Alcohol free beer

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From the link below ...

"For example, an ethanol-water mixture (obtained by fermentation of sugars) on fractional distillation yields a solution containing approximately 95% by volume of ethanol. Once this composition has been achieved, the liquid and vapour have the same composition, and no further separation occurs."

So, a lot of the the alcohol can be driven from a brew by heating, but it won't ever be "Alcohol Free" ...

... even after the taste has been ruined!

This is a great read ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope
 
Okey... If you just want a break from drinking then this is the perfect thing to get a break. Here in Finland we have a thing called "tipaton" you don't drink for one month. Usually the hole January . So there fore we have the January without alcohol. When Finnish people go to sauna they tend to have one or two beers but if you have tipaton you don't drink at all . That's why I make "alcohol free " beer. The taste of the beer usually get a deeper taste when I make alcohol free beer so for me it doesn't make a difference.
 
From the link below ...

"For example, an ethanol-water mixture (obtained by fermentation of sugars) on fractional distillation yields a solution containing approximately 95% by volume of ethanol. Once this composition has been achieved, the liquid and vapour have the same composition, and no further separation occurs."

So, a lot of the the alcohol can be driven from a brew by heating, but it won't ever be "Alcohol Free" ...

... even after the taste has been ruined!

This is a great read ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope
This is a batch distillation. If you heat the alcoholic beer you will first drive off any really light volatiles (which can't be much, if any), then the ethanol-water azeotrope, but when the 'still bottoms' - - i.e boiling beer are finally stripped of the alcohol via the evaporation of the azeotrope you should have (almost) alcohol free beer.
Personally I can't see the point. You may as well drink tea.
 
I understand peoples confusion around alcohol beer and having tasted a few they are almost all horrendous. What I have noticed is that since building a kegerator I find myself pouring a few pints everyday which is not good for the liver or the waistline. To combat this I have started having an alcohol free beer on tap, for when you want something cold, fizzy and hoppy after work. I wouldn't go to the faff of ruining a perfectly good alcoholic beer but I do follow the Brewdog alcohol free beer and the results are actually ok, it's not got the body or sweetness of a proper IPA but it is nice...

https://brewdogrecipes.com/recipes/nanny-state
 
Better brew historic watery milds and bitters, from Ronald Pattinson's stash of historic low-alcohol beers?
 
Better brew historic watery milds and bitters, from Ronald Pattinson's stash of historic low-alcohol beers?
The problem with those recipes is, the attenuation figures never appear to tally with what you would get with modern malts and the recommended yeasts. For example, many of his scottish recipes are based on c65% attenuation (65-66C mash temps), yet recommend WLP028 which attenuates around 70-75%. It's a struggle to keep the abv as low as quoted.
 
I understand peoples confusion around alcohol beer and having tasted a few they are almost all horrendous. What I have noticed is that since building a kegerator I find myself pouring a few pints everyday which is not good for the liver or the waistline. To combat this I have started having an alcohol free beer on tap, for when you want something cold, fizzy and hoppy after work. I wouldn't go to the faff of ruining a perfectly good alcoholic beer but I do follow the Brewdog alcohol free beer and the results are actually ok, it's not got the body or sweetness of a proper IPA but it is nice...
"Nanny State" is alcoholic in the UK. Drinks have to be less than 0.05% ABV to be non-alcoholic. But "Nanny State" does lack body and sweetness; doesn't have to be the case but Brewdog put zilch effort into making it any better.

According to Wikipedia 0.5% is non-alcoholic in Sweden, 0.7% in Norway, and a phenomenal 2.8% in @BACKS home country of Finland! But the same article has 0.5% for the UK which is a good illustration of how much trust you can have in Wikipedia! I think you makeup your own mind - so I'm happy with brewing 0.5% ABV beers for my UK Government recommended abstention days*. You can also be reasonably sure of the ABV by brewing, not by boiling.

(* two days a week)


Personally there is no-way I'm boiling beer to make "alcohol-free" beer. Blah!

Hi!
Alcohol free beer?
Why?
Been here not so long ago. But I won't start (much), enough to say folk have very different reasons for it, some of them voluntary, some compulsory. You don't want to find yourself in the compulsory category or even 0.5% ABV can be off the menu. And you won't find you have an option of being in the compulsory category, if you are unlucky you just find yourself there.
 
For the naysayers... I don’t like coke, tea, squash etc so by evening time I’ve had enough overstrength coffee and water. I don’t like to drink every day so a sub 1% brew is better than the alternatives. It’s also a great challenge to brew something that is enjoyable. At the moment, I’ve got some .7% wheat beer, with a nice bit of flavour from Caramalt, Munich, melanoidin and Weihenstephan yeast. It’s not as good as my full strength version, but it’s pleasant, refreshing and better than drinking every night.
 
For the naysayers... I don’t like coke, tea, squash etc so by evening time I’ve had enough overstrength coffee and water. I don’t like to drink every day so a sub 1% brew is better than the alternatives. It’s also a great challenge to brew something that is enjoyable. At the moment, I’ve got some .7% wheat beer, with a nice bit of flavour from Caramalt, Munich, melanoidin and Weihenstephan yeast. It’s not as good as my full strength version, but it’s pleasant, refreshing and better than drinking every night.

I've got some wheat beer yeast in the fridge after a brew in December so wouldn't mind a recipe that works for a low alcohol wheat beer if you don't mind giving it out? Add a bit of variety to my low alcohol beers!
 
I've got some wheat beer yeast in the fridge after a brew in December so wouldn't mind a recipe that works for a low alcohol wheat beer if you don't mind giving it out? Add a bit of variety to my low alcohol beers!
Tim,

I'll look it out and send it on condition that you tweak it and let me know how it turns out. First taste, it obviously lacks a bit of flavour, then once you've had a few sips it starts to feel refreshing and pretty nice, but if you can find a way of adding a touch more body, that would be great. A lot of the flavour comes from the yeast, definite hint of banana which you get from overmatching Weihenstephan.
 
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