Abstract
Alcohol-free beer (AFB) is no longer just a niche product in the beer market. For brewers, this product category offers economic benefits in the form of a growing market and often a lower tax burden and enables brewers to extend their product portfolio and promote responsible drinking. Non-Saccharomyces yeasts are known for their flavor-enhancing properties in food fermentations, and their prevailing inability to ferment maltose and maltotriose sets a natural fermentation limit and can introduce a promising approach in the production of AFB (≤0.5% v/v). Five strains isolated from kombucha, Hanseniaspora valbyensis, Hanseniaspora vineae, Torulaspora delbrueckii, Zygosaccharomyces bailii and Zygosaccharomyces kombuchaensis were compared to a commercially applied AFB strain Saccharomycodes ludwigii and a Saccharomyces cerevisiae brewer’s yeast. The strains were characterized for their sugar utilization, phenolic off-flavors, hop sensitivity and flocculation. Trial fermentations were analyzed for extract reduction, ethanol formation, pH drop and final beers were analyzed for amino acids utilization and fermentation by-products. The performance of non-Saccharomyces strains and the commercial AFB strain were comparable during fermentation and production of fermentation by-products. An experienced sensory panel could not discriminate between the non-Saccharomyces AFB and the one produced with the commercial AFB strain, therefore indicating their suitability in AFB brewing.
Highlights
IntroductionAlcohol-free beer (AFB) is no longer just a niche product in the beer market
In many countries nowadays, alcohol-free beer (AFB) is no longer just a niche product in the beer market
The first attribute is the ability to utilize the sugars in the wort, as for all-malt beers the average composition of fermentable wort sugars is 12% glucose and fructose (0.8–2.8%), 5% sucrose, 65% maltose, and 17.5% maltotriose [23]
Summary
Alcohol-free beer (AFB) is no longer just a niche product in the beer market. This product category offers economic benefits in the form of a steadily growing market and often a lower tax burden. Consumers benefit from the health effects of alcohol-free beers, which lie in the healthy beer components. In many European countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, and Portugal, the term “alcohol-free” describes a maximum alcohol limit of 0.5% (v/v) ethanol. In Denmark and in the Netherlands the term “alcohol-free” may be applied to beers with
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