NA homebrew techniques? (I know, I know)

[Afterlab]

What's to say you need to give your friend a .5% ABV or lower beer? Go for 1% or 1.5% max. As shady as it sounds will your friend really detect an extra half percent or percent of alcohol? Obviously the main concern I could come up with would be if they got in the car at the end of the night and had a prior DWI and some sort of restriction on their license where they couldn't blow anything other than a .00 BAC. Chances are if they are a recovering alcoholic they probably aren't going to have 12 or 16 of these beers. (Althought I'm sure the amount of water in 12 bottles of 1% ABV beer is more than enough to keep you sober). On the off chance they did drink 12-16 beers, you really wouldn't be helping them recover by serving them a ton.

You can just tell him or her it is a "non-alcoholic" craft beer less than 1%. You can't naturally make a 0% beer considering the yeast needs to ferment something and thus create alcohol. I would just brew 2.5 gallons of 2% beer and then just dilute it down. If they don't like it then teach them to brew a NA beer better.

Mash higher, choose a yeast that has low attentuation. Use Pale malt, carapils, and speciality malts to add body. It wont be anywhere near the best beer in the world but it is worth a try.

[Adam]

All this BS for an adult that can't control themselves.

[cornhole]

I am not trying to be an ass here. It may also be worth researching what is recommended to support a recovering alcoholic. Being around other people drinking may not be "healthy" for him. Being around his buddies who are taking actions to support him may be better. I don't know the answer, but a friend would consider checking into it.

[Mylo]

Boiling homebrew is the quickest way to making it taste like shit. IIRC, NA beer is made under a vacuum. Maybe if you hooked up a vacuum pump to a pressure cooker, you could remove the alcohol at a much lower temp, and preserve some of the hop flavor and aroma.


Mylo

[CRBrewHound]

Boiling homebrew is the quickest way to making it taste like shit. IIRC, NA beer is made under a vacuum. Maybe if you hooked up a vacuum pump to a pressure cooker, you could remove the alcohol at a much lower temp, and preserve some of the hop flavor and aroma.


Mylo

No offense, but I am not sure I buy that since making beer involves boiling, Can you provide something more as to why you say that. Boiling again would have the following affects as far as I can see.

Drive off CO2
Alcohol evaporation
volume reduction
caramelization of beer

So I can see it producing a change in the flavor of the beer, which could be good, could be bad. You would have to re-carbonate (My opinion would be to distill prior to carbonation). Loss of volume would be small as a still does create a vacuum, so only the alcohol would leave the beer, not the water. So the only real issue I would see with this would be caramelization of the beer, which if accounted for in planning, could be mitigated.

Now I must say that I have never tried it, so this is all just me speculating about it, which does mean I may be missing stuff.

[snowcapt]

Boiling homebrew is the quickest way to making it taste like shit. IIRC, NA beer is made under a vacuum. Maybe if you hooked up a vacuum pump to a pressure cooker, you could remove the alcohol at a much lower temp, and preserve some of the hop flavor and aroma. Mylo

No offense, but I am not sure I buy that since making beer involves boiling, Can you provide something more as to why you say that. Boiling again would have the following affects as far as I can see. Drive off CO2 Alcohol evaporation volume reduction caramelization of beer So I can see it producing a change in the flavor of the beer, which could be good, could be bad. You would have to re-carbonate (My opinion would be to distill prior to carbonation). Loss of volume would be small as a still does create a vacuum, so only the alcohol would leave the beer, not the water. So the only real issue I would see with this would be caramelization of the beer, which if accounted for in planning, could be mitigated. Now I must say that I have never tried it, so this is all just me speculating about it, which does mean I may be missing stuff.

The flavor gets wicked bitter. Go ahead and boil and cool a little bit of beer and try it out.
I have cooked with enough of it to know that it turns very bitter in a very short time.

[Fierce Beard]

All this BS for an adult that can't control themselves.

He actually can control himself, and does. His problems with alcohol revolve mainly around several surgeries he had in his early 20s. He's had a couple organs removed that aid in the metabolizing of alcohol. He hasn't had a drink in years, and continues to come out with his friends when we get together for a couple drinks. This is less about addiction than it is about his body's inability to handle alcohol - it could hurt him pretty bad. I've decided that this experiment is not worth the risk to his health, but thanks everybody for all the ideas.

Cheers!

[spiderwrangler]

Some of the bitterness involved in boiling beer when using it to cook is that you are reducing the volume, and concentrating the bitterness.

Boiling again would have the following affects as far as I can see.

Drive off CO2
Alcohol evaporation
volume reduction
caramelization of beer

You've forgotten loss of all hop aroma and flavor...