Ok, first time poster and I’m bringing in a subject that might get me banned for life already 
But…
I have a few people around me that can’t consume alcohol for one reason or another (no parole officers, community service, etc. - just limitations of their own bodies).
I’m trying to figure out a way to brew up a batch or two of beer every now and then to help them out from suffering the same 'ol same 'ol of O’Douls and the like.
In the past, I’ve tried baking the beer to burn off the alcohol as recommended in a few places, but the beer tasted burnt and still had a bit of alcohol. I didn’t get any type of responses as to what I might have been doing wrong, and I finally stopped wasting my good beer.
I’m hoping someone else has come across this situation and mastered it with a better solution than “introduce these sad saps to lemonade and iced tea”.
Put yourself in their shoes and think about how sad life would be if you could only see it through the bottom of a near-beer bottle.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions, and hopefully the shot at a second post in the future,
Dan
Cooking the alcohol off is probably the main way it is generally done (but as you mention, not all of it cooks off anyway…even commercial NA ‘beers’ can still contain and ABV of 0.5%).
One option may be to experiment with making a fairly low gravity wort where you’ve balanced any light malt sweetness/graininess with some bittering hops, boiling it (to sterilize), and adding some flavor/aroma hopping to the mix before cooling it and force carbing it.
But really, I’ve yet to taste an NA “beer” that is even remotely like the real thing…it just doesn’t exist.
But if someone came up with one, I’d certainly be into it.
I think the problem with most NA beers is that they try make them in the American light lager style, that’s hard enough without trying to remove the alcohol. If I were to try it I would brew a low ABV dark amber or porter and simmer it on the stove after it’s fermented around 175° to evaporate the alcohol.
Seriously, with so many non-alcoholic beverages out there that actually taste good, why bother with NA beer? Get into soda making - you could even get them into it - there’s a really small amount of alcohol produced, but it actually tastes like something you’d want to drink. Also look into kombucha, which often has a very low alcohol content.
I’ve recently been looking into this as well. Not much out there. I’m looking for a drink I can consume without getting blasted and doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup. Basically I want to stop drinking soda and I like beer, so. Boiling it off seems to be it. Read you should pre add the boil off water. Sounds similar to distilling methods I’ve read. Could you kill two birds with one stone here? Hypothetically of course. I’m thinking you could please both crowds…
:cheers:
