Low Alcohol Malt Beverage via Enzyme Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for producing low or alcohol-free beers with a flavor profile similar to regular lager beers are inefficient and costly, often resulting in excessive sweetness or detrimental taste changes due to high energy or capital costs, and fail to achieve the desired alcohol content effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the inactivation of β-amylase and activation of α-amylase in the mashing process to produce a wort with reduced fermentability, followed by cold contact fermentation, which reduces alcohol content and minimizes Maillard reactions, using a mash comprising malt and corn or rice grits, to achieve a beer with a flavor profile close to normal lager beers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If normal fermentation is carried out and alcohol is removed by distillation, evaporation, dialysis, or reverse osmosis, then alcohol content is reduced, but capital or energy costs increase and production rate decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by modifying the malt before fermentation to pre-establish a wort composition with reduced fermentability. Specifically, the malt is treated to reduce its fermentability before fermentation occurs, so that when fermentation happens, less alcohol is produced in the first place, eliminating the need for subsequent energy-intensive alcohol removal processes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of wort fermentability by treating the malt to alter its enzymatic composition. The malt is treated to reduce its fermentability from typical values (70-80%) to lower values (30-50%), which fundamentally changes the fermentation outcome and reduces alcohol content without requiring post-fermentation processing
2Quantity of substance
If cold contact fermentation is used to reduce fermentation rate, then alcohol content is reduced, but excessive sweetness appears due to unfermented sugars
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-modifying the malt to reduce its fermentability before fermentation. This ensures that the wort itself has reduced sugar content and altered composition, so that even when cold contact fermentation is used to limit yeast activity, there are fewer fermentable sugars present to cause excessive sweetness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the wort composition parameters by treating the malt to alter its carbohydrate profile. The treatment reduces the proportion of fermentable sugars and increases non-fermentable components, so that the resulting wort has different sugar composition that prevents excessive sweetness even when fermentation is limited
3Quantity of substance
If alcohol content is reduced by diluting with water, then alcohol content decreases, but taste deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of the brewing starting material (malt) to alter the wort composition. By treating the malt to reduce fermentability, the resulting wort has altered sugar content and composition that produces lower alcohol content through fermentation itself, rather than requiring dilution that would deteriorate taste
4Quantity of substance
If β-amylase is inactivated and α-amylase is activated to produce low fermentability wort, then alcohol content is reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the enzymatic parameters of the malt by controlling the treatment conditions (temperature, time, pH) to selectively inactivate β-amylase and activate α-amylase. This chemical/physical treatment modifies the malt's enzymatic profile to produce low fermentability wort, achieving alcohol reduction through a controlled modification process rather than complex multi-step processing
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method effectively produces low or alcohol-free beers with an alcohol content of not more than 0.7 vol.% while maintaining a flavor profile similar to regular lager beers, with a high unfermentable extract and low sweet sugars, resulting in a cost-effective and efficient brewing process.
Implementation Method 1
a number of enzymes, in particular α-amylase and β-amylase, formed during germination of malt are responsible for the production of fermentable and non-fermentable sugars from starch in a mash
Implementation Method 2
α-amylase, on the other hand, breaks down starch from the inside, and starts cutting off links of glucose creating more higher-order sugars and dextrins
Implementation Method 3
The present invention also concerns fermented malt based beverages having an alcohol content of not more than 0,7 vol.%, preferably not more than 0,05 vol.%
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention concerns an acohol free or low alcohol fermented malt based beverage having an alcohol content of not more than 0.7 vol.%, characterized by a relationship y = A xb wherein A = 0.25 and b = 1.5, and wherein ° x is the ratio between unfermentable over real extracts, wherein the unfermentable extract is the value of the real extract less the total content of real sugars, which consist of fructose, maltose, glucose, maltotriose, and saccharose, and ° y is the ratio between the combined content of maltopentaose, maltohexaose, and maltoheptaose over the total amount of main sugars, wherein the main sugars consist of fructose, maltose, glucose, saccharose, maltotriose, maltotetraose, maltopentaose, maltohexaose, and maltoheptaose. It also concerns a method for producing an acohol free or low alcohol fermented malt based beverage comprising ° Preparing a wort (23) of fermentability not higher than 29%, preferably, not higher than 25%, more preferably at most 20%; and ° Fermenting the thus prepared wort in a fermentation tank (4) by a cold contact process.