Is non-alcoholic beer nothing else than unfermented wort? That is to grains which the sugars have been cooked out of, bittering agent added and then just the step of fermentation omitted or is there more to it than that?
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3 Answers
No, it is fermented to break down the sugar; otherwise it would be very sweet and sugar cannot be cooked off. After fermentaton is complete, the alcohol is removed. Note that most NA beers do actually contain a small amount of alcohol: < 1%.
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I am not sure how it is done commercially. I have known homebrewers to heat the beer: Alcohol has a lower boiling temperature than water does, so the alcohol will boil off if the beer is heated to 175F.– jalynn2Aug 15, 2019 at 21:27
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Oh, I didn't realize the boil-off point was that low. I wondered about effects of bringing it to a full boil post-fermentation. Aug 15, 2019 at 21:58
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1They also use a low air pressure chamber with slightly elevated temperatures. Alcohol will boil at a lower temperature in a vacuum so there is less damage to flavors. Aug 16, 2019 at 14:30
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…The vacuum lowers the boiling point of the ethanol, meaning that other volatile flavour chemicals (such as alpha acids in the hops) are less affected, and the flavour remains closer to the original. Under the vacuum, the boiling point of the ethanol reduces from 78 °C to approximately 34 °C. This, therefore, allows the ethanol to be removed before the temperature of the distillation apparatus reaches the boiling point of the volatile flavour components. — 3.2.3 Vacuum distillation - Open University Jan 28, 2021 at 14:07
It is fermented like in the previous question but nowadays there is a genetically modified fungus that can break down the sugars without creating alcohol. When normal yeast is used (it gives a better taste) Commercially the alcohol is removed under a vacuum to lower the boiling point of the alcohol even further. (higher temperatures affect the taste of the beer) The removed alcohol of medicinal grade and is sold on to pharmaceutic companies.
Alcohol free beer is also a byproduct of whiskey distilling. Whiskey takes beer and distills the alcohol out of it. This alcohol they flavour and age in barrels to make whiskey. If you take what is left of that beer and force carbonate it and add hops, you are left with alcohol-free beer.