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​​Reducing Carbon Footprint and Water Consumption in Alcohol-Free Beer Production: Comparing Maltose- and Crabtree-Negative Yeast to Thermal Dealcoholization​

The majority of the world's non-alcoholic and alcohol-free beer is currently produced using thermal dealcoholization. In a future where energy and water resources will become more scarce, a more environmentally friendly approach could be to utilize maltose- and Crabtree-negative yeasts. In order to compare the two methodologies, Chr. Hansen has developed a calculation tool with which we aim to illustrate the significant differences between the two methods in terms of specific malt consumption, energy consumption, water usage, and carbon footprint. For the production of 100,000 hL of <0.05% ABV alcohol-free beer (AFB), the calculation shows potential savings of 59,499 hL of water and 1,055,892 kg of malt (66% less malt overall) and a reduction in carbon footprint of 1,260 tons of CO₂e (equivalent to 100 trips around the globe by car) by choosing a direct brewing solution via maltose- and Crabtree-negative yeasts instead of dealcoholization. It is our hope that our calculation tool can inform brewers and provide relevant environmental insights for the AFB production methods available to them.

Keywords: alcohol-free beer, estimating environmental impact, maltose- and Crabtree-negative yeast, thermal dealcoholization