Non-alcoholic Beer

[WildGingerBrewing]

I see NO point in ever doing this, but I am curious. How do you make non-alcoholic beer? Would you just not add yeast? I feel confident that is way too simple. But on that line, what would happen if you made wort, then bottled it and carbed it?

 

[Yooper]

Well, I suspect that you're right- that's too simple!

Have you ever tasted your wort? It's very sweet and very bitter, at the same time. Unfermented wort doesn't taste like beer at all.

 

[billvon]

I see NO point in ever doing this, but I am curious. How do you make non-alcoholic beer?

Make beer the usual way, then heat it up to evaporate the alcohol. (Water evaporates more slowly, so you can get rid of most of the alcohol and keep most of the water.) Even better - pull a vacuum on the container you have your beer in, then heat it just a little, so you can get rid of the alcohol without having to heat it up too much.

(You'd have to recarb of course afterwards.)

>But on that line, what would happen if you made wort, then bottled it and
>carbed it?[/QUOTE]

You'd get a malt soda. There are some sodas like this for sale; basically unfermented wort. Super sweet.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I like my wort though I just wonder what carbing it would do to it? For the record, I've also tasted non-alcoholic beer and it doesn't taste much like beer either, I'm just curious how to make it. I do have a friend that is an alcoholic and hasn't had a drink in like 30 years. He is fascinated with my brewing, so one day it could be cool to brew something for him.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Make beer the usual way, then heat it up to evaporate the alcohol. (Water evaporates more slowly, so you can get rid of most of the alcohol and keep most of the water.) Even better - pull a vacuum on the container you have your beer in, then heat it just a little, so you can get rid of the alcohol without having to heat it up too much.
(You'd have to recarb of course afterwards.)

That sounds like too much work. nevermind.

 

[Revvy]

Contrary to what you and others may say it is NOT a waste of time or "perfectly good homebrew" to embark on this project....

Try walking in MY shoes right now being me, award winning brewer, writing a book on brewing history, doing historical brewing demos, teaching classes on beer and food pairing and beer tasting, teaching folks to brew, helping around here, to be told by his cardiologist, that he can't/shouldn't be drinking ANY alcohol, ever......That's like castrating John Holmes.

I have been contemplating beginning to experiment with making good quality NA beers (Hell there may even be commercial ramifications if I can pull it off, since the only NA stuff out there is clones of macroswill lager.)

If you really care then you might want to read this article http://***********/stories/article/...l-brewing/265-brew-a-great-non-alcoholic-beer

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Contrary to what you and others may say it is NOT a waste of time or "perfectly good homebrew" to embark on this project....

Try walking in MY shoes right now being me, award winning brewer, writing a book on brewing history, doing historical brewing demos, teaching classes on beer and food pairing and beer tasting, teaching folks to brew, helping around

Now you're just braggin' Revvy! Actually I really am curious. I hate to hear that from your doc. Hang in there!

 

[mattd2]

This just reminds me of a mate I had in high school, we were in the supermarket and he spots this 6 pack of beer for real cheap and gives it a go buying it (underage ofcoarse). He is super stoked when the checkout chick doesn't even ask him for ID or anything! He's feeling like a man so we head back to my place for some beers. I had my own stash so he was the only one drinking his score, but he seemed to be strugling to even down one. Then he offers us a taste, take a sip, aaaaawgh thats super sweet and bitter, WTF? I read the bottle and then crack up laughing when I point out the he bought non alcoholic beer!

 

[miller]

A friend once said that non alcoholic beer is like eatin' out your sister...it tastes the same but just ain't right

 

[Sigafoos]

I sort of have to disagree with Revvy. I don't think it's a waste of homebrew, but from what I understand it will be a hell of a lot of work. In his case it's worthwhile: it can help him keep doing the thing he loves. But for the vast majority of people it's not worth it.

And the bigger question is, even if it's NA, should a recovered alcoholic be drinking something attempting to be beer? I don't know much about the subject but it seems like it'd be close to playing with fire.

 

[Yooper]

I sort of have to disagree with Revvy. I don't think it's a waste of homebrew, but from what I understand it will be a hell of a lot of work. In his case it's worthwhile: it can help him keep doing the thing he loves. But for the vast majority of people it's not worth it.

And the bigger question is, even if it's NA, should a recovered alcoholic be drinking something attempting to be beer? I don't know much about the subject but it seems like it'd be close to playing with fire.

I'm concerned about something else- I don't think we actually can make a 100% alcohol free product. Sure, heating burns off the majority of it. But even in commercial products like O'Douls, there is a notice that there is still some alcohol. Probably not a big deal for most of us, who just love beer and don't have a medical problem. But unless we actually have an instrument to gauge the exact alcohol %, we could be giving "NA" beer to alcoholics which isn't NA but .05% ABV. That's worrisome enough for me that I wouldn't even contemplate doing it except for my own edification and enjoyment- certainly not for a friend who was an alcoholic.

I'm NOT a doctor, but for medical reasons it would probably be an ok product for most people unless ethanol allergy was an issue. There would be more alcohol in Nyquil than in a homebrewed NA beer.

 

[billvon]

But unless we actually have an instrument to gauge the exact alcohol %, we could be giving "NA" beer to alcoholics which isn't NA but .05% ABV.

That is a really good point. Which begs the question - does anyone know of a cheap, accurate assay that measures alcohol content of beer?

 

[munklunk]

...wouldn't it make sense to do a Reverse-Brew Dog? By that I mean to freeze a fully fermented beer and then just remove the alcohol that did not freeze. That seems like the most logical to me.

 

[Revvy]

...wouldn't it make sense to do a Reverse-Brew Dog? By that I mean to freeze a fully fermented beer and then just remove the alcohol that did not freeze. That seems like the most logical to me.

People have tried that in other threads, all you are left with is pretty tasteless water, not quite the same goal. You want the full flavor/body of beer, with little to no alcohol.

 

[Frankdaatank24]

Well, I know most breweries that make NA beer do in fact heat up the fermented beer to the temperature that alcohol evaporates at, which is considerably lower than the temp that water evaporates at, so you are left with all the flavors of the beer (theoretically). In Japan Asahi makes a beer, and its completely NA, no alchohol. It tastes like water with hops and malt flavoring, nothing more than that. The only reason why I know is because my wife was pregnant and is still breast feeding, so I did some research on the subject lol, so yea.

As far as a waste of time, I don't think it would be, all you would have to do is heat up the fermented beer straight from the carboy (no boiling, just heat it up to the temperature that alcohol evaporates at) for like 20 min or so (probably take some SG readings at intervals), then chill it, then bottle it.

And NA beer isn't that bad, O'Douls Amber is pretty good, and there are a few others that pretty good as well.

 

[cklages]

Unfortunately thats not really how it works. When you heat up a solution of ethanol and water, the common assumption is that the mixture will heat to 78 degrees, the ethanol will depart, the water will stay, and you will be left with water. In reality the boiling point of the mixture will vary based on the alcohol content (here is a chart)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_(data_page)

Hypothetically If you were to quickly heat a mixture to its boiling point, compensate for pressure altitude and measure the temperature very quickly, that would give you an approximate number for ABV. Unfortunately that number would be plus or minus a little bit, and for some, that little bit is kind of a big deal. Unfortunately, I also think that making a beer with no residual alcohol at all would be next to impossible, although 0.5 or less is obviously relatively easily attainable.

I would look forward to being proven wrong in this, but I think it would take some laboratory testing (GCMS) to prove to me that all the alcohol had been driven off while a reasonable amount of liquid was retained.

I do wish you the best of luck though, I think that this is definitely a worthwhile pursuit.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

And the bigger question is, even if it's NA, should a recovered alcoholic be drinking something attempting to be beer? I don't know much about the subject but it seems like it'd be close to playing with fire.

Good point. He has never asked me to brew him any NA beer, it was just something I was thinking about. I had a friend a long time ago that was an alcoholic and drank Sharps. He loved it. Said it was as close as he could get to beer and didn't bother him. Since the guy I'm talking about now, is a co-worker more than a friend, maybe it would be a bad idea, since I ultimately don't know him THAT well. Either way, whether I brew a NA beer or not, it was something I was thinking about. I love the process of brewing, like all of us, and just wondered how one would go about brewing a NA beer. I am thinking about carbonating some wort now though. Maybe rack all but .5 gal or so into the fermenter and then bottle and carb a few just for an experiment?!?!? This is what I LOVE about this forum. Dicussions and conversations with differing opinions! Here's to BEER and all of us BREWERS

 

[davefleck]

crazy idea...
buy a distiller. that way you get some whisky in one pot and the rest is your near beer

we bought some a couple weeks ago. SWMBO is all knocked up so no homebrew for her. Of course she is craving it like crazy. Now she sniffs my beer... I did brew up a batch of rootbeer for her.