Non-alcoholic beer yeasts evaluated for fermentation activity

Researchers have explored nearly a dozen non-traditional yeast strains to find out which ones could brew the best non-alcoholic beers for a rapidly growing market.

The Center for Beverage Innovation and Lafontaine Lab — including researchers with the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station — evaluated 11 commercially available yeasts to identify their strengths based on chemical analysis and sensory panel opinions.

“These findings provide brewers with actionable insights to select yeasts that align with desired non-alcoholic beer characteristics and enable them to produce style-specific, high-quality non-alcoholic beers,” said Scott Lafontaine, assistant professor of food chemistry in the food science department, co-director of the Center for Beverage Innovation and corresponding author of the study.

Most of the yeasts that were tested in the study are strains that have been developed or screened to not ferment maltose, the primary sugar created from malted barley in the beer-making process. While physically extracting and removing alcohol from ordinarily fermented beverages requires costly equipment, biologically limiting alcohol from forming during the fermentation process opens the non-alcoholic beer space to a wider group of small-scale brewers, Lafontaine noted.

While these “maltose-negative” yeasts still ferment simpler sugars like glucose, fructose and sometimes sucrose, not fermenting maltose results in low- or non-alcoholic beer, said Andrew Maust, a Bumpers College graduate student working in the Lafontaine Lab/Center for Beverage Innovation, and lead author of the study.

“Typically, when people think of the role of yeast in brewing, they only think of the creation of ethanol and carbon dioxide from the consumption of sugars,” Maust said. “That reaction occurs, but the beauty of yeast is that they also produce a wide range of compounds that become the soul of beer.”

Classic yeast-driven flavours include fruity, spicy and floral notes, as well as the ability to biologically transform the rest of the raw materials in the brewing process, Maust added.

“Over several hundreds of years, we’ve domesticated and evolved these organisms to act exactly how we want them, often leading to yeast choice as a driver of regional beer flavours and styles,” Maust explained.

Brewing yeast cells are seen under a microscope as part of a study on non-alcoholic beer. Credit: U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Scott Lafontaine.

The timing of this study and its findings are critical, Lafontaine said, as non-alcoholic beer remains one of the few bright spots in the craft beer segment amid the category’s rapid expansion.

According to a 2024 Statista forecast, non-alcoholic beer production in the US has grown for 10 consecutive years and is projected to increase another 13.5% by 2029. In Germany, non-alcoholic beer makes up roughly 5% of the beer market and is even marketed as a post-workout beverage.

In the US, non-alcoholic beers are defined as containing 0.5% alcohol by volume or less, while international definitions typically range from 0.05 to 1.2%.

Despite this momentum and although brands are getting much better, Maust said, flavour remains a key hurdle. “A common barrier to adoption in the US is the perception that non-alcoholic beers lack flavour and depth compared to their full-strength counterparts.”

This new study marks a significant evolution, Lafontaine said, by moving from analysing finished beers to actively developing and evaluating non-alcoholic beer formulations in the lab. Up to this point, Lafontaine said, most beverage design work in the non-alcoholic beer category has been to develop them as “lager-like”, but the Lafontaine Lab team wanted to see what maltose-negative yeasts might be suitable to replicate other full-strength commercial styles, including pale ale, lager and wheat beers.

To match up their experimental maltose-negative beers with these commercial styles, the researchers used sensomics, a combination of chemical and sensory analyses. Two Berkeley Yeast strains — NA Cabana and NA Classic — shared tropical fruit and citrus-floral characteristics akin to pale ales.

“Characterising these flavour profiles created by non-traditional yeasts gives brewers a more precise palette to work with as they craft distinct beer styles,” Lafontaine said. “It opens the door to new flavour possibilities and more intentional product design.”

One of the study’s production-level takeaways was the variation in fermentation onset. Some yeasts began fermenting almost immediately and were finished in about 12 to 24 hours. Others took a bit longer to finish fermentation around the 48- to 72-hour mark.

“Faster fermentation can help brewers turn over tanks quicker, increasing throughput,” Maust said. “That’s a key operational advantage.”

While full-strength beer production often involves reusing yeast, Maust noted that this practice is discouraged in non-alcoholic beer brewing due to concerns about unwanted maltose fermentation and spoilage organisms.

“It’s a trade-off — you lose adaptive potential, but gain consistency and safety,” he said.

By systematically analysing yeast performance across alcohol content, fermentation speed and sensory outcomes, Lafontaine said the study delivers a practical resource for brewers navigating the non-alcoholic beer space.

“This work bridges academic research and real-world brewing needs,” Lafontaine said. “We’re providing a roadmap for brewers to select the best yeast for the style, flavour profile and production process they’re targeting.”

Considering the lack of alcohol to kill foodborne pathogens in non-alcoholic beer, Lafontaine and Maust will be examining food safety aspects of non-alcoholic beer in their next experiments.

“Alcohol is a powerful preservative, and without it there are some questions about how best to safely process these products,” Maust said. “Upcoming experiments will focus on quantifying the anti-microbial activity of ingredients and processing decisions, providing further clarity on how to design these beverages to be both safe and flavourful.”

The study was published in the ACS Food Science and Technology journal.

Top image credit: iStock.com/Andrew Coleman