Light beer
Light beer is beer that, due to a special manufacturing process, contains less alcohol than conventional beer. Compared to full beer , the alcohol content is reduced by around a third (up to 2.7% by volume instead of around 5% by volume). The physiological calorific value of light beer is therefore lower than that of full beer. The historical thin beer has similar properties to light beer, but was typically produced differently and as an inferior product.
General
There are both under - and top-fermented light beer ( light Pils , Alt , Kölsch and wheat ).
Manufacturing
The alcohol is either technically removed, or the beer is brewed directly with a lower original wort, so less alcohol is produced during fermentation.
- Dealcoholization
- Production as full beer, then dealcoholized. This reduces the alcohol content to 50% or less of the original beer.
- Production as draft beer , whereby less alcohol is produced during fermentation (hence the low original wort content + reduced calorific value).
- Due to the low original wort content, the main fermentation takes less time than wort boiling or takes place at a lower temperature (instead of 9 only 7.5 ° C).
- Special procedures
- Malt pouring , special mashing processes such as the "spring mashing process " and interception of fermentation with a final degree of fermentation of approx. 53% (when 53% have already been fermented). Only 50% of the alcohol content of a normal beer is achieved.
Mashing is the mixing of crushed brewing malt with the brewing water; high mash concentrations promote protein breakdown, lower concentrations promote complete breakdown of starch.
With the spring mash process, a part of the mash is removed, brought to the boil and then added back to the total mash. In this way, through targeted mixing of mashes of different temperatures, different optimal temperatures for certain substance breakdown processes are deliberately “skipped”. This creates less alcohol.
If the fermentation is stopped, i.e. intercepted, the storage time is at least 40 days. As a result, these light beers taste more raw than those made by dealcoholization, for example. In the cold wort stage, the last of the wort preparation, the 11.5% wort is diluted with water, which also dilutes its flavoring substances. This is why these beers show not only better stability but also a cleaner and softer taste; just like the light beers, which are made with less original wort and whose taste is rounded off by the addition of normal beer (Krausen = unfermented or slightly fermented wort or discharge beer).
Light beer in society
In Germany , light beer is a niche product . In 2001 the market share was only 0.7%. In Austria, too, the market share is low at 0.2%.
- Due to police regulations, only light beer is served in some football stadiums .
- In Sweden , outside of special licensed shops ( Systembolaget ), only beer with a maximum alcohol content of 3.5% may be sold. Thus, the light beer is the only beer that is easily available.
- In Norway , beer with an alcohol content of over 4.75% is only available in the state-owned Vinmonopolet stores. Local rules apply to beers with a lower alcohol content, so that here, as in Sweden, mostly only light beer is available.
Light beer is not the same as light beer , which has a 40% market share in the US . The term "light beer" in the USA only refers to the calorific value and not, as in Germany, to the alcohol content.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Non-alcoholic and light beers, in: GETRÄNKEFACHGROSSHANDEL 2/2002
- ↑ Handbook: Alcohol - Austria: Figures, data, facts, trends 2008. Third revised and expanded edition. BMGF, Vienna ( memento of October 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (data status: April 11, 2008)