How is non-alcoholic beer made?
The short answer
Non-alcoholic beer is made by either removing the alcohol from regular beer or by preventing the production of alcohol during the brewing process.
The long answer
Non-alcoholic beer can be produced in a number of ways, but they boil down (hint, hint) to two main methods: removing the alcohol from beer or restricting the formation of alcohol during the fermentation process.
Option #1: Remove the alcohol from beer
You can remove alcohol from beer through two main ways: boiling the beer or filtering the beer.
Boiling: Once you have the finished product of leaded beer (beer that is greater than 0.5% alcohol by volume), you heat it up above the boiling point of alcohol but below the boiling point of water. This causes the alcohol to evaporate. However, this process decarbonates the beer and results in some flavor loss, so non-alcoholic brewers will add back in some flavors and carbonate the finished product.
Filtering: Extreme pressure pushes leaded beer through an incredibly tight filter that only allows water and alcohol to pass through. This reverse-osmosis process separates the flavors from the water and alcohol solution. The alcohol is then distilled from the water (see boiling method), and the flavors are added back into the water. This process maintains more of the flavors that can be lost through straight boiling.
Option #2: Restrict the formation of alcohol during the fermentation process
During regular beer-making, yeast consumes the sugars in the wort (sugary grain liquid) and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide as byproducts. To make non-alcoholic beer, brewers can use various techniques to limit the amount of alcohol produced during fermentation.
No fermentation: One method is to simply not ferment the beer at all. This is done by not introducing yeast to the wort. Because the wort is high in sugar, this tends to result in a sweet beer taste.
Limited fermentation: In this method, brewers prepare the wort to contain lower amounts fermentable sugars than in a standard wort recipe. With less sugar, the yeast is only able to produce trace amounts of alcohol.
Arrested fermentation: Brewers leverage rapid shifts in temperature in this method in order to halt the fermentation process of the yeast and thus produce less alcohol.
Special yeasts: Some non-alcoholic beer is made using specially engineered yeast strains that do not produce alcohol during fermentation. These yeasts are often genetically modified to remove the genes responsible for alcohol production, or bred through traditional methods to produce very low levels of alcohol.
Bonus brain points
There is a legal difference between "non-alcoholic" and "alcohol-free". Non-alcoholic beverages can contain up to 0.5% alcohol by volume, whereas alcohol-free beverages must not contain any alcohol whatsoever.
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Sources
Hughes, J. (2022, August 31). How Non-Alcoholic Beer Is Made. The Nutrition Insider. Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://thenutritioninsider.com/wellness/how-non-alcoholic-beer-is-made/
Sawni, N. (2020, April 16). How Is Non Alcoholic Beer Made? Grüvi. Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://www.getgruvi.com/blogs/posts/how-is-non-alcoholic-beer-made
Thanos, S. (2023, January 10). Non-Alcoholic Beer Brewing 101: Tips, Tricks and Why You Should Give it a Shot. Homebrew Academy. Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://homebrewacademy.com/how-to-brew-non-alcoholic-beer/
