Are Non Alcoholic Beers Safe?

With demand for no and low alcohol beer BOOMING, more and more breweries are brewing their own.

But when you remove alcohol, you remove one of the strongest safety mechanisms in beer.

And with the rise of unfiltered, unpasteurised NA beers hitting shelves, this episode asks a simple but essential question:

How do you make NA beer safe?

To help answer it, I’m joined by Dr Greg Rachon and co host and brewing legend, Sean Knight - Siren Craft Brew. 

We dig into the risks, the latest microbiological research and the practical steps brewers need to know.

What we cover:

- Why alcohol has been silently keeping beer safe for centuries
- What happens when you take it away
- The key safety mechanisms left behind for NA products
- New research on pathogens and spoilage microorganisms in NA beer
- The role of carbonation, packaging and preservatives
- Why beer line hygiene matters more than ever

This episode features some of the most up to date research on NA beer safety from Dr Greg Rachon, alongside industry insight from Sean Knight.

Huge thanks to Lallemand for supporting the show and for their ongoing work with the LoNa yeast strain.

Connor Bartlett - The Growth of Pathogens and Beer Spoilage Organisms in No and Low Alcohol Beers and Strategies to Prevent Their Growth (https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/74590/)

Preservative Dosing Limit Document - [email protected]

Alix Blease - Lallemand - [email protected]
Andy Patterson - Lallemand - [email protected]

Chris Lewington - 
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-lewington/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chris__brewington/

Dr Grzeorgz Rachon (https://www.linkedin.com/in/grachon/)

Chapters 

00:00 Welcome to the Modern Brewer Podcast
00:25 Introducing Co-Host Sean Knight
02:22 Upcoming UK Brewing Events
03:52 Revolutionising Non-Alcoholic Beer with Lallemand's LoNA Yeast
05:41 Discussion on NA Beer Safety with Sean Knight
09:45 Introducing Dr. Grzegorz Rachon
10:31 Understanding Pathogens in Non-Alcoholic Beer
12:04 Research on Pathogen Growth in NA Beer
20:30 The Role of Carbonation in Pathogen Suppression
28:20 Challenges in Draft Beer Hygiene
39:57 Preservatives and Pasteurisation in NA Beer
47:27 Cold Alternatives to Pasteurisation
54:14 Challenges in Detecting Beer Spoilage Microorganisms
01:05:07 Research on Beer Line Cleaning and Flash Pasteurisation
01:12:02 Sean's Concluding Thoughts on Beer Safety and Research