers with safe.
I obviously no longer have the protection of alcohol.
What I think that I know is that "canning" yeast starter wort can pose a botulism threat if one does not can the 1.040 wort under pressure at something like 250 F. An alternative is to adjust pH to 4.3 or below with phosphoric or lactic acid.
What I assume is that a 1.008 wort that is highly non-fermentable to beer yeast should be way less likely to support Clostridium botulinum. But I do not know that to be a fact.
I could use acid to lower the pH, but would prefer to enjoy my "beers" at the more traditional 5.2+ pH level.
Oddly, I did not worry about this when I was making 0.5% beer. It was my wife that brought it up when I was about to store a quart of kettle losses in a mason jar.
Does anyone here know, for certain, about these things?
I've brewed six of them. The first two were actually above that, the last four were right on target.
My approach was to simply reduce the grain bill to an OG of 1.012 and ferment. In five gallons that worked out to 1 pound of base malt, 1.5 pounds cara, and .5 pound crystal/caramel. It's worked well, but I want to now brew actual NA beer at 0%.
My plan is to eliminate the base malt, conduct a normal boil with normal hop additions, chill as normal, but skip the addition of yeast and thereby fermentation. Chilled wort goes into sanitized "fermenter" for settling. Transfer clear wort to sanitized keg. Carbonation will be forced in kegs.
My concern is related to food safety, botulism specifically.
My previous working assumption was that alcohol, in conjunction with a good sanitation regimen, keeps myself and those I share my beers with safe.
I obviously no longer have the protection of alcohol.
What I think that I know is that "canning" yeast starter wort can pose a botulism threat if one does not can the 1.040 wort under pressure at something like 250 F. An alternative is to adjust pH to 4.3 or below with phosphoric or lactic acid.
What I assume is that a 1.008 wort that is highly non-fermentable to beer yeast should be way less likely to support Clostridium botulinum. But I do not know that to be a fact.
I could use acid to lower the pH, but would prefer to enjoy my "beers" at the more traditional 5.2+ pH level.
Oddly, I did not worry about this when I was making 0.5% beer. It was my wife that brought it up when I was about to store a quart of kettle losses in a mason jar.
Does anyone here know, for certain, about these things?
