Innovative and sustainable processes for producing low-alcohol craft beer

Title : Innovative and sustainable processes for producing low-alcohol craft beer

Abstract:

Breweries increasingly face the dual challenge of meeting consumer demand for authentic low‑ and no‑alcohol beers while also ensuring product safety and aligning production practices with sustainability goals. In response to these pressures, we present an integrated and scalable technological route that combines high‑temperature fermentations using Saccharomyces cerevisiae Kveik strains, vacuum dealcoholization, and targeted hop‑aroma supplementation (Spectrum^®, HyperBoost^®). Fermentations conducted at 40^°C significantly accelerate metabolic activity and thereby shorten production throughput, offering clear advantages for small and medium breweries seeking to optimize tank occupancy and energy use. Subsequent ethanol removal under reduced pressure minimizes thermal stress, preserving delicate aroma compounds and limiting the formation of heat‑derived off‑flavours. Throughout the workflow, we monitored key technological and sensory parameters—including alcohol content, foam stability, turbidity, and volatile profiles—from wort to the final packaged beer.

Because dealcoholization inevitably strips aroma-active molecules, the strategic addition of hop extracts proved essential for restoring the fruity, citrus‑forward notes and enhancing body and drinkability in the finished product. These benefits, however, come with measurable trade‑offs: certain extracts negatively affected foam retention and contributed to increased haze formation, highlighting the need for careful process tuning to balance aroma impact and physical stability. Pasteurization, introduced to ensure absolute microbiological safety, further modulated the hop-derived aroma profile, slightly attenuating its intensity but offering undeniable operational advantages for producers.

Overall, our results show that vacuum distillation is a suitable and accessible technique for small breweries, hop‑aroma supplementation is indispensable for flavor recovery in dealcoholized beers, hop extracts influence foam and bitterness, and pasteurization—despite modest aroma reductions—remains a robust safety measure.

This work was supported by the NRRP (Mission 4, MUR, Italy), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU (Project Code: P2022JEFNF).

Biography:

PhD Giovanni De Francesco studied Food Technologies and Biotechnologies at the University of Perugia, Italy and graduated as MS in 2010. He then joined the research group of Prof. Perretti and Prof. Marconi at the Italian Brewing Research Centre of the University of Perugia. He received his PhD degree in 2013 at same institution. Now He is at the sixth-year postdoctoral fellowship supervised by Prof. Marconi at the same institution. He has published more than 18 research articles with more than 130 citations. He held over than 1000 hours of frontal lessons at the professional training courses on brewing and malting production. He is a brewing and malting consultant. He is Panel leader and professional beer taster.