CA1155071A - Process for brewing a dietary beer - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A dietary beer, which has low carbohydrate and alcohol contents and a low calorific value, is brewed in a process in which the wort is fermented in such a manner that the fermentable carbohydrates, in-cluding fermentable carbohydrates formed by a reaction of difficulty fermentable dextrins with an added diastase solution, are fermented to produce a beer having a carbo-hydrate content not in excess of 0.75 gram per 100 ml, and the alcohol content of the beer is reduced under a vacuum.

Description

1155~)71 This invention relates to a process of brewing a dietary beer, which has low carbohydrate and alcohol contents and a low calorific value, wherein the wort is fermented in such a manner that the fermentable carbo-hydrates, including fermentable carbohydrates formed by a reaction of difficulty fermentable dextrins with an added diastase solution, are fermented to produce a beer having a carbohydrate content not in excess of 0.75 gram per 100 ml, and the alcohol content of the beer is reduced under a vacuum.
Such process is known from German Patent Specification 20 52 963. In that known process, the wort having a actual original gravity of 11 to 14 % or, for producing a strong beer, of 16 to 20 %, is fermented at 4 to 8 C only to an apparent degree of fermentation corresponding to 40 to 70 % extract, the new beer is then boiled to reduce its alcohol content to about 1 %
by weight, and is subsequently subjected to another fermentation in that it is adjusted to a temperature between 12 and 20 C and a diastase solution having an increased content of limit dextrinases is added, and the new beer is cooled when the fermentation has been terminated and is stored for a short time for a settling of sediment. In a modification of that process, a beer obtained after a fermentation to an apparent degree of fermentation of 75 to 85 %, preferably 80 %, is boiled and is then subjected to another fermentation in that the diastase solution enriched with limit dextrinases is added to the beer as well as 50 to 150, preferably 100 %, by volume of the same starting wort. In that process, - 1 - .

11550~1 yeast and carbohydrate-decomposing enzymes (amylases) must be added after the alcohol content has been reduced.
From Ullmanns Encyklopadie der technischen Chemie, Vo. 2, 1972, pages 656, 657, it is known that in the distillation of alcohol the residence time of the products to be treated can be reduced to about 1 second in a Centritherm evaporator from a certain source.
It is an object of the invention to provide a simplified continuous process of brewing a dietary beer which is improved in quality, particularly in flavor, and has a low alcohol content and a low calorific value.
In a process of the kind described first herein-before, this object is accomplished in that the alcohol content of the fermenting wort is reduced in that during the main fermentation the fermenting wort is treated in a thin-film evaporator connected in a bypass at a temperature of 30 to 50 C, preferably about 30 C, with a residence time between 1 to 10 seconds. It has not been obvious to reduce the alcohol content in a bypass during the main fermentation because a person skilled in the art had to assume that the temperatures employed and the subatmosphe-ric pressures applied, down to 0.04 bar, might be detri-mental to the yeast. It has surprisingly been found that even under such adverse conditions the yeast will not be damaged and the fermentation will proceed in the normal manner.
Samples of two beers in glasses were tasted.
Beer A was a dietary beer produced in accordance with German Patent Specification 20 52 963 0 Beer B was a dietary beer produced by the process llS507I

according to the invention.
The results of this tasting are apparent from the following table.

A 0 B 0 Homo- T-genei- value ty Purity, odor 1 3.1 8 3.4 6 2.96 Purity, taste 1 2.8 10 3.4 4 3.69XX
Intensi~ of bitterness - 5 3.5 4 3.5 6 0.32 Quality of bitterness 3 3.0 5 3~2 7 1.28 Body 2 3.4 3 3.210 0.43 Freshness 3 3.4 2 3.410 0.43 Quality 1 2.6 12 3.4 2 3.99xx Preference 1 ~13xx Correctly associated 13 Incorrectly associated 12

Claims (2)

The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A process of brewing a dietary beer, which has low carbohydrate and alcohol contents and a low calorific value, wherein the wort is fermented in such a manner that the fermentable carbohydrates, including fermentable carbo-hydrates formed by a reaction of difficultly fermentable dextrins with an added diastase solution are fermented to produce a beer having a carbohydrate content not in excess of 0.75 gram per 100 ml, and the alcohol content of the beer is reduced under a vacuum, characterized in that the alcohol content of the fermenting wort is reduced in that during the main fermentation the fermenting wort is treated in a thin-film evaporator connected in a bypass at a temperature of 30 to 50° C, preferably about 30° C, with a residence time between 1 to 10 seconds.

2. A dietary beer which has low carbohydrate and alcohol contents and a low calorific value and has been brewed in a process in which the wort is fermented in such a manner that the fermentable carbohydrates, including fermentable carbohydrates formed by a reaction of diffi-cultly fermentable dextrins with an added diastase solution are fermented to produce a beer having a carbohydrate content not in excess of 0.75 gram per 100 ml, and the alcohol content of the beer is reduced under a vacuum, characterized in that the beer has been brewed in a process in which the alcohol content of the fermenting wort is reduced in that during the main fermentation the fermenting wort is treated in a thin-film evaporator connected in a bypass at a temperature of 30 to 50° C, preferably about 30° C, with a residence time between 1 to 10 seconds.