Production of an alcohol-free beverage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12454665-B2
Application number	US-202017635160-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 14, 2020
Priority date	Aug 16, 2019
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

Abstract

The invention relates to methods of producing an alcohol-reduced fermented beverage, and to a resulting alcohol-reduced fermented beverage. The invention further relates to an use of a fermentative yeast that is not capable of completely converting glucose, maltose and/or maltotriose into ethanol, for the production of an alcohol-reduced fermented beverage.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of producing an alcohol-reduced fermented beer product, comprising:
providing a wort comprising maltotriose, sucrose and maltose;
adding a fermentative yeast into the wort, wherein the fermentative yeast comprises a hexose-transport deficient Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain, whereby the fermentative yeast is not capable of converting maltotriose into ethanol;
at least partially fermenting said wort to obtain a fermented beer, thereby retaining the maltotriose that was present in the wort, and comprising less than 0.1 g/l of sucrose and 0.1 g/l of maltose,
optionally removing the yeast from the wort, and
reducing alcohol content of the fermented beer, thereby producing an alcohol-reduced fermented beer product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fermentative yeast has a reduced decarboxylation activity of phenolic acids.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fermentative yeast further comprises a mutation resulting in inactivation of at least one of the genes PAD1 and FDC1, and/or inactivation of a gene encoding a protein involved in uptake of a phenolic acid, or involved in export of a decarboxylated phenolic compound.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein fermentation is performed at 6-25° C.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein alcohol content of the fermented beer product is reduced by rectification.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alcohol-reduced fermented beer product is an alcohol-free beer.

7. An alcohol-reduced fermented beer product that is produced by the method of claim 1 .

8. The alcohol-reduced fermented beer product of claim 7 , which is an alcohol-free beer.

9. The alcohol-reduced fermented beer product of claim 7 , wherein 4-vinyl guaiacol is absent.

10. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fermentative yeast is not producing 4-vinyl guaiacol.

11. The method of claim 3 , wherein the phenolic acid is ferulic acid.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the decarboxylated phenolic compound is 4-vinyl guaiacol.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein fermentation is performed at 8-15° C.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein alcohol content of the alcohol-reduced fermented beer product is between 0.5-1.2 vol % ethanol.

15. An alcohol-reduced fermented beer product that is produced by fermenting a starting wort comprising maltotriose, sucrose and maltose and a hexose-transport deficient Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain, wherein the maltotriose that was present in the starting wort is not fermented, wherein the sucrose and maltose that was present in the starting wort is fermented, and wherein the alcohol-reduced fermented beer comprises less than 0.1 g/l of sucrose and 0.1 g/l of maltose.

16. The alcohol-reduced fermented beer product of claim 15 being an alcohol-free beer.

17. The alcohol-reduced fermented beer product of claim 15 being an alcohol-free lager beer.

Assignees

• Heineken Supply Chain Bv

Inventors

• Kuijpers Niels Gerard Adriaan

Classifications

• C12C12/006 Primary

  Yeasts (processes for seeding C12C11/02) · CPC title

• C12C11/003

  Fermentation of beerwort · CPC title

• Y02E50/10

  Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel · CPC title

• C12C11/006

  Fermentation tanks therefor · CPC title

• C12C12/04 Primary

  Beer with low alcohol content (methods for reducing the alcohol content after fermentation C12H3/00) · CPC title