# Is 'non-alcoholic' Ginger Beer Actually Not Alcoholic?



## lukemarsh (5/5/10)

I've read on the net (Coopers site) that it is actually impossible to make non-alcoholic beer because of the natural conditioning methods used. I'm aware that bottle conditioning adds about 0.05% ABV alcohol to your beer...
So does this mean than it's impossible to make a non-alcoholic ginger beer? Or is it different for ginger beer, as opposed to a regular beer?

On the Coopers website they say you can make an alcoholic ginger beer for you and your mates, or a non-alcoholic one for the kids... yet they make a 'non-alcoholic' Birrel that actually has 0.05% ABV that kids aren't able to buy (for obvious reasons).

This is very confusing... also kind of annoying as I'm wanting to make a ginger beer that is completely non-alcoholic so I don't have to keep buying Bundaberg all the time, wasting loads of money! I'm 19 and on my P's too, so I can't have any alcohol in my system when driving.

Hope someone can clarify this for me!
Cheers


----------



## Wolfy (6/5/10)

It's not that confusing, if you add yeast and sugar it will ferment to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. 
Thus, if you're making Ginger beer or any other 'naturally brewed' beverage it's going to to produce at least a small amount of alcohol, especially if it's 'bottle carbonated'.

If you want something that is strictly non-alcoholic you can mix and carbonate the beverage in an alternate way (such as a CO2/keg system) or (especially in an industrial setting) brew the beverage and then remove the alcohol.

Something like a soda-stream system might work well for you, if you don't want to invest in a full keg-type setup - that way you can mix the ingredients and carbonate a strictly non-alcoholic drink.


----------



## chappo1970 (6/5/10)

Or ferment then remove alcohol by boiling and then as Wolfy has said force carbonate via keg or sodastream.


----------



## Wolfy (6/5/10)

Chappo said:


> Or ferment then remove alcohol by boiling and then as Wolfy has said force carbonate via keg or sodastream.


Good point about the boiling, but would you bet your license on removing all the alcohol that way?


----------



## geoffi (6/5/10)

My rough guestimate is that 'non-alcoholic' ginger beer actually has about 0.5% abv.

Close enough to zero.


----------



## benno1973 (6/5/10)

MarshBrew said:


> ... yet they make a 'non-alcoholic' Birrel that actually has 0.05% ABV that kids aren't able to buy (for obvious reasons).



I thought kids could buy Birrel? It's available in Coles, isn't it?


----------



## geoffi (6/5/10)

Kids can buy Birrel. It's classed as a brewed soft drink, so there's no restriction.

And I'm sure kids could also buy all the homebrew gear they like from Kmart etc. As far as I know there is no age restriction. Mind you, kids (I mean teenagers, I suppose) are probably too bloody lazy to take advantage of this.


----------



## Wolfy (6/5/10)

Geoffi said:


> Mind you, kids (I mean teenagers, I suppose) are probably too bloody lazy to take advantage of this.


Yes ... mine are,
I offered my son 23L of any beer he wanted, custom brewed for his 18th birthday - if decides what he wants and assists with the brewing - his birthday was 2 months ago and he's not even told me what sort of beer he wants.


----------



## lukemarsh (6/5/10)

Geoffi said:


> Kids can buy Birrel. It's classed as a brewed soft drink, so there's no restriction.
> 
> And I'm sure kids could also buy all the homebrew gear they like from Kmart etc. As far as I know there is no age restriction. Mind you, kids (I mean teenagers, I suppose) are probably too bloody lazy to take advantage of this.




I work at Woolworths and recently noticed that when customers buy Birrel (which is advertised as a 'brewed soft drink') the computer asks for age verification. The computer will only do this on items like knives (for kids under 16), tobacco products (for people under 18), and alcohol. Not sure what age you have to be to buy ultra light beer, but I'd say it would be 18? I used to think kids could buy birrel, just cos they sell it at regular supermarkets... I'll have to ask next time I'm at work.

And yes, kids are definitely too lazy to take advantage of the wonders of brewing! I was never once asked for ID since I've started brewing (only about 5 months now) and you can make some really potent and alcoholic beers very easily.

Maybe I'll just brew a 'non-alcoholic' ginger beer and make sure I only drink one or two in an hour, then wait an hour or something before driving? Surely 0.05% alcohol would be gone from your system within an hour, considering one standard drink (probably about 100 non-alcoholic ginger beers) is processed out through your liver within an hour?


----------



## lukemarsh (6/5/10)

Ah, sorry I just realised it's not 0.05% ABV... on the Coopers site it says it's around 0.7% ABV for non-alcoholic brewing, which equates to about 1.5L of regular standard drink. The Birrel they make is 0.5% ABV... so you'd need to drink 10 birrels to equal a regular beer of 5% ABV.


----------



## Wolfy (6/5/10)

MarshBrew said:


> Maybe I'll just brew a 'non-alcoholic' ginger beer and make sure I only drink one or two in an hour, then wait an hour or something before driving? Surely 0.05% alcohol would be gone from your system within an hour, considering one standard drink (probably about 100 non-alcoholic ginger beers) is processed out through your liver within an hour?


Seems that that is a fair assumption: http://www.mydr.com.au/gastrointestinal-he...cohol-breakdown
... especially if they suggest that it takes about an hour to process 1 standard drink, one or two mostly-non-alcoholic GB would most likely not register after an hour.

But then again:
SodaStream ~ $50 on Ebay
DriversLicence = Priceless.
... so it's your call.


----------



## geoffi (6/5/10)

I used to buy 'brewed softdrinks' from supermarkets when I was only 13 or 14...but that was a looooooooooooooong time ago, so maybe things are different these days. However, I'd be most surprised if there's any restriction. After all, it would be pretty much impossible to get drunk on this stuff. You'd have to consume so much in such a short time that you'd probably die from the excess water long before you felt even remotely tipsy.



MarshBrew said:


> I work at Woolworths and recently noticed that when customers buy Birrel (which is advertised as a 'brewed soft drink') the computer asks for age verification. The computer will only do this on items like knives (for kids under 16), tobacco products (for people under 18), and alcohol. Not sure what age you have to be to buy ultra light beer, but I'd say it would be 18? I used to think kids could buy birrel, just cos they sell it at regular supermarkets... I'll have to ask next time I'm at work.


----------

