Inquiry — Non-Alcoholic Homebrew | Homebrew Beer

Brewing Master » Homebrew Beer » Inquiry — Non-Alcoholic Homebrew

Inquiry — Non-Alcoholic Homebrew

Categories: Homebrew Beer

Question:

Although deeply devoted to the ever-so-moderate use of alcohol, I have several friends who no longer partake for religious reasons. They are nevertheless nostalgic for the taste of beer, and are not satisfied by what’s on the fake-beer market (Moussy, Kaliber, etc.). The Question: (and although I checked the Frequently Asked Questions list before making this post, I wasn’t surprised to not find it there) — is there any information available on the home-brewing of non-alcholic beers? Or is some sort of chemical wizardry required for the production of carbonated malt beverages sans alcohol, a bag of tricks available only to the white-coated research staffs of huge corporations? I’ve asked several professional microbrewers about this, and drawn a blank. So, I would be grateful for any concrete lead or pointer which would enable me to do further research. And of course a miraculous download of actual recipes would be even more welcome, though it’s not expected. Thanks very much to any knowledgeable person who can e-mail their tips to Sincerely, Larry Clifford

Response:

NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER Jack Schmidling Everytime I mention NA beer, people give me funny looks and ask questions like, "why would anyone want to do that to homebrew?" Having been a victim of my hobby some years ago, I drank nothing but Kingsbury for almost 10 years. The thought of going back to that is all the motivation I need. I have been limiting myself to one 16 oz glass of beer, per day for a couple of years and I no longer consider myself a recovering alcoholic. However, making beer is so much fun and hombrew tastes so good that rather then cheat, I have been experimenting with making NA homebrew and have come with a process that works, is simple and most "experts" can’t identify what is missing. The basic process makes a one gallon batch for the skeptical but can be scaled up to any size. When you have your next batch ready to bottle, syphon off one gallon before priming. Put this in a kettle with (2) tablespoons of sugar and bring the temp up to 170 F with the lid off, hold it there for 15 min. Let it cool, uncovered until the temp gets below 150 F. Then cover it and cool it to room temp as quickly as possible. You can put it in a sink with running water. When room temp, add 1/8 tsp yeast. I used EDME yeast but I presume that any yeast will do. However, all bets are off if you use Red Star. Let it sit for a while to disolve and disperse, then stir well with a sanitized spoon. Pour the brew into your favorite bottles and cap. It is a good idea to include at least one plastic bottle to monitor cabonation. When the plastic bottle is hard, refrigerate them all. This usually takes no more than a few days at room temp. If you are set up for kegging, it is even easier. Just heat up 5 gallons as above, keg it when cool and force carbonate it. You can also experiment with adding hops during the heating step. I don’t particularly like the results but I am not a hops freak. What does it taste like? You’ll have to try it yourself to find out. However, I would say that it has a slight hint of a "cooked" taste. This taste can be totally masked by the addition of a pound of roasted barley in an all grain beer or whatever you do to make an extract beer taste like stout. This beer improves dramatically with age. If you can refrigerate it for a month or two before drinking, all of the off flavors will go away and you will be hard pressed to believe it is what it is. Jean Hunter at Cornell has tested a sample on a gas chromatagraph and says it contains around 1.3% alcohol. This can not legally be called NA but it solves my problem completely. It is below the threshold that drives me to continue drinking. More recently I have done some additional experimenting and think I learned the secret to very low alcohol. It is not some exotic yeast or process, it is simply diluting the beer with water. After "cooking", I simply add an equal volume of water (previously boiled) and keg as usual. The result is an NA that is still amazingly good compared to the industrial stuff (NA or otherwise) and half the calories and alcohol compared to just de-alcoholizing the beer. Any off flavors from cooking will also be reduced in half. If you don’t like 50:50, use what ever suits you. js

Response:

I picked Scotch, specificially, as I recall the mashing process is much more similar to beer, than those used for other types of whisky — especially those using corn, potatoes, etc. (Not just whisky, btw, but nearly any spirit.) Hops, though — I just can’t see hop oils surviving the distillation process, whether you started with ‘em or not. Could be wrong, but I do doubt it.

This seems like a major drift from the topic, but… I visited a distillery in Scotland. They start with a strong (don’t know OG), pure malt, unhopped wort, ferment in large open vats, and distill. The only difference between the malt they used and the malt I use is that their malt was kilned over an open peat fire to give it a characteristic taste. It might be fun to get some of this for beermaking. –arne

Response:

Has anyone out there ever tried to distill the alcohol from a batch of beer with the intention to keep the liqour? It would be very interesting to see what kind of "Beerandy" one would get. Any takers? Yes, this has been done. The result is called "Scotch".

I reccomend you refrain from using hops, though! angus

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Has anyone out there ever tried to distill the alcohol from a batch of beer with the intention to keep the liqour? It would be very interesting to see what kind of "Beerandy" one would get. Any takers? Yes, this has been done. The result is called "Scotch". actually, scotch is just one type of whiskey, all of which are distilled from a mash, basically a crude beer. scotch whiskey may in fact be made from a drinkable scotch ale, though i doubt it. the mash used by the folks at Jack Daniels is actually mostly corn; other varieties may differ, but few are what we would consider to be beer. A ‘beerandy’ would likely carry with it the distinctive barley and hop flavor of the brew you started with– it would probably be worth trying, since as far as I know, hops are not used in whiskey at all.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Although deeply devoted to the ever-so-moderate use of alcohol, I have several friends who no longer partake for religious reasons. They are nevertheless nostalgic for the taste of beer, and are not satisfied by what’s on the fake-beer market (Moussy, Kaliber, etc.). The Question: (and although I checked the Frequently Asked Questions list before making this post, I wasn’t surprised to not find it there) — is there any information available on the home-brewing of non-alcholic beers? Or is some sort of chemical wizardry required for the production of carbonated malt beverages sans alcohol, a bag of tricks available only to the white-coated research staffs of huge corporations? I’ve asked several professional microbrewers about this, and drawn a blank. So, I would be grateful for any concrete lead or pointer which would enable me to do further research. And of course a miraculous download of actual recipes would be even more welcome, though it’s not expected. Thanks very much to any knowledgeable person who can e-mail their tips to Sincerely, Larry Clifford

Here is an article with recipe which was posted here rather recently: Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing Keywords: Non-Alcoholic Organization: Googolhedron Systems X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] Lines: 112 Well, I am sitting here drinking my first succesful non-alcoholic beer. And I must say that it tastes much better that some of the recent commercial alcoholic beers that have been foisted on me lately. I like traditional beers but on occation, I find that friends are over and I can not in good concious have them drinking soda as I savour a delicious beer, just because they have to drive home. Plus, my wife pointed out many times how unfair it was that when she was pregnant, I was still able to enjoy beer and if she wanted one she was forced to drink that oxidized, malt scented soda water that is sold under the name of non-alcoholic beer. So, here is the recipe. Any comments or suggestions are very welcome. Flames can be directed to the bottom of my brewkettle where they will do some good. For those of you who say, (and I have heard this lately) that beer without alcohol isn’t beer, well, the same could be said about hops, except that hops have only been used in the last 4% of brewing history. And, the differnce in the quantity of alcohol and "normal" beer is much less than "normal" beer and say, EKU 28 or even a wonderful barley wine. Sorry, off my soapbox, I think I wil have another(I have to get some work done tonight) and then I will have a good wheat beer (wheat in beer?, that’s not beer!) Designated Driver Dark a non-alcoholic amber By Tim Beauchamp 6.5 Lbs Amber Malt Extract ..25 Lbs Crystal Malt 10L 14 HBU Cascade Hops 3 HBU Mt. Hood Hops Whole Leaf Wyeast American Ale Makes 5 U.S. Gallons O.G. 1.040 F.G. 1.008 (before boiling off the alcohol) The night before brewing, boil 2.5 gallon of water to a boil for 5 minutes. Then take off the heat, cool and put into the refrigerator or in an ice chest with ice overnight to chill. Just before it is time to brew, pour the cold (boiled) water into the primary. Fill the kettle with 2.5 gallons of water and start heating. In a sauce pan, steep Crystal Malt in cheesecloth bag for 20 minutes in 1 quart 160 degree water. Add liquid to 2.5 gal water boiling in the brew kettle with the extract. Bring to a vigorous boil for 15 minutes. Add the Cascade hops and continue the boil for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and cool quickly to 100 degrees and then add to the cold water in the primary. Shake it to oxygenate it well. You can check the temp. It should be right around 70 degrees and ready to pitch. Pitch the yeast and let it ferment. After 6 days, rack into the secondary carboy. With the Wyeast Amer. Ale, I still had a noticeable ferment going. in the secondary. On Day 12, take the Mt. Hood hops and tie them into a chese cloth satchel. Bring 1 qt. of water to a boil and add the hop packet. Let it continue to boil for 2 minutes, if the hops are compressed pretty tight from the vacuum sealed bag, you may have to prod it a bit to get the boiling water into the inside. Remove from heat and put the pot into an ice bath until it is nice and cool. Pour the whole thing, Hop packet and all, into a sterilized glass or plastic container and put into the refrigerator until it is needed. You will use it at kegging time. On day 16, siphon the beer from the secondary into the brewpot. Careful to keep the racking tube above the sediment. Begin heating on a medium heat monitoring the temperature. Ethanol boils at a lower temp than water so it will stabilize temperature at about 180 degrees as the latent heat of the alcohol uses up the heat energy. Keep the heat at a level that the boil is consistent but not violent. Watch the temp. As the volume of alcohol reduces, the temperature will rise. When the temp has reached 210 degrees, most of the alcohol has boiled away and the a bit more will evaporate as it cools. Have a window open, you will be boiling off a quart of alcohol. You will notice that the boil will almost instantaneously turn from a very fine bubble foam to a rolling boil at the point that the alcohol has boiled out Note, if you are above sea level, these temps will be lower. Don’t wait to hit 210 degrees or by the time you do, you will have some real malty syrup for your pancakes. As soon as the boil is done, cool quickly and keg. Add the Hop water that you made a few days earlier, leaving the hop packet behind. Carbonate artificially in the keg and let settle for a week. You could prime and repitch to carbonate in bottles but that would add alcohol to the beer but at most, it would be .5% Notes: This beer turned out excellent. Noticeable flavor absent that I assume was the alcohol. Also, the viscosity in your mouth was different than an beer containing alcohol. And the beer was a bit hazy, like chill haze, but being that it was a dark beer, it was not very obvious. Next time I make it, and I plan on that soon, I will probably add some dextrin or increase the Crystal malt to closer to ..5 lbs just for more body and steep the finishing hops for a much longer time. The temperature that they were steeped at probably was too cold for good hop utilization. Also, I will not hop at all with the original wort. I have a feeling that the haze is partially from the reboiling of the hopped beer. I will boil the hops in the same water that I will steep the finishing hops in and get a good 45 minute boil with them. — Virtually (or at least logically), Tim Beauchamp |

Response:

It still surprises me that many people believe it is possible to develop a non-alcoholic brew which tastes like its alcoholic counterpart. Alcohol has its own flavor – warm and crisp (dry) – for a lack of a better description. It also has an affect on how the other ingredients (malt, hops, etc.) are perceived by the palate. Short of some high-gravity beers, a brew that is too high in alcohol content tastes just as poor as one that is too low in content or void of alcohol altogether. To me, it would be like trying to get that fresh-squeezed taste from lemonade without using any lemons! — —- (216) 967-5115 CompuServe: 76407,3336 —

Response:

Notes: This beer turned out excellent. Noticeable flavor absent that I assume was the alcohol. Also, the viscosity in your mouth was different than an beer containing alcohol.

Has anyone out there ever tried to distill the alcohol from a batch of beer with the intention to keep the liqour? It would be very interesting to see what kind of "Beerandy" one would get. Any takers? Sincerely, Patric. UW-Madison, Mad-town USA Ma’let a"r ingenting, va"gen a"r allt – R. Broberg

Response:

Yes, this has been done. The result is called "Scotch".

Response:

actually, scotch is just one type of whiskey, all of which are distilled from a mash, basically a crude beer. scotch whiskey may in fact be made from a drinkable scotch ale, though i doubt it. the mash used by the folks at Jack Daniels is actually mostly corn; other varieties may differ, but few are what we would consider to be beer. A ‘beerandy’ would likely carry with it the distinctive barley and hop flavor of the brew you started with– it would probably be worth trying, since as far as I know, hops are not used in whiskey at all. — Matthew Blind, Man of Vision | "If this ain’t hell, then it sure is Distraught Ga. Tech student | one damn good facsimile."

Brewing Master