Prospects for the use of new yeast strains in non-alcoholic beer production

Brewery production is currently one of the growing segments of the processing industry. Beer and beer drinks have long established themselves as competitive products in the beverage production market. Modern beer producers focus on creating traditional light and dark beers, birmix, and beer drinks with various fruit flavours. They also place particular importance on producing non-alcoholic beer. The increase in demand for non-alcoholic beer is due to the partial transition to proper nutrition, the expansion of the assortment and the appearance of new flavours on the shelves. Non-alcoholic beer is a foamy beverage prepared according to classical beer production technology but with technological solutions for removing ethyl alcohol at the output. For the production of non-alcoholic beer, the permissible concentration of ethyl alcohol, which does not exceed 0.5%, is used. Vacuum distillation and membrane methods are used, and alcohol is removed by influencing the course of the technological process. One of these methods is the use of unique yeast strains in fermentation. The purpose of the presented research is to select new yeast strains for producing non-alcoholic beer. Four yeast strains were studied to determine their degree of digestion and influence on the profile of the finished beer. It was determined that yeast strain W 34/70 has the lowest degree of digestion. By technological and physicochemical parameters, the beer wort fermented by this yeast strain has suitable sensory parameters, which are not inferior to the production sample. The use of yeast strain W 34/70 also reduces the fermentation process and increases the shelf life of the finished beverage.