Beer is usually made with the following ingredients: water, hop, malt, and yeast. You’ll need exactly the same ingredients to produce non-alcoholic beer using almost the same brewing methods. In other cases, non-alcoholic beer couldn’t be called beer at all!
So, all those who care that non-alcoholic beer it’s not actually a beer can breathe with relief because this drink is made with all the love, care and attention of time-honoured brewing traditions. But sometimes the craft brewerries implement new methods to improve the taste and environmental footprint of their products. Find our more about one of such breweries in our article.
Brewing Of Non-Alcoholic Beer
Brewing of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beers starts with the mash. On this stage water is mixed with malted grains to create a sugary substance known as ‘mash’. This mash is then filtered to remove the remains of the grains. Once the mash is filtered, brewers add hops and heat the mixture. Hops are essential in beer production as it is responsible for producing the signature aroma and bitterness of the world’s favourite alcoholic drink.
When the hops have given up all their flavour, the most interesting stage of brewing begins. The fermentation is a stage when the yeast convert sugars to alcohol and the beer becomes alcoholic. You probably thought that non-alcoholic beer simply skips this step, but no, the party goes on. Yeasts are added to the mash to start the fermentation, and its final product is a delicious alcoholic beer.
Then we need to remove the alcohol to make this beer 0% (actually, there still remains at least 0.3% ABV) The removal of alcohol is called dealcoholization.
Using the special equipment ethanol (alcohol) is separated from the beer, and the aroma of the drink (ether) is carefully collected into a separate compartment. The resulting hot beer is cooled in a separate vat, and, after passing the tests, is mixed again with the essential beer aromas.
Of course, the taste of non-alcoholic beer is different from alcoholic one, but the makers are doing their best to make this Beer taste as close to the original as possible. Check out the choice of non-alcoholic beer and other non-alcoholic drinks here.