Every beer lover has to drive a car or operate machinery now and again. And when they do, instead of sugary sodas or tasteless water, alcohol-free beer can be a great choice. Alcohol-free beers (AFB) have a beer flavor and, as an additional benefit, are known to be rather healthy, as they contain minerals, vitamins, protein and hops, and are referred to as isotonic, which makes them ideal as sports drinks. Most craft brewers don’t have the resources to invest in expensive technologies to make AFBs. Therefore, technology-related approaches are their best option. A combination of high temperature mashing-in, combined with cold “fermentation” temperatures and/or maltose-negative yeast strains are typical technological strategies. Moreover, quality aspects such as pH adjustment, turbidity sensitivity, and the necessity of pasteurization are to be controlled. We will discuss common approaches, including specific characteristics and quality.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the characteristics of alcohol-free beer (AFB)
• Understand the technological brewhouse approaches to produce AFB
• Learn how to control alcohol formation in the cold block
• Avoid exploding bottles, quality control and pasteurization of AFB