Brewing "non alcohol" or n/a beer

[Sandy Feet]

I might be nuts, but wouldn't it be easier to make some Kombucha?

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

There won't be oxygen in the vessel because the off-gassed CO2 will blanket the top of the beer and as long as you can transfer it pretty calmly

Unfortunately, this is a myth that never seems to die.

Co2 is indeed heavier than air, but it mixes in with the atmosphere almost instantly. There may be a higher concentration of co2 for over the beer for a very short period on time, but it won't "protect' the beer. Beer stales with as little as 100 parts per billion, so just a small amount will destroy beer in as little as 20 minutes. The air in a transfer hose is enough to destroy an entire keg of beer. Oxygen ingress is often the last problem conquered by both homebrewers and pro's alike.

Making NA beer on a home brew level may be possible, but I doubt it would be any good. Heating beer, exposing it to the atmosphere, removing a main flavor component all while using ordinary home brew equipment and keeping the flavor in tact seems like an impossible task. The equipment and technical skills to accomplish this is beyond my abilities at home. This is one frontier I will never explore.

 

[Zambi]

I might be nuts, but wouldn't it be easier to make some Kombucha?

I agree.
Or a lowish alcohol beer and dilute with soda water or sprite as sort of beer shandy.
Or the almost alcohol free rock shandy & malawi shandy

 

[Dave Y]

I agree.
Or a lowish alcohol beer and dilute with soda water or sprite as sort of beer shandy.
Or the almost alcohol free rock shandy & malawi shandy

I'm sure it would be easier.

 

[J A]

I agree that it will be perfectly fine, but the air convection from the hot liquid and evaporating alcohol will move any CO2. There won’t be any kind of CO2 blanket. Even a light puff of air from your mouth will blow any CO2 away easily.

We're over-thinking it...
Time to put some beer in a pot and see what happens. Either we'll have something drinkable or continue to stock up on Athletic.

 

[Dave Y]

We're over-thinking it...
Time to put some beer in a pot and see what happens. Either we'll have something drinkable or continue to stock up on Athletic.

so you're saying it's BAFO time; Brew Around and Find Out
;-)

 

[J A]

so you're saying it's BAFO time; Brew Around and Find Out
;-)

That's right!

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

So, in July I claimed my prize. had the wife drop me off SAI airport to head up to Waco for some car parts, and I would 'get a ride back'. All of which was true, I just got a ride back in my new Mustang Dark Horse.

You didn't lie. You did come back with car parts. It just so happened that they were all stuck together in the form of a real nice car!

 

[Dave Y]

You didn't lie. You did come back with car parts. It just so happened that they were all stuck together in the form of a real nice car!

THIS... is exactly what I told my wife. It spawned a weeks long debate with all of our friends, which resulted in a unanimous loss for her. Everyone agreed it was a 2nd wedding, not a 'mere celebration'. So one of my friends asked what would happen if I got roped into another wedding. I had to think about it for a moment, but her car would get replaced with the biggest Ford Super Duty I could find. She's not a fan of getting in and out of my Raptor either.

I've done some more digging on NA beers and may try one of the fancy new to me yeasts. Definitely going to be a small batch, if I screw it up or it comes out poorly, I won't be as disappointed as losing 5-6 gallons.

 

[Donoroto]

I wonder if you could make something drinkable by creating wort and simply not fermenting it. Like hop water plus.

The grain bill would need to be…smaller. Just some flavor, not really too diastatic (meaning not much sugar). They do sell non-diastatic malt, giving flavor and no fermentables. With just a little fermentable sugar from the small and mostly non-diastatic grain bill, by using yeast to ferment - kinda like making root beer - you can cut the sweetness while still ending up with under 0.5%.

And some flavorful hops, with relatively low IBUs, in the teens or 20s, for a bit of bite. But not hop water.

 

[Bigbre04]

Be careful with NA, the alcohol component is pretty key to food safety without pasteurizing.

 

[Donoroto]

As an edit to my post above, I should have mentioned that a boil is assumed, otherwise the hops won’t offer much bitterness. Boiling is also kinda needed for sanitizing.