Technological and Microbiological Aspects of Low-Alcoholic Beer Production

Abstract

This is a review of the current state of technology of non-alcoholic and low-alcoholic beer production. In the first part, processes involving alcohol removal from partially or fully fermented beers are described. The advantages and disadvantages of different methods of beer dealcoholisation, mainly membrane and evaporation technologies, are discussed. In the next part, methods of stopped and limited fermentation at low temperature as well as the use of mutant yeast strains are mentioned. The genetic background of the strains with a defect in the activity of the tricarboxylate-cycle enzymes and their use for the production of non-alcoholic and low-alcoholic beer are discussed in the last section. Particular aspects of this wide-range field can lead to improvement of properties of the non-alcoholic beer.