Want to make non-alcoholic brews, but wondering exactly how is alcohol removed from beer? Here, we explain the theory of how to remove alcohol from beer after fermenting, to give you the foundation for zero-alcohol beer brewing.
Non-alcoholic beers often get a bad rep, mainly because they are missing the key ingredient that serious beer drinkers hold dear. Historically, alcohol-free beer has been judged for its limited variety, earning the notoriety of not quite hitting the mark of “real” beer. Instead, these beverages were simply dismissed as yellow fizzy water or an unnatural beer imitation by various craft beer communities.
Yet, there are situations when people can’t have alcohol but still want to partake in a beer experience. So, should those who opt for non-alcoholic options feel left out? Absolutely not! Much like the rest of the beer world (hello, homebrewers!), non-alcoholic beer is evolving. It has slowly but gradually gained both “bitter” respect and growing popularity within the craft community.
But, how does one go about making a beer that is missing that key ingredient… alcohol? In this article, we answer the common question how is alcohol removed from beer? both commercially and in small-scale brewing.
Why Non-Alcoholic Beers?
Research suggests that non-alcoholic beer sales in Western Europe surged by almost 18% over the past couple of years. Projections say that this upward trajectory is set to continue. What’s interesting is that this trend is not confined to Europe alone, as it’s making waves in the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region as well.
So, why are more people reaching for non-alcoholic beers?
- Alcohol-free beer serves as an excellent option for those who don’t indulge in regular beer or alcohol. Not only does it open up new revenue streams, but it also represents a growing niche for breweries.
- Non-alcoholic beer is a refreshing alternative for beer lovers looking to embrace responsible drinking, maintain a healthier lifestyle, and still enjoy beer’s fantastic taste.
- With technological advancements, we now enjoy rich, full-flavored non-alcoholic beers. Thanks to the right and flavorful innovations, the taste and quality of these beverages have taken a significant leap forward.
To learn more about why non-alcoholic beer is worth tasting and brewing, check out our article Why Do People Drink Non-Alcoholic Beer?
But for now, let’s dip into main topic of this article – how to remove alcohol from beer.
How is Alcohol Removed from Beer?
In the last 30 years, we have seen a variety of low-alcohol or non-alcoholic beer products, many of questionable palatability. But it’s only in recent years that we’ve witnessed high-quality, zero-alcohol beers, crafted by carefully removing alcohol from dedicated beer recipes and bringing them to less than 0.05% ABV.
The question is, how is alcohol removed from beer? First, let’s make it clear, that technically-speaking, alcohol is not always “removed”. There are methods of reducing alcohol content prior to fermentation without necessarily removing it, such as limiting the amount of fermentable sugar and yeast selection. But for this article, we’ll focus on how is alcohol removed from beer after fermentation.
Here are the four major methods used for removing alcohol from beer, to produce non-alcoholic or very low-alcohol beers:
- Dilution
- Distillation
- Stripping
- Reverse Osmosis
How to Remove Alcohol From Beer: 4 Methods
#1 Dilution
Perhaps the easiest way to eliminate alcohol from beer, dilution is a process where water is mixed with a fully brewed regular beer to lower its alcohol content. The extent to which water is added depends on the initial alcohol level in the original brew, usually averaging around 10% water.
Simply put, if your beer packs an ABV (alcohol by volume) of 5%, introducing 10% water will bring down its ABV to 4%. This adjustment can be made either before or after the fermentation process.
#2 Distillation
Traditionally, distillation is the go-to method of both micro and commercial brewers for removing alcohol from beer. Distillation is a physical process, where brewers separate different components of the beer in a mixed stream, based on their boiling points.
In simple terms, some elements in a liquid mixture have a lower boiling point than others. By cranking up the heat, certain components begin to separate and get concentrated by boiling off.
This is easy to understand when we see the boiling points of water vs alcohol, at normal atmospheric pressure:
| Liquid | Boiling Point (°C) | Boiling Point (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 100°C | 212°F |
| Alcohol | 78°C | 173°F |
Once the beer hits a temperature higher than the boiling point of alcohol, the alcohol evaporates much more quickly than water. Now we have two separate substances: alcohol vapor and the liquid (beer).
After cooling down those resulting vapors, brewers end up with a liquid that is high in alcohol, which is how distilled spirits such as whiskey are made. The liquid that is left, is our non-alcoholic beer.
With distillation, the key is to boil the beer to extract ethanol. In the case of a distiller, the intention is to keep the stronger alcohol for making whiskey, and discard the boiled beer. In the case of the brewer, it is to make a beer that has had the alcohol removed.
However, there are a couple of downsides to distillation. First, the residence time at boiling temperature is longer, which is necessary for efficient distillation and phase separation (unlike the shorter residence time of the next process we’ll be discussing.) And second, there’s the risk of a burnt taste creeping in.
Commercial brewers avoid this issue by boiling their beer under a vacuum, which effectively lowers the boiling point of alcohol to a temperature where the beer will not become heat-damaged.
#3 Stripping
Stripping is a smooth, single-pass process, taking less than a minute of hangout time, where ethanol gets removed from a liquid stream using gas in a counter-current flow of mass balance.
What makes it extra cool is that stripping always occurs in equilibrium. The temperature never hits the boiling point or drops too low to cause flooding or dilution. There’s no need to boil here, just highly effective separation using vapor steam in optimal conditions.
No need for recirculation to hit the required specifications in producing non-alcoholic beer.
#4 Reverse Osmosis (Membrane Filtration)
While most brewers go for the easier and more accessible techniques, some lean on reverse osmosis and other membrane filtration techniques to produce non-alcoholic beer.
Reverse osmosis is a science-backed trick inspired by how water naturally flows in and out of our cells. The “reverse” process takes that same removal concept and applies it to beer, with applications going beyond removing alcohol from booze, such as turning seawater into potable liquid.
This process involves a membrane that swoops in and separates alcohol and water molecules, while keeping the larger flavor compounds in the beer. The whole transformation takes place at a cool 10-20ºC or even less, so we don’t turn up the heat and mess with the beer’s flavor.
The membranes work their magic by splitting the beer into two streams:
- Permeate stream
- Retentate stream
The first, the permeate stream, allows water and alcohol to waltz right through. Meanwhile, the second, the retentate stream, holds onto the concentrated proteins, color, and flavor compounds. It then leads the mixture back to the beer tank, keeping all its delightful beer goodness intact.
After separation, typically, the beer’s original liquid volume gets a makeover by simply adding fresh water to the permeate mix. However, crafty manufacturers take it up a notch by first distilling the beer’s original water, only to bring it back into the blend after the ethanol has been boiled off.
How is Alcohol Removed from Beer Conclusion
That brings us to the end of our piece on how is alcohol removed from beer. To recap, the major techniques used to remove alcohol from beer are below.
How is Alcohol Removed from Beer?
- Dilution – adding about 10% water, to reduce the ABV
- Distillation – heating the brew to evaporate the alcohol off
- Stripping – passing gas through the brew, to strip away alcohol
- Reverse Osmosis – using membranes to separate water and alcohol
Of these techniques, many of them are achievable only for commercial brewers, however, to some extent home brewers can take advantage of the first two techniques. In practice, this is combined with techniques to reduce the alcohol in the beer to begin with, through limiting the fermentable sugars, choosing the right yeast, and stopping fermentation early.
For more info on choosing a style of non-alcoholic beer to home brew, head over to our article on non-alcoholic beer types and styles you can brew at home. Generally, they are lower alcohol beers such as lagers and pilseners.
In our next article, we will get right into the meat of it – how to actually brew non-alcoholic beer – with practical recipe-style steps. Keep an eye on AlcoFreeBrew for that coming soon article.
Cheers!
